THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Like the late TV huckster Ron Popeil, President Shithead's speech at Davos was all about how America was open for business, when he wasn't talking about himself. But of all the industries the Tangerine Shitgibbon tried to boost, he forgot to mention the marijuana business.

President Donald Trump told world leaders that America is open for business. But one budding U.S. industry — marijuana growers and sellers — sees irony in this boast, which comes as they feel forced by the administration to invest millions in cannabis businesses across the border.

Take Privateer Holdings, one of the biggest U.S. venture capitalist firms in the cannabis industry, and MedMen, a major operator of dispensaries and production facilities. They are leading a group of U.S.-based cannabis companies that, having raised hundreds of millions in cannabis funding, are looking to Canada and overseas where their financing and investment is out of reach of regulatory roadblocks and the Trump administration’s threatened crack down on legal marijuana sales.

“Our hope is that this sounds the alarm,” said Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Privateer Holdings. “The United States is falling behind the rest of the world. Jobs, capital, investment is flowing to other countries.”

Trump took his “America first” speech Friday to the crowd of global leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where he touted strong U.S. economic growth and tax cuts while pitching the United States as the ideal place for foreign business and investment. “Now is the perfect time to bring your business, your jobs, and your investments to the US,” Trump said.

Those in the cannabis industry, though, say the president’s sales pitch rings hollow.

“People would welcome that gesture, but there is nothing that is warm and fuzzy about his body language that would suggest that there is a green light and safe harbor to invest in marijuana,” said Matt Karnes of Greenwave Advisors, an industry financial firm. “His administration has made it clear there are still risks looming.”

The reason? U.S.-based cannabis leaders say it’s clear the Trump administration wasn’t thinking of the multi-billion dollar cannabis industry during Friday’s speech, which came just three weeks after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration would encourage enforcement of federal laws against marijuana use even in states that have legalized it.

Maybe it is Attorney Elf Sessions insane antipathy to marijuana that kept him from boosting it. And then again, maybe if he tried some for the improvement of his memory he might have remembered to mention it.