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He's got a long wait on his hands, Even if California votes to legalize it on Nov. 2nd (which they wont) Marijuana will still remain Illegal on a Federal level.
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Marijuana Web Names Snapped Up, in Case of Legalization
Marijuana Web Names Snapped Up, in Case of Legalization
By MALIA WOLLAN
Published: October 27, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — It was just about a year ago that Kevin Faler came up with his get-rich-quick marijuana scheme. No, he does not plan to sell the drug, even if Californians vote next week to become the first state in the nation to fully legalize it. He intends to sell the Internet real estate that could one day lead to marijuana Web sites.
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Michael Nagle for The New York Times
Jordan Zazzara registered names mixing geography with marijuana.
Mr. Faler, a former police officer who once worked the narcotics beat, has registered more than 1,000 marijuana-related Internet domain names, including oddities like icecreammarijuana.com and marijuanapastry.com. And he is not the only one banking on the drug’s online future. He is part of an Internet land grab for marijuana domains by so-called domainers who hope to sell their holdings at a profit, betting that more lenient marijuana laws will eventually drive more people to the Web for their supplies, whether they are seeking seeds, bongs, recipes or drug-laced dog treats.
All of this has been given a fresh burst of intensity by next week’s vote on Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would legalize up to an ounce of the drug for recreational use. Fourteen states have already legalized medical marijuana.
“Marijuana domain name values will fly off the charts once Prop 19 passes,” said Mr. Faler, 49. “I’m hoping to make enough money to buy a condo in Morocco. That’s how big it’s going to be.”
Mr. Faler, who lives about 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Menifee, Calif., is poised to enter the pets and marijuana market by registering domains like potfordogs.com and marijuanadogbone.com because “dogs get cancer too” he says.
While it is unclear if such investments by enthusiastic newcomers will pay off, buying and selling Internet domain names can be a profitable business. The industry is estimated to be worth billions of dollars. A $13 million sale is pending for sex.com. In June, slots.com sold for $5.5 million and dating.com for $1.75 million. The New Jersey company that paid over $1 million for marijuana .com in 2004 says it has turned down five offers for more than $2 million for the domain in the last 12 months.
Domainers use various strategies when acquiring domain names. While Mr. Faler tends to register domains that struck his fancy at odd hours of the night, Jordan Zazzara of Long Island prefers the geographer’s method. With the help of a California map, Mr. Zazzara, 21, chose “geo-targeted” domains, registering ones that combined the state’s major city names with the words marijuana, weed, ganja, bud and cannabis.
For between $7 and $10 dollars a pop, he registered 100 domains stretching between beverlyhillsmarijuana.com and modestocannabis.com. He intends to keep them by renewing the registration every year for a nominal fee, until they are worth at least $5,000 each, he says. “I’ll sit on them for as long as I have to,” he said. “And when marijuana is an accepted thing like alcohol, which it eventually will be, these things will be worth a lot.”
Despite the enthusiasm of speculators, whether this marijuana domain gold rush will yield much legal tender depends in large part on politics.
In recent weeks, Proposition 19 has lost its lead in the polls — a recent one from the Public Policy Institute of California showed 49 percent of respondents against the measure and 44 percent in favor — but it is still favored by most younger voters and Democrats. In another blow to Proposition 19 supporters, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that even if voters passed the ballot measure, federal law enforcement officials planned to aggressively prosecute federal marijuana laws in the state.
"How much these things are worth is up to the political winds,” said Michael H. Berkens, editor of thedomains.com, a leading online news source on the domain business.
So far, most marijuana domains are being registered and resold on the cheap. DN Journal, an online publication that tracks domain sales, has documented just one dot-com domain containing the word “marijuana” that sold this year for at least $2,000, suggesting they are not yet worth much.
Still, Mr. Berkens thinks marijuana domains could be a good investment; he sees the political momentum moving toward legalization and decriminalization. “We own gaymarriage.com,” said Mr. Berkens, who is also president of Worldwide Media, a company that owns some 75,000 domains, 57 of them marijuana related. “That’s another one of these politically charged hot topics, heavily dependent on politics.”
Some in the domain business are torn for more personal reasons between a potentially lucrative investment opportunity and the moral ambiguities of marijuana.
In late September, Shane Cultra, 41, was bidding in an online auction for the domain smokingmarijuana.com when suddenly he stopped, midclick. “I asked myself, do I want to be in that business?” said Mr. Cultra, who runs a nursery in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and moonlights as a domainer specializing in plant and horticultural domains.
