VANCOUVER, Wash. — John Larson, a recently retired high school science and math teacher, hopes to be in the first wave of legal recreational marijuana salespeople opening shop here in Washington State this week.
Mr. Larson, 67, who was talked into the venture by his children, said he had never tried marijuana, and, in fact, voted against legalizing it in 2012. But as a business idea — well, that’s different.
“If people were dumb enough to vote it in, I’m all for it,†he said over a cup of coffee near his shop here in southern Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore. “There’s a demand, and I have a product.†[Emphasis added]
Really? That’s the way you want to talk about your customer base in the New York Times?
I suggest finding another place to shop. Unfortunately, due to the expected shortages, he’ll probably get good sales anyway, but that would be a real shame.
Be sure to let this genius know how “dumb” you are when you visit his store.
He wholly perpetuates the supply/demand paradigm. He should not be allowed to profit from something he doesn’t even support.
Only in America…
Could this be a good thing? As people begin to understand that this is an opportunity for many people to create a business, and that there is a profit in it, and that they themselves could become involved and profit thereby, won’t that make it easier to convince them that legalised sales are better than the black market? The fact that those profits are taxable, wages paid to workers are taxable, no people drawing benefits and selling weed on the side, instead they will be employees, keeping it from kids etc. are powerful arguments, but ‘you could make legal money from this’ is also powerful. And no, he is not an idiot, he is a normal capitalist.
Is he an idiot? Not necessarily, after all he has a product to sell; he is smart enough to realize that. Ethically speaking, the guy is a piece of work, voting against legalization while wanting to profit from it, all the while still holding onto prohibitionist ideology. And yet, this is good news as people will have another venue and not rely on the black market.
He’s insulting his customer base before he can build it. I think he’s a massive idiot, or a smug jackass who believes it won’t matter.
Would this sort of thing fly with any other business? Imagine someone who thinks booze is a sin but operates a liquor store and publicaly said that “if my lush customers want to be drunks, so be it. I’ll sell to them.” Or if a tv salesmen (well if they existed any more as a stand alone place, but the analogy works the same) said “if people are dumb enough to sit home and watch tv all day I’ll sell them tvs.” The point is that insulting your customer base should have a negative impact on your business, and most business owners know such a basic tenant like that as to not do it.
This guy doesn’t know it or doesn’t care, and if this is a legitimate industry he should be punished for it (in the capitalistic sense of people not buying his product).
Well, he better cash in as quickly as possible, cause with an attitude like that, he’s going to be the first of many failures in the business as it becomes more mainstream. More competition means not being forced to deal with pricks like this.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is only the beginning. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Agreed.
Isn’t this what we want in a legal marketplace? People who respect us as customers? This shouldn’t be like the bad old days where every now and then you’d have to go thru a dealer who was a jackass for the sole fact that he was the only guy you knew with weed in town.
This may be small stuff, but it really angers me. I really, really, really want this industry to succeed and feel that those in the industry should respect it and their customers. This guy does neither, and IMO he doesn’t belong. But the only way he won’t be a part of it is if his business is unsuccessful. And it’s not like this guy was caught on tape with nobody knowing what he said…he gave an interview to the New York fucking Times.
It will be an insult to the legal weed industry if this guy is allowed to prosper.
At least Mr. Larson’s “dumb” children (ages 40+ ?) who likely voted for legalization will get a big discount on weed.
Perhaps through the operation of this business he will come to realize that his aversion to legalization was unwarranted. Stereotypes, fear, and ignorance tend to be the currency of the ordinary American that opposes reform. By planting himself (pun intended) into the heart of cannabis culture, Mr. Larson is in for an eye-opening education.
I wouldn’t expect too many people to boycott him based on this article, which neglected to mention the name or address of his store.
His store isn’t open yet. Once it does the word will get out. The beauty of the internet is that his site will be on the weedmaps or yelps of the world, and when it is there will be people like me reminding him of his statements.
This position is so insulting I refuse to let it stand. And I don’t even live in Washington.
Lots of Mormons in the liquor business.
The fact that the jellyfish has lived for 650 million years without a brain gives confidence to stupid people.
.
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It isn’t anywhere near the magnitude of people like Kev-Kev, Calvina and their ilk casting the majority of the voters as morons for not agreeing with their point of vie…”We’re sure it won’t be long before the morons in Washington and Oregon will realize that they’ve been tricked by the pot smoking brain dead idiots who don’t care that their stupidity is going to ruin our society! “How to Win Friends & Influence People” is obviously not on the required reading list to be either a prohibitionist parasite or a sycophant.
Gee whiz Wally, it was bad enough when they said it after the voters approved medicinal cannabis patient protection but the parasites don’t even notice that the 2012 votes came after 14 and 12 years of direct observation. I mean talk about faulty short term memories! The prohibs can’t even recall the calamities that they predicted just last week which never happened.
I wonder if Mr. Larson’s dog and pony show will be as successful as The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld?
I’m just waiting to find out the name of the store he opens. And when it’s found out, it’s up to a lot of us to encourage a boycott of his store until he is forced out of business. Then we’ll get the last laugh as us idiots caused him to lose thousands in his capital investment.
Why on earth should an entrepreneur reap the reward of his product when he believes the consumers of his products are idiots? I think he believes that his customer base are idiots and don’t read the news, even a major publication like the New York Times.
He may get decent business at first when he is one of the few shops open, but like any other business when there is sufficient competition that advantage will cease. And opening a store requires more investment than just riding the first good financial wave.
I really doubt his product will be so amazing that he’ll be able to have some sort of hold on the marketplace.