Two years ago, as I was driving across America doing research and buying up rare books, I shared a special conspiracy theory with every weed shop I visited. Was it the one about Elon’s plans to make tunnels under Texas which turned out to be true? No, it was about Nick Checota’s possible plans to leverage his Cannabis position after LiveNation gobbled up his LogJam like a tasty edible.
Thanks to friends in stoned places I got apprised recently of a curious move by Mr. President of the Montana Cannabis Coalition to get a big time lobbyist by the name of Mark Baker to represent the “MCC” interest (read: Checota’s) in Montana…and beyond?
Before I get to some context on Mark Baker let me note that Nick’s bio is just an empty box. When you click on Jace Dukart and Brandon Madland they have multiple sentences describing themselves, like adults. Any idea who the diva in this trio might be?
Now, here’s a little perspective on who Baker has represented recently in Helena:
The release of the full file this week revealed the lobbyist is Mark Baker.
Baker, if you don’t happen to recognize his name, is one of the Montana Capitol’s most prolific lobbyists. He was part of a team that lobbied the administration of Gov. Greg Gianforte and a legislative advisory commission on behalf of Charter Communications during a 2021 and 2022 process that resulted in Charter being awarded $110 million in broadband grants from Montana’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act dollars. Disclosures on file with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices indicate Baker is currently representing at least 29 separate clients before the Legislature, including private prison operator CoreCivic, Airbnb, Exxon Mobil, Charter and wireless carrier AT&T.
Before I posit two possible scenarios about Checota’s strengthening weed position, let me add a data point about Airbnb’s CEO getting a curious appointment from Trump last month:
U.S. President Donald Trump will appoint Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to spearhead the new National Design Studio that will seek to make digital services at federal agencies more efficient, two officials familiar with the plan said.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create the studio – a new body that one of the officials said appears to be a stripped-down successor to the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly headed by billionaire Elon Musk.
So, what could be going on here? Could it have something to do with the signals from the Trump administration regarding reclassifying cannabis products, with the latest signal coming form Yahoo Finance News just a day ago?
President Trump recently confirmed that his administration is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, and that shift could have a massive impact on the U.S. economy.
Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug — alongside heroin, LSD and MDMA. These drugs are considered more dangerous and are defined as having no acceptable medical use.
The recent CNN coverage Checota got, plus the local fawning, is starting to make more sense to me now because what I think I’m looking at is Checota positioning himself to sell over-priced Cannabis products, like drinks and edibles, exclusively at LiveNation shows, or something along those lines. Also, a powerful lobbyist will come in handy when Checota’s Cannabis grows in Montana eventually compete with the rapacious energy needs of data centers.
This seems like a definite possibility, especially the move by Trump to reclassify weed-soma for the masses as the masses get restless over the realization we are in a long-con being carried out by professional con artists (read: everyone in power).
Thanks for reading!