May 31, 2013 11:35AM # Entrepreneurs Eye Marijuana Market By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) --- SHARE Jamen Shively, a former Microsoft executive, wants to create the Starbucks of marijuana. From *[CNET News](http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57586995-71/ex-microsoft-exec-to-create-the-starbucks-of-marijuana/)*: > His idea, [as he explained to the Seattle Times](http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021075621_potshivelyxml.html), is to buy his own dispensaries in pot-friendly states such as Washington and Colorado and begin his long march toward a branded fortune. > > > His company is to be called Diego Pellicer–this a homage to Shively’s great-grandfather, who was once governor of Cebu in the Philippines. > > > His plan is to import from Mexico. Indeed, former president of the country Vicente Fox [appeared with Shively at a Seattle news conference Thursday](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333643/Microsoft-manager-marijauna-mogul-planning-turn-business-Coca-Cola-pot.html?ito=feeds-newsxml) (video at the link). > > > Fox said at the news conference: “What a difference it makes to have Jamen here sitting at my side instead of Chapo Guzman.” Guzman is one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords. There is a problem: until the federal criminal law on marijuana is repealed, the climate is especially risky for investors in such an enterprise. For Cato work related to the drug war, go [here](https://www.cato.org/research/drug-war). ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).