Yeah, heroin users will switch to legal marijuana.
"Make up the difference how?"
It's only 15%. They'll figure it out.
"and still force out the street trade as hopelessly price-uncompetitive."
Who wants cheap marijuana? Seriously. Other than marijuana users, that is. And they're only 6% of the population.
Do parents want cheap marijuana? Law enforcement? Employers? Teachers?
CAN it be cheap? Of couse it CAN. But why do you think it WILL?
"Try to follow me here: legalization is the complement of banning."
Then let's do the analogy the same way. If legalizing unlimited and unlicensed full-auto Tec-9s would result in the doubling in the number of deaths to sweet innocent precious adorable little babies, would I support legalizing them? My answer would be no.
But, you have no basis for any of your analogies. I do for mine.
Like that "clawhammer" atrocity?
Of course! Not all of them. Perhaps not even most of them. But more than zero of them, surely. Why would you think otherwise?
Oh, I get it. You've bought into the bullspit propaganda, and you think heroin is some sort of evil mystical voodoo, which instantly and magically helplessly ensnares those who are foolish enough to consume it. As it happens, only about 3.8% of people who've tried heroin have used it in the past month, but don't let the facts get in the way of gulping down what the gubmint feeds you, hook, line, and sinker.
Fact is, no matter how much the antidrug hysterics try to pretend otherwise, the vast majority of the users of a drug, any drug, do not become addicted. That 3.8% figure for heroin? The corresponding figure for marijuana is 18%, for crack cocaine is 8.6%, and for allegedly instantly-addictive methamphetamine, 4.9%. The sole exception is tobacco; 42% of those who have ever smoked a cigarette are still smoking today.
It's only 15%. They'll figure it out.
They'll "figure out" how to break the laws of economics? Man, you really do think that drugs and their dealers have some sort of mystical power, don't you? Surely you're smarter than a drug dealer; please tell me how a market can be totally unaffected by the loss of one sixth of revenue. If they'll figure it out, you ought to be able to as well.
Who wants cheap marijuana? Seriously. Other than marijuana users, that is. And they're only 6% of the population.
You never answered my question about whether you consider America a "free country", but obviously, you do not. What does it matter what other people want? Freedom means that what you do ain't nobody's bidness but yours. Freedom means that the activities of consenting adults are not subject to being overruled by the king, the President, the Congress, or the majority. And people like you have contempt for the freedom which is supposed to be the birthright of every American, for which our ancestors fought and died.
By the way, over one third of Americans have used marijuana, and 12% have used in in the past year. Not sure what stinky crack you pulled 6% from, but I have my suspicions. Not that it matters... a majority of 99.9% has no right to interfere with the freedom of the remaining 0.1%.
CAN it be cheap? Of couse it CAN. But why do you think it WILL?
Because I understand economics. Because I know that in a free market, prices are not determined by what people "want". They're not determined by the parents, or the law enforcers, or the employers, or even the teachers. They're determined by the laws of supply and demand, and when that supply curve takes a big jump to the right, price takes a big jump downward.
Then let's do the analogy the same way. If legalizing unlimited and unlicensed full-auto Tec-9s would result in the doubling in the number of deaths to sweet innocent precious adorable little babies, would I support legalizing them? My answer would be no.
Oh, I see. But if criminalizing perfectly legal handguns, rifles, and shotguns would have exactly the same effect in reverse, you'd oppose that, too. I get it now. You're a champion of the status quo. You favor keeping things just as they are, with no progress, because that's just the way we do things. Thanks for clearing that up.