A group of US representatives plan to introduce legislation that will legalize marijuana and allow states to legislate its use, pro-marijuana groups said Wednesday.Posted on 06/22/2011 5:21:01 PM PDT by hamboy
A group of US representatives plan to introduce legislation that will legalize marijuana and allow states to legislate its use, pro-marijuana groups said Wednesday.
The legislation would limit the federal government's role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, and allow people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal.
The bill, which is expected to be introduced on Thursday by Republican Representative Ron Paul and Democratic Representative Barney Frank, would be the first ever legislation designed to end the federal ban on marijuana.
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
Personally, I don't really care how other people live their lives as long as their actions don't affect me.
As I said, some of the biggest a$$holes I've met are recovering alcoholics who are clean and sober. To assign blame to the intoxicant instead of the person consuming it is the same thing as blaming the gun for the crime.
i think I can handle the situation ~ but the focus is on dopers. Just how good a shot do you think you are when you’re high.
Did you imagine that California with its new agribusiness ~ growing MJ ~ didn't do a trick on the supply side?
It's all basic economics. When a serious recession hits and the money runs out the price drops, the profits decline, the independent sales forces kill each other as fast as they can.
If you’re correct, why are we fighting a “war on drugs”? If supply is so high, why would anyone want to smuggle pot across the border? Why would you risk such a thing if demand is low for your product and supply is high? Wouldn’t you be better off selling pottery? Can you point me to any data at all?
And about CA growing pot. I only heard about a desire to grow. Are they actually in production? Legally?
http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/harrison.cannabis.04.html ~ search for Marijuana Supply and Demand. There are thousands of articles. This one was rather interesting since it is typically schizophrenic ~ and you do know the linkage with that problem, right? Didn’t think so.
Good to know, but the lack of judgment that comes with intoxication of any kind means that people who drink or use drugs inevitably harm others in society (if not you in particular).
As I said, some of the biggest a$$holes I've met are recovering alcoholics who are clean and sober.
Cute, but I'm sure most of the biggest a$$holes you've met are not in recovery. Your point is irrelevant. And the the line for people presently under the influence is skewed towards a$$hole. The vast majority of recovering alcoholics and addicts (and there is quite a bit of overlap) are neutral. Except perhaps in the early stages abstinence has nothing to do with personality. And, no, I am neither an alcoholic nor an addict. To assign blame to the intoxicant instead of the person consuming it is the same thing as blaming the gun for the crime.
This is a specious argument. Possession of a gun does not actively change change personality and behavior or adversely effect judgment.
I don't get high and my shootin' skills are above average.
I don't like the idea of some do-gooder telling me what I can or can't do because they believe they are morally superior to me.
Sound better?
Now, let your moral inferior tell you this ~ you are part of the problem or you are part of the solution, and, as usual "Git Out The Way".
Sobriety doesn't guarantee good judgment nor freedom from the consequences of the actions of others.
Cute, but I'm sure most of the biggest a$$holes you've met are not in recovery.
You're right. The biggest a$$holes I've met are those do-gooders who think they are morally superior and are able to tell others how to live their lives.
Possession of a gun does not actively change change personality and behavior or adversely effect judgment.
Which again begs the question, was Jesus the only person in the entire history of mankind who was able to have a glass of wine with dinner without becoming a danger to himself or those around him?
Then, it sounds like you're someone that should have his 2nd Amendment rights restricted because sooner or later you're going to become a danger to himself or those around him, just like the drunks and the dopers you abhor.
OK, you didn’t read that article did you?
From your article: “The price of marijuana has been increasing on both a per pound and per ounce basis.” But you said the price is down.
“...it would appear that world production is sufficient for the demand.” Yet “...only about 25% of the marijuana consumed in the U.S. is grown domestically.” Meaning 75% must be imported.
And here’s a very honest statement: “Since we’re discussing production of an illegal drug, we can’t be sure which, if either, estimate is closer to the truth.”
“Having addressed the issues of increased potency, easy availability and rising prices, it is important to look at the other side of this equation - the effectiveness of law enforcement authorities in reducing the supply of marijuana.”
If we’re importing 75% and the cops are trying to reduce supply, what do you think is going to happen?
You’re literally just blowing smoke, my friend.
PLUS, the potency. THC, no magic ingredient, gives MJ it's kick. Set your price point on so many dollars per mmg THC and I think you'll see MJ has dropped in price.
Yes, but our discussion has been about whether artificially reducing supply pushes up prices and encourages drug violence. You said no, if I understood you correctly. So far, you have no basis for your opinion.
I do appreciate your engaging in this discussion. I don’t smoke...anything. I have only a market based opinion. And while I have read about newly discovered links to long-term pot use and mental disorders, I am also aware of the effects of alcohol consumption and yet we regulate and market alcohol in any number of wonderful ways.
