Posted on 03/13/2009 9:53:06 AM PDT by Melinda
Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale - a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state. Pot is, after all, California's biggest cash crop, responsible for $14 billion in annual sales, dwarfing the state's second largest agricultural commodity - milk and cream - which brings in $7.3 billion annually, according to the most recent USDA statistics. The state's tax collectors estimate the bill would bring in about $1.3 billion in much-needed revenue a year, offsetting some of the billions in service cuts and spending reductions outlined in the recently approved state budget.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Cali bill says it cannot be grown “in plain sight.” Does “plain sight” include your backyard garden?
If some dummy anywhere within a couple of miles doesn’t know enough to cull the male plants, yours will turn out lousy.
Every teenager in the neighborhood will be checkin’ out your garden. By harvest time, you’ll be lucky if you still have a stem left in the ground.
I think a lot of people would prefer the convenience of just buying it at the liqor store. Plus, that way you’ll be certain it hasn’t been bumped with embalming fluid!
Pot turns you into a lazy, paranoid, hedonistic, delusional, error prone, laughing hysteric with diminished capacity for judgement. I still prefer it to alcohol.
Sure, but at what cost to the Mexican economy?
That’s the topsy-turvy logic of liberal politics. Lets legalize pot (a mind-altering drug with long-term damage to the brain) while doing everything they can to outlaw tobacco. You can smoke a cigarette and still be able to drive a car.
Look for it to go down in quality and priced through the roof if the government mits ever take hold.
Prior to the 1930’s hemp was legal to grow and smoke in all 50 states. Its use increased greatly during Prohibition and to protect the liquor industry, companies like Anhauser Busch lobbied Congress to outlaw it. And then we ended up with EXACTLY the same organized crime families moving from selling alcohol illegally to selling hemp and other drugs illegally.
Also, the social impact of pot is far less than alcohol. Yes, it will inhibit your reasoning and coordination, but I have never seen someone smoke a bit of pot and then go beat up their wife. I don’t do illegal drugs at all, but given the choice, I would decriminalize ALL recreational drugs.
That would do several positive things. First, it would remove thousands of laws aimed at finding and punishing people who sell and use the stuff and free us from crap like RICO which allows ANY law enforcement agency to steal your property under the SUSPICION that it MIGHT be drug related. Second, it would take the money source away from terrorists and criminals. Third, it would let the idiots who take them kill themselves.
Reduces or redirects the cost of a major criminal justice system failure.
LOL, a democrat!
I dont think anything can rescue California’s economy
Are you trying to make the point that it shouldn't be legalized because it'll only be 75 cents an ounce?
Which incidentally it wont. From my "understanding", it take about 1 plant to produce an ounce and a plant take several months to produce that crop - let alone the cost of the land, fertilizer and inevitable taxes. I'm not sure how all of that equates to $.75 an ounce. Help me understand it better please.
40-45% of Americans have tried it at least once = small percentage?
(Actually, I suspect such studies don't capture the true numbers i.e. those numbers are larger).
“.....given the choice, I would decriminalize ALL recreational drugs.”
Not I, having lived in a country that turns its back on drug use. Essentially, it hasn’t moved forward for centuries.
LOL...its easy to see how KA got to where it is today. The state, of course, would license production keeping a tight hold over its cut of the revenue...rather like the ATF and alcohol. Only problem is there would still be those who would grow it apart from the regulatory/tax structure set by the state. So, LE costs will likely be more than + judicial costs for trying the cases. I predict it’ll be far worse then now. Once they have a dog in the fight (tax revenues to lose) I’m sure they’ll vigorously prosecute anyone trying to short them. Oh my, then they’ll need more jails. Then there are the addition accidents (vehicular and others) caused by being high along w/ lost productivity. Then theres the question of how they’d distinguish pot grown in KA under license and imported. Oh, right they’d have tax stamps or some other ID that could easily be counterfeited. The list problems seems pretty big and daunting to me. LOL...
Sounds like a net loss...then again KA math seems to differ considerably from the norm. In reality this plan seems likely to be the straw that broke the camels back.
You’re reading way too much into my post. My point was that if marijuana was legalized, the price for an ounce wouldn’t be 20-30 dollars like it is now but much much more reasonable. Perhaps not as reasonable as 75 cents though.
Guess who will be too high to vote!
You? ;-)
I really wonder where anyone that complains that suddenly pot use would increase if it was legal went to high school. It would be hard to make weed any easier to get than it is right now. Since i was 15 or so, it would probably never take me more than a day or two to get my hands on some.
It’s already readily available, so the choice is whether or not we’re funneling money to a company like ADM or Altria, or to a mexican drug lord.
I would personally rather have the money go to a big agri-business company than fuel a de-stabilizing drug war just south of our border.
California undoubtedly makes tons of money via selling beer. Yet, at the same time, still allows its citizens to home-brew between 100-200 gallons of beer per calendar year (depending on how many adults are in the household).
Through legalization, I reasonably expect BOTH use and production to SKYROCKET. There's going to be an equalization of supply/demand somewhere in there, and I dont see how the cost of the product is going to be remotely 1/500th what it is now.
Hell, I'll join in since I wont have to pee in bottles and I already love to pass the time Saturday night's sitting in my hot tub staring at the clouds and moon.
Where the hell does anyone pay 20 or 30?
“Not to beat a dead horse, but only a small percentage of society even tries marijuana once, much less a daily smoker. So, it might actually be a good idea to temporarily legalize marijuana - that’s how it was in the past.”
Were it legalized, a far higher percentage would be smoking it. There are severe societal costs to such an outcome.
Keep it illegal keeps it marginalized. I think that is a very good thing.
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