“There is tremendous investment opportunity there,” Mr. Cultra said. “Before long, you will be able to buy and sell marijuana on the Internet.”
But Mr. Cultra worries about associating his name — which he shares with an uncle who is a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives — with illegal, or morally shady, activities. He has a rule against buying pornography domains, another potentially profitable endeavor.
If marijuana were legal nationally, Mr. Cultra would not hesitate to snap up marijuana domains. “But then it will be too late,” he said. “The real opportunity is now.
He's got a long wait on his hands, Even if California votes to legalize it on Nov. 2nd (which they wont) Marijuana will still remain Illegal on a Federal level.
Please vote Republican in 2012, America can not sustain another 4 years
of Liberal policies that are fiscally and socially destroying the country..
buddy chose some bad names, I have a lot better ones if he is looking for a much bigger return. Prop 19 one time!
He has a unique vision, perfect. I like people with unique vision.
It's clear that's he's high.
Probably somebody here at DNF was high when they pulled down this innocent article 2 (two) times.
I have a few medical marijuana domains. One does very well in traffic and PPC.
"Just a lot of embarrassment, embarrassed to be part of group of domainers who would do this to their fellow man.",
Condemnation of Mobee boys and investors by our precious Mother Theresa of Domaindom
Where is Focus?
If this passes the province of BC will see some $1 billion in lost economic activity.
poor fool, registers anything with 'marijuana in it.
Same here, except for the traffic and PPC.Originally Posted by Doc Com
Save the wolves - join The Wolf Army today!
Please follow the rules or suffer the wrath of Thor's Hammer.
Same, I have a couple making 200-300$/month with affiliate marketing, quick site, some banners, bam. Very good conversion rates. I haven't touched them in almost a year.
Congrat's, I have one too and it's making between $450-$60 a month, which is right about what your making with two...... And it was the people on this Forum who gave me the idea to Register it.
Please vote Republican in 2012, America can not sustain another 4 years
of Liberal policies that are fiscally and socially destroying the country..
Whether someone agrees with it or not, it's a very good market. Currently in the process of seriously developing one of my names that is already providing stable revenue. A friend of mine makes about 5k a month with his site, selling products he never puts his hands on... it's pretty insane.
Only person making money is whatever registrar that kid uses.
California is only 50,000,000 people - maybe 5,000,000 potential marijuana customers. Nobody is going to pay out big bucks for these domains. Just wouldn't make economic sense.
Plus if Amsterdam is any indicator, people wont use 'Marijuana, Cannibis, Bud, Pot' etc in the name of their business - the medical marijuana places don't
Have European traffic to monetize? Try being a poker affiliate! http://bit.ly/AyPJGw
And you are forgetting how many people will move to california, and also, how many will visit to california to smoke some bud. so the number goes up by may be higher than 50,000,000.
But obama already states if they pass the prop 19, they will take it to the court. so it wont pass for 7-8 years.
Interesting article:
The Conservative Case for Legalizing Pot - Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/25/t...izing-pot.html
Pundits like Fox News’s Glenn Beck and former judge Andrew Napolitano have also joined in the debate, on the pro-legalization side. “You know what, I think it’s about time we legalize marijuana.The Cato Institute itself does not take a position on legalization, but spokesman Chris Kennedy tells NEWSWEEK that “all of our scholars definitely support an end to drug prohibition.”
All offers good for 72 hours except running auctions
Progeria Research | Pulmonary Fibrosis | Dammit!
It is an unenforceable prohibition.
Seriously, look at the decades that this has been an illegal activity?
Consider the wasted trillions of dollars of tracking, enforcing, trials, incarceration that has gone on and continues to go on.
Anyone can grow this in their house, in their yard, in their apartment, on their deck.
It is a plant and does in fact have medicinal ingredients.
Yet it is still treated as a felon in some states, a misdemeanor in others, and no big deal in some.
There are no benefits whatsoever in continuing to make it illegal.
Drinking is legal. Yet the illegal side of drinking (underage, drinking and driving) still goes on. I am sure that far more people have been killed by a drunk driver and by an outraged drunk shooting people than anyone high on pot.
Legalize it, package it, tax it, restrict it, and be done with the argument.
"Just a lot of embarrassment, embarrassed to be part of group of domainers who would do this to their fellow man.",
Condemnation of Mobee boys and investors by our precious Mother Theresa of Domaindom
I'm with you Doc. I can't waite til Hawaii becomes a alot greener than it is now.
Even if it is legalized, it will be re-criminalized in another year, once californians smoke enough pot to make them smarter
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