Posted on 08/11/2014 6:13:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
Sometimes the simple solution to a vexing problem is right there in front of us !!!!!
________________________________________________________________________________________
Yet vehicle thefts continued to increase. Going soft on crime does not somehow make it disappear.
Sort of like what happened with the Mafia after Prohibition.
But you have to consider that once marijuana is legal, then suddenly the drug cartels have to compete with legitimate commercial growers and distributors. There is limited competition when providing marijuana is a criminal activity. That's what keeps the prices and profits up.
But once the cartels have to compete with a Wal-Mart (for example, even though it won't be Wal-Mart), the increase in competition from legitimate commercial providers severely cuts into the profit to the point where the cartels can no longer afford to compete.
And I think you'll find that the demand for drugs is pretty constant, meaning I don't foresee a huge spike in demand just because it's legal.
Pretty much anybody who is interested in smoking pot can already get it without too much trouble.
Sure, there will be some increase in demand perhaps, but I don't think it will be that big.
Why aren’t we flooded with illicit booze and tobacco then?
I’ll tell you why. When the government starts generating revenue, it becomes highly motivated to defend it’s own turf.
Only a small amount of marijuana users will go onto the harder drugs.
Yeah, because battling for share in a shrinking market, among violent groups, is always such a pleasant thing. Violence isn’t going to decline, it is going to increase.
... and didn’t tax your winnings.
Actually, a friend-of-a-friend spoke with a pot-head at a party a couple of months ago. We live just a few miles from the border of Mexico and the pot-heads refuse to smoke Mexican weed, although it’s cheap and plentiful here. It’s considered low quality and (believe it or not) they don’t like the pesticides.
Apparently, there’s a sweet-spot where the consumer is willing to pay the price for good drugs. Plus, they would prefer to do drugs legally and are wiling to pay a bit more to so so.
If you look at the situation with cigarettes, you’ll see that there’s a point where the price for legal items is just too high. Then the bootlegging starts again.
The trick for impacting the drug trade is for our government to not get too greedy. (I know, I know.. we’ve already lost.)
Bootleg liquor competes because some want to sell without a license (speakeasy, unlicensed bar) or paying taxes. It has little to do with availability of the product.
Same for cigarettes. Avoid the tax, make tons of money. Even terrorist groups are in the business to raise funds.
The war on drugs will just become the war on consumers.
They’ll just undercut the government approved and taxed weed.
Does it? How does the size of the bootleg liquor market compare to that of the legal liquor market?
Nah, I call BULLSHIT!
These are people that kill as easily as they take a leak. Not going to give up a profitable business without a fight.
You should have clicked the link:
'Farmers in the storied “Golden Triangle” region of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, which has produced the country’s most notorious gangsters and biggest marijuana harvests, say they are no longer planting the crop. Its wholesale price has collapsed in the past five years, from $100 per kilogram to less than $25.
'“It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla, 50, a lifelong cannabis farmer who said he couldn’t remember the last time his family and others in their tiny hamlet gave up growing mota. “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”'
“Bootleg liquor competes because some want to sell without a license (speakeasy, unlicensed bar) or paying taxes. It has little to do with availability of the product.”
Well, I really don’t think there is any significant competition between bootleg liquor and legal liquor, that was my point. Maybe I should have included a /sarc tag.
“Same for cigarettes. Avoid the tax, make tons of money. Even terrorist groups are in the business to raise funds.”
Smuggling cigarettes, or hijacking shipment to resell them, sure. Is anyone growing unlicensed tobacco in fields and making bootleg cigarettes? If they are, I have never heard of it.
“The war on drugs will just become the war on consumers.”
These types of tax evasion seem more like a war on government, and a win for consumers, to me.
They're having to outsource to FedEx and UPS. You should have more faith in the DEA.
Moonshine is quite prevalent here in NC, but it’s also expensive.
Yeah, I was in Trump Plaza the other day. Cigarette machines were there. $13.50 a pack.
corn likker? another victim of high corn prices due to ethanol as motor fuel...
Yes, farmers are farmers, it doesn’t matter if they are growing pot or soybeans. If the market drops out, they plant something else.
Why the popularity? Tradition?
I am one of the people not surprised by this, which is why I turned against the War on Politically Incorrect Drugs. Note my tagline.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.