Microsoft manager becomes marijauna mogul planning to turn his business into the Coca Cola of pot At a news conference in Seattle on Thursday former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively discussed his plans to launch a new internationally recognized marijuana brand Shively says he imagines his company becoming as powerful in the $142 billion pot industry as Coca Cola or Starbucks are in their fields A former Microsoft manager who had never even smoked marijuana 18-months ago is planning to turn his budding pot business into the Coca Cola brand of cannabis. Jamen Shively, a former Microsoft corporate strategy manager said that he envisions his Seattle-based enterprise becoming the market leader in recreational and medical cannabis, just like McDonald's dominates fast food and Starbucks, coffee. His brand, Diego Pellicer, is named after Shively's great-grandfather, a former U.S. diplomat and the 'dot bong' entrepreneuer is rapidly acquiring medical-marijuana dispensaries across Washington state and Colorado - which he hopes is the start of pots first established international brand. High Flyer: Marijuana entrepreneur and CEO of Diego Pellicer Inc. Jamen Shively announces plans to create the first U.S. national marijuana brand in Seattle, Washington, May 30, 2013 Shively, 45, whose six years at Microsoft ended in 2009, said he was soliciting investors for $10 million in start-up money and he has already roped in former Mexican President Vicente Fox - hoping to open a 'legal' pot trade between the U.S. and Mexico. 'Let's go big or go home,' said Shively to the Seattle Times. 'We're going to mint more millionaires than Microsoft with this business.' 'I've just fallen in love with the plant,' Shively told the Times. 'Especially in the medical realm I've gone from entrepreneur to advocate to activist, seriously.' Fox appeared at a news conference on Thursday in Seattle, along with Fox, where he recounted how the war on drugs has ravaged his country and praised the states of Washington and Colorado for voting to legalize the recreational use of marijuana last fall. Pot Partners: Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox (left) talks during a news conference next to marijuana entrepreneur and CEO of Diego Pellicer Inc. Jamen Shively (right) in Seattle, Washington, May 30, 2013 Handshake:Former Mexican President Vicente Fox, left, turns to Jamen Shively, CEO of Diego Pellicer, after speaking during a news conference Thursday, May 30, 2013, in Seattle Happy: Former Mexican president Vicente Fox, (left), speaks as Jamen Shively, CEO of Diego Pellicer, looks on during todays news conference May 30th, 2013, in Seattle 'It's a giant market in search of a brand,' Shively said of the marijuana industry. We would be happy if we get 40 percent of it worldwide. A 2005 United Nations report estimated the global marijuana trade to be valued at $142 billion. Washington state and Colorado became the first two U.S. states to legalize recreational marijuana when voters approved legalization in November. Shively laid out his plans, along with his vision for a future in which marijuana will be imported from Mexico, at a Thursday news conference in downtown Seattle. Joining him was former Mexican President Vicente Fox, a longtime Shively acquaintance who has been an advocate of decriminalizing marijuana. Fox said he was there to show his support for Shively's company but has no financial stake in it. 'What a difference it makes to have Jamen here sitting at my side instead of Chapo Guzman,' said Fox, referring to the fact he would rather see Shively selling marijuana legally than the Mexican drug kingpin selling it illegally. This is the story that has begun to be written here. The Face of Cannabis in the 21st Century? Named after Shively¿s great-grandfather and former vice governor of the Island of Cebu in the Philippines, Diego Pellicer, Inc. is poised to become the first name brand marijuana sold in the U.S. Cashing In on Legal Changes: A customer smokes marijuana inside of Frankie Sports Bar and Grill in Olympia, Washington on December 9th, 2012 Inspiration: Jamen Shively, a former Microsoft corporate strategy manager, said he envisions his enterprise becoming the leader in both recreational and medical cannabis - much like McDonalds in the fast food industry Stoned: A man lights his pipe at the 4/20 pro-marijuana rally in Civic Center Park in downtown Denver April 20, 2013. Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts gathered for an annual weekend celebration of legal cannabis in Colorado Shively told Reuters he hoped Fox would serve an advisory role in his enterprise, dubbed Diego Pellicer after Shively's hemp-producing great grandfather. The sale of cannabis or marijuana remains illegal in much of the world although countries mainly in Europe and the Americas have decriminalized the possession of small quantities of it. A larger number of countries have decriminalized or legalized cannabis for medical use. Shively acknowledges that his business plans conflict with U.S. federal law and are complicated by regulations in both Washington state and Colorado. He said he is interested in buying dispensaries that comply with local and state rules and are less likely to attract the scrutiny of authorities. 'If they want to come talk to me, I'll be delighted to meet with them,' he said of federal officials. 'I'll tell them everything that we're doing and show them all our books.' Furthermore, he paraphrased stoner legend and Star Wars character Obi-Wan Kenobi to sum up his attitude towards the authorities. Legal Dispensary: Employee Stephen Young restocks the shelves behind bullet-proof glass at Northwest Patient Resource Center in Seattle, Washington He said "Darth, if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." 'It Totally Blew my Mind': The thoughts of Jamen Shively - the man who plans to bring corporate credibility to cannabis On his first experience with marijuana: I tried it and I absolutely loved it. It's like I was having the most amazing creative brainstorms. And I was seeing life and situations and possibilities in just a whole new light. It was like living in a whole new dimension. So I started consuming it about once a month, and I started sharing with people the experiences I was having, so I sort of became an amateur evangelist of cannabis. How he arrived at marijuana from Cannabis: I came to be acquainted cannabis about a year-and-a-half ago. A colleague of mine at Microsoft - who is one of the top programmers there - he told me that he uses it frequently. 'Now, to give you a bit about my background, I grew up in the era of Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan - 'Just say "No" to drugs,' and 'This is your brain on drugs,' with the frying pan and the egg. 'It's something I just simply didn't want anything to do with it. And when this brilliant friend of mine tells me he was using it regularly, I said 'What the heck are you doing? Aren't you worried you're going to hurt your brain?' 'He said, to the contrary, 'I'm convinced that within five years, marijuana will come to be regarded as a health food.' It totally blew my mind. Washington state's marijuana consultant, Mark Kleiman, said he was skeptical of Shively's plans, and feared that the businessman is seeking to profit off others' addiction. 'It's very hard for me to understand why anybody seriously interested in being in the marijuana business, which after all is against the federal law, would so publicly announce his conspiracy to break that law,' said Kleiman, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, referred questions to the Department of Justice headquarters. Department officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Washington state Representative Reuven Carlyle, a Seattle Democrat, sees promise in Shively's initiative. Any industry emerging from the shadows will inevitably undergo consolidation - and thereby simplify the task of regulators, he said. 'The fact that an entrepreneur is publicly pushing the envelope around a branding and value-based pricing opportunity, I would say that's in the water in Seattle,' said Carlyle, chairman of the House Finance Committee. 'That's in our DNA ... We could have predicted that as much as the rain. Shively said he has already acquired the rights to the Northwest Patient Resource Center, a medical marijuana operation that includes two Seattle store fronts. He added that he was close to acquiring another dispensary in Colorado, as well as two more each in Washington state and California, with the owners given the option to retain a stake in their businesses. 'We've created the first risk-mitigated vehicles for investing directly in this business opportunity,' he said. Shively said he ultimately plans to create separate medical and recreational-use marijuana brands. Shively said he also plans to launch a study of the effectiveness of concentrated cannabis oil in the treatment of cancer and other illnesses.