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Legalize marijuana?

Unfortunately, it's a hard sell politically. Old people will continue to be ignorantly anti-legalization, which means neither party (if you consider them two distinct parties...) will step up to the plate in any meaningful way. Further, those in the business of selling drugs will continue to be against legalization , since it would certainly cut into their profits. They thus prefer the status quo. The same goes for those who own and operate private prisons and members of prison guard and police unions: Ending the War on Drugs would necessitate a huge cut in their budgets. Add in some other powerful lobbies- cotton, tobacco and alcohol, pharmaceuticals- and it's such a hard thing to overcome, regardless of just how ridiculous the current policy is. It's amazing so much progress has been made (medicinal laws) in recent years.
 
Add a poll, remember to include cheese, and you got yourself a half-way decent thread. Otherwise it is just crap.
 
Anyone else think once the debt limit is reached... the GOP and Dem's are gonna have to come up with some creative solutions to cut down on spending/ create income. I think taxing the weed, might be a step in the right direction. It's a hell of a lot better than those vague economic terms like debt sealing, sharing the wealth, and eat the poor.
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Hell mass produce it and tax the hell out of it. I don't care. 400% tax or whatever, better than buying from little J on the corner.
 
The-Joker said:
Anyone else think once the debt limit is reached... the GOP and Dem's are gonna have to come up with some creative solutions to cut down on spending/ create income. I think taxing the weed, might be a step in the right direction. It's a hell of a lot better than those vague economic terms like debt sealing, sharing the wealth, and eat the poor.
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It failed in California last year, despite their well documented financial problems, so it might take a little while longer. We'll see.
 
The-Joker said:
Anyone else think once the debt limit is reached... the GOP and Dem's are gonna have to come up with some creative solutions to cut down on spending/ create income. I think taxing the weed, might be a step in the right direction. It's a hell of a lot better than those vague economic terms like debt sealing, sharing the wealth, and eat the poor.
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Hell mass produce it and tax the hell out of it. I don't care. 400% tax or whatever, better than buying from little J on the corner.
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Not a bad idea; but it will never happen. As sad as it sounds the legalization of marijuana is way too radical an idea to start at the federal level.

Legalization, if it ever happens, will most likely start at the local level and then maybe some day in the distant future at the federal level.
 
candrew said:
Not a bad idea; but it will never happen. As sad as it sounds the legalization of marijuana is way too radical an idea to start at the federal level.

Legalization, if it ever happens, will most likely start at the local level and then maybe some day in the distant future at the federal level.
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Absolutely. I was very interested in how the Feds would handle drugs had Prop 19 passed in California. If the federal government chose not to interfere, and California experienced similar results as Amsterdam and Portugal, no doubt other states would follow. The forces behind the War on Drugs must know this, and I expect when a state as politically powerful (large) as California does legalize cannabis, federal action will be severe.
 
I just read an article that at some G8 summit or something. Latin leaders are calling for the end of "the war on drugs" they want to transition from drugs being a security issue, to drugs being a social and health issue. I imagine most Americans don't see it, but I'm sure our criminalization of drugs really hits latin American countries hard. I wonder how much more prosperous it would be for Latin America if drugs were no longer an underground trade, and their Gov'ts get a little bit of the kick back from Columbian Bam Bam and Sweet Mary J.

I imagine it would be a similar situation had Tobacco been illegal when America was first starting out.
 
The-Joker said:
I just read an article that at some G8 summit or something. Latin leaders are calling for the end of "the war on drugs" they want to transition from drugs being a security issue, to drugs being a social and health issue. I imagine most Americans don't see it, but I'm sure our criminalization of drugs really hits latin American countries hard. I wonder how much more prosperous it would be for Latin America if drugs were no longer an underground trade, and their Gov'ts get a little bit of the kick back from Columbian Bam Bam and Sweet Mary J.

I imagine it would be a similar situation had Tobacco been illegal when America was first starting out.
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My guess is a lot of Latin American and South American countires already get a kick back from Colombian Bam Bam and Sweet Mary J....Blige.
 
Bump.
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Interesting posts in this thread. I recently move to the Portland area, more specifically, Vancouver, Wa. I'm 5 minutes from Portland right across the river. Yep, I live in the mecca of legal marijuana in America. Smack dab in the middle of two legalized states. Just wanted to kinda rub that in the faces of all the connoisseurs on the board that are stuck in backwards areas of the world, where the darkness still overpowers the light.
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Anyway, it's kind of surreal to watch all this come into fruition, after years of speculation over the feasibility. 25 years ago I predicted legalization in 15 years. I was off on the time, and even though I believed people would come around eventually, it's still kind of weird watching it happen. Alaska just passed legalization as well, and I think once other states see the money being raked in by taxes, they will begin to fall, one by one.
 
Revenue in CO has been far less than expected, last I heard.

Biggest problem is the "legalize it and tax the hell out of it" notion many people have and have had for a long time. There are already ways to get it illegally without paying taxes. Sales tax or slightly more would work, but extra high (no pun intended) taxes will keep people going to their friendly neighborhood pot dealer.
 
For anyone out there against legalization. First, you're kind of dumb. I don't mean that in a mean way, but it's true. Second, useage and legal status are not related. People who want to use marijuana use it. In your mind you might think that it is illegal therefore some people don't do it, but the fact is that there is very little stigma associated with it and most people would turn the other way rather than worry about a harmless pot head.

Prohibition creates opportunities for criminals that don't exist otherwise. Prohibition in and of itself does more harm than marijuana would left completely unregulated.

Marijuana prohibition is disproportionately enforced on the poor and minorities to a ridiculous extreme. It is one of the most horrendous injustices of our time.
 
Shockingly, the sky hasn't fallen in Colorado yet. Though the predictions were dire for sure.
 
Go ahead and legalize it, I still think those who smoke it are stupid, but that's their choice. I'm all about letting people make their own choices.
 
Gameface said:
Revenue in CO has been far less than expected, last I heard.

Biggest problem is the "legalize it and tax the hell out of it" notion many people have and have had for a long time. There are already ways to get it illegally without paying taxes. Sales tax or slightly more would work, but extra high (no pun intended) taxes will keep people going to their friendly neighborhood pot dealer.
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I think the projections were wildly overestimated, but part of the reason is that it's being taxed so high there has been no incentive to get rid of the black market, at least from the perspective of the black market providers and customers.

It stuns me a bit how bad elected officials are at understanding simple economic and human behavioral concepts. If the risk/reward ratio is on the reward side of providing a black market, the black market will exist. If the goes towards the risk side, it will dissipate. If someone can work for a few months and profit say $2000 for each pound sold and they can produce 20 of them in those 4 months, a black market will exist (since that comes out to $60k of tax free income a year, though there is a decent initial capital expenditure to run an operation that big). Now, if that same person could only profit $100 per that pound, and still risk arrest for commercially producing weed without a license, the black market would become much smaller because who is going to risk jail time to profit $6000 for that year. Well a few people might, but not as many.
 
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