How can you possible miss the correlation unless it’s deliberate? Last time I talked to someone at FR about this they had a horrible story about a relative whose life was ruined by drugs. The experience clouded the discussion. All drugs, he insisted, must be eradicated, too much was at stake.
If that’s your experience I emphasize, but the cure, as with prohibition, may be worse than the disease.
Always somebody around thinking snake oil is a real cure.
Anyway, normal market forces may or may be at play in pricing strategies for MJ. If you paid close attention to those prices provided by the government, they varied by over 1000% in many instances. One place you could get a nickel bag for $5. In other places it was $1000!
Even the estimates on availability are rather broadly brushed onto the page.
You can research "Marijuana DEA Seizures" to get an idea of what is going on ~ which may or may not be factual. They claimed they doubled normal seizure levels in 2008 (Fiscal Year 2009, in part).
That's a sign that demand had dropped leaving more MJ at wholesale, on site, and DEA found it ~ or maybe unpaid assistants decided to rat out the cartel for a government payoff.
DEA is rather closed mouthed about the hows and whys of those seizure increases.
But here's something else for you to consider ~ we probably don't know anymore and actually can't know. With the invention of WHITE LEDs, you can now grow MJ in a bookcase behind doors and no one will know. They can't just check your power usage to see if you are growing lots of MJ. LEDs are cold light ~ and consume little power. Still, you can buy a decent LED set up that'd grow a basement's worth of out of season dahlias for a few hundred bucks. I suppose you could grow a basement's worth of MJ with the same set up.
The base price of LEDs is staying high due to a tremendous upsurge in demand for LEDs. There are LED Christmas light displays on the net showing how to wrap a string of LED lights around your plants!
No doubt the home grown stuff is making an impact of some kind on the cartels.
“They claimed they doubled normal seizure levels in 2008 (Fiscal Year 2009, in part).
That’s a sign that demand had dropped leaving more MJ at wholesale, on site, and DEA found it ~ or maybe unpaid assistants decided to rat out the cartel for a government payoff.
DEA is rather closed mouthed about the hows and whys of those seizure increases.”
I don’t know how you conclude that increased seizures equal decreased demand. Can it not also mean increased trafficking? And if it was seized it does not simply leave more product at wholesale, it removes supply which increases prices and, in the past, has encouraged more trafficking. I still don’t see how that has changed.
Your next conclusion is intriguing.
“No doubt the home grown stuff is making an impact of some kind on the cartels.”
If there’s a glut of pot in the system, we are clearly loosing the “war” are we not? If anyone with an empty bookcase can grow a little, there will, at some point, be no reason for cartels to reign in Mexico. By this reasoning they may be better off crossing the border because there’s going to be an even greater need for police raids of private residences. We may be seeing SWAT vans slowly cruising through parking lots by the gun shops looking for day workers very soon. No?
No, but again, an early side effect of intoxication is impaired judgment. People who are unsophisticated when sober turn into morons when intoxicated. We've been over this, and yet you won't let it go. Perhaps something is effecting your own judgment?
You're right. The biggest a$$holes I've met are those do-gooders who think they are morally superior and are able to tell others how to live their lives.
You've led a charmed life. I've never met this guy, but he is the biggest "a$$hole" I can think of on this rainy day in NY.
This is called turnabout. Obviously I don't think ALL people who use drugs are like David Laffer, but when you suggest that Conservatives with society's best interests in mind are all "a$$holes who think they are morally superior," I have to bring the conversation back to something approaching reality. Ron and Nancy Reagan were HUGE "a$$holes" by your terms.
Which again begs the question, was Jesus the only person in the entire history of mankind who was able to have a glass of wine with dinner without becoming a danger to himself or those around him?
Personally it would not bother me one bit if alcohol was illegal along with all the other mind altering drugs, so you're barking up the wrong tree with that one.
Jesus never got drunk, as far as we know. Again, there is a fundamental difference between alcohol and all illegal drugs: Throughout human history non-alcoholics have been able to enjoy alcohol socially and in moderation without getting drunk (and without the intention of getting drunk), while the only reason to smoke pot is to get stoned.
Given that this was happening simultaneously with a substantial world wide economic collapse, the most reasonable conclusion is that it was backed up at the Wholesale level due to lack of demand at the Retail level.
These people are thugs who did not stay awake in school to learn anything.
This is creeping up on them fast. Still, they have a visceral understanding of some capitalist fundamentals ~ one of them is when times get tough the toughs get tougher and dispose of their competitors. At the same time they still have to maintain a retail network.
International Harvester misunderstood that back in the 70s and ended up broke and bankrupt but it's dealer network was still flush with cash ~ just didn't have any product.
“...the most reasonable conclusion is that it was backed up at the Wholesale level due to lack of demand at the Retail level.”
You have absolutely no basis to make that assumption. Alcohol sales normally increase during economic hard times (I have no figures for this recent recession). How do you conclude that pot is different. You have no basis to assume that there is a wholesale glut.
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