Marijuana is going to be legalized in about one year from now nationwide across Canada. This then begs the question of whether the marijuana industry is really as destructive to society as critics say it is, and also whether other certain business industries similar the marijuana industry are also being negatively portrayed over the top without being justified with solid critical evidence. For instance from a health prospective while marijuana does lead to social issues like more unproductive citizens, marijuana addiction and delusional behavior, it is not as harmful as other drugs which are not banned, for instance cigarettes. This coupled with the fact that medical marijuana has medical uses for patients in need, presents us with a moral dilemma. Are certain industries being portrayed in an overly negative light with their potential benefits being ignored by the public because of political dogma which is not allowing us to look at industries in a critical manner when considering if they are ethical or not.

This question of whether we overly portray certain industries in a negative manner without really critically thinking about it is perfectly illustrated by this Globe and Mail article I read. This article uncovers the irony of how two of Canada’s former top cops went from being totally against the marijuana industry to becoming marijuana middlemen after being educated about the pros of the marijuana industry. For instance the article says: Mr Fantino who formerly headed the Ontario Provincial Police, and who in his unsuccessful 2015 reelection bid heavily criticized marijuana has now changed his attitude towards the drug. He said quote “We’re talking about the medical benefits that have evolved and been tried and proven … it’s been a matter of informing myself, educating myself.” This is after his experience of being Veterans Affairs minister where he quote “saw how Afghan war veterans were turning to prescription marijuana to deal with anxiety, sleep disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.” This illustrates the business ethics dilemma of the marijuana industry, while on the one hand it causes social problems however on the other hand it really helps medical patients in need of marijuana.

Overall, I think from a business ethics perspective we should reevaluate what constitutes an ethical and non-ethical business since it is not as clear cut and black and white as we perceive it to be as this article has shown. Also I believe that society should look at business ethics by weighing up the pros and cons without only focusing on either the pros or the cons in a one sided manner.

Word Count: 428

References:

-Freeze, C. (2017, September 25). Former top cops Fantino,
Souccar launch marijuana-services business. Retrieved September
25, 2017, from https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/
former-top-cops-launch-prescription-marijuana-business/article36374949/?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theglobeandmail.com&

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Michael, 13th September 2017

About 5 years ago in 2012 there were several high profile cases of tax avoidance which caught UK national attention where big firms such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks were accused of avoiding UK and European taxes by the UK government and the European Commission by diverting hundreds of millions of pounds to secretive tax havens. In particular Starbucks was alleged to have only payed £8.6million in corporate taxes over 14 years despite generating £3billion in revenue over this same time period including no tax payments on £1.3 billion of sales in the three years prior to 2012 according to a Reuters special report in October 2012. This begs the question of whether businesses have the obligation to contribute a much higher portion of their proceeds earned from the monetization of their products to the wider community at large. Since a business is essentially an entity which resembles the collective interests of various stakeholders both internal and external all synthesized together. I believe the role of ethics in business for a corporation is to deliver on the interests of as many of it’s stakeholders as possible as well to deliver each stakeholder’s interests to as high a standard possible so long as the business remains profitable and sustainable.

While there are growing calls for there to be political pressure on forcing corporations to cut back on their endless quest for more profit and only delivering for their essential core stakeholder’s such as shareholders and instead start focusing more on the well-being of society at large. However this may not be feasible, we are in a bit of a predicament because if governments intervene too much in business and do not allow companies to be dynamic and effectively monetize their products and services to customers and thereby reap the benefits of their hard work then there will be no incentive for any corporation to exist and operate to actually generate wealth if it would all be for nothing in the end, hence inadvertently hurting wealth creation and the prosperity of society.

Therefore using the theory of Corporate social responsibility I believe that companies have the obligation to treat all individuals or stakeholders affected by the company’s decisions with decency and respect. This means that there must be a balance where companies have the obligation to not commit tax avoidance and contribute to the well-being of society at large, as well as pay their employees acceptable wages while simultaneously being able to effectively monetize their products to benefit their stakeholders and remain functional. Lastly in addition to this corporations should also try to fulfill other business ethics theories such as Corporate environmental responsibility and corporate honesty etc.

Citations:

-Bergin, Tom. “Special Report: How Starbucks avoids UK taxes.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 15 Oct. 2012, uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-starbucks-tax/special-report-how-starbucks-avoids-uk-taxes-idUKBRE89E0EX20121015. Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

-“Starbucks.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks#European_tax_avoidance. Accessed 12 Sept. 2017.