NPR

Private Equity and Marijuana Inc.

/ Matthew Clemente / 1 Comment

Private Equity and Marijuana Inc.

NPR’s All Things Consider ran a story about how investment bankers are beginning to look at the marijuana industry as a potential investment opportunity.

Here is an introduction to the story:  

A couple of guys with serious investment banking experience are moving into the marijuana business. They’ve launched the first multimillion-dollar private equity fund devoted entirely to what they like to call the “cannabis space.”

It started when Brendan Kennedy was working at the Silicon Valley Bank and learned of an entrepreneur who wanted to sell software for marijuana dispensaries. The idea piqued Kennedy’s interest. A few days later, a radio show about legalizing pot piqued it even more.

There’s an opportunity here, he thought, and picked up the phone and called his Yale business school buddy, Michael Blue. He told Blue he thought his friend needed to quit his job and come start a company in the cannabis industry.

The Best and Worst of Drug Court

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The Best and Worst of Drug Court

This week, I was able to attend the nationally recognized treatment court in Scranton, PA.  The program was very impressive, a stark contrast from a 2011 episode of This American Life about drug court judge in Georgia.  

Here is a description of the episode:

This week: A drug court program that we believe is run differently from every other drug court in the country, doing some things that are contrary to the very philosophy of drug court. The result? People with offenses that would get minimal or no sentences elsewhere sometimes end up in the system five to ten years 

Less Than “Do Nothing” Congress?

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Less Than “Do Nothing” Congress?

Recently Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross interviewed New York Times congressional correspondent Jonathan Weisman about Congress’ coming summer recess and its inaction in the last term.  

Here is a description of the interview: 

Friday is the last day before the 113th Congress scatters for their summer recess. And what has it accomplished so far? Almost nothing, says New York Times congressional correspondent Jonathan Weisman. As he points out in a recent article:

“None of Congress’s 12 annual spending bills have reached Mr. Obama’s desk, and with the House and the Senate far apart on total spending levels, a government shutdown is possible on Oct. 1, when the current spending law expires.

“Once Congress returns on Sept. 9, lawmakers will have just nine legislative days until the current fiscal year ends and large swaths of the government would be forced to close.”

Weisman joins Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross to discuss why this Congress has passed so few laws, and explain some of the conflicts between Republican lawmakers and President Obama.

“What Happened To Detroit’s Big Plans?”

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“What Happened To Detroit’s Big Plans?”

That was the title of the most recent episode of the Planet Money podcast.  In the wake of Detroit’s bankruptcy, the Planet Money team explores why no “silver bullet” has been able to solve MoTown’s woes.  

Here is a description of the show: 

In the last 50 years, there have been many plans to save Detroit. People use words like “renaissance,” “revival,” and “catalyst” to describe them.

On today’s show, we visit the places these plans were meant to change, and we talk to an urban planner about why these grand dreams didn’t turn out the way the city hoped.