Growers struggle with glut of legal pot in Washington state

AP via finance.yahoo.com ^ | Jan 16, 2015 | Gene Johnson

[posterchild]

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington's legal marijuana market opened last summer to a dearth of weed. Some stores periodically closed because they didn't have pot to sell. Prices were through the roof.

Six months later, the equation has flipped, bringing serious growing pains to the new industry.

A big harvest of sun-grown marijuana from eastern Washington last fall flooded the market. Prices are starting to come down in the state's licensed pot shops, but due to the glut, growers are — surprisingly — struggling to sell their marijuana. Some are already worried about going belly-up, finding it tougher than expected to make a living in legal weed.

"It's an economic nightmare," says Andrew Seitz, general manager at Dutch Brothers Farms in Seattle.

[DiogenesLamp]

So, your assertion is that the USA was a worse place to live before we banned illicit drugs and that banning them has made it a much better place to live.

Uh uh uh, not going to fall into that distorted logic trap. (Fallacy of the false premise)

Prior to the Civil war, drugs were not banned because few people had any experience with them, there was little of them available, and therefore they weren't causing any problems. After the civil war caused the importation of tons of opium and cocaine, and after it created 400,000 addicts from "the Soldier's disease" the conditions were primed for drugs to start causing problems which they thereafter did.

Once you get the history correct, then it becomes obvious that banning them was exactly the right thing to do. Usage in 1900 was estimated at about 2% of the population, and usage today is still approximately 2% of the population. Do you know what happened in a country that did not ban drugs when they were only 2% of the population? This is what happened.

Chests of Opium imported to China.

It didn't happen here because *WE STOPPED IT EARLY*.

[FunkyZero]

"If it’s legal there is no way to tax or control it."

Sure there is. Try growing any usable amount of tobacco. Try buying seeds and look at the restrictions. It can be done, but it is tightly controlled. Those SOB's will NOT do without your money

[reasonisfaith]

The maxim “Do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone” is a horrible moral code. It came from ideas advocated by occult leaders a century ago and then spread into pop culture, music and hollywood. As a moral value it’s demonic, and should be avoided at all costs.

[FunkyZero]

"Well, we learned how many people once favored & still do favor enlisting Big Government to control what adults put in their own bodies (yet still consider themselves "conservative"). "

That is the disappointing part to me. Some people want complete freedom, but only for the stuff that THEY do. It is shameful hypocrisy in my humble opinion. There is no half-way. Government in, or out of your business. choose a side

[freepersup]

Well then... THIS Pope doesn’t help to quell that group think one iota, IMHO.

[freepersup]

Whoops- replied to an answer meant for another thread. I’ll be right back.

[freepersup]

NO ONE can point to a single death related to marijuana. NO ONE!!! Abortions... drunk driving... terrorism... etc. it’s all out there- with empirical evidence. Where’s yours? >>>Face palm.<<<

[DiogenesLamp]

Dad seeks excuses for his son and for his own parenting.

Well that's one theory. On the other hand, a narcotic substance that tampers with brain chemistry might cause psychosis in some people. Here's another example.

T.B. I've never tried cocaine. I think I might have tried it once and got nothing out of it. Just snorted a little bit. And I just don't mess with it. It's too expensive. And I suppose if I was on the streets and had enough of it, I might get into it.

But I'm strictly a marijuana man. All I do is... I love to smoke reefer. And I haven't, uh, never have tried anything but reefer. And valiums. And of course, alcohol.

From "Ted Bundy, conversations with a killer."

[DiogenesLamp]

And your recommendation is that we fight the symptoms rather than the cause?

Once the fire has started it's too late to put out the match. You have to do that BEFORE the fire starts. After it starts you have to work at smothering it any way you can.

[offwhite]

"As did tobacco use, while remaining legal."

I believe mango consumption was also down.

[ConservingFreedom]

substance that tampers with brain chemistry might cause psychosis in some people.

We should imprison people for possessing substances that MIGHT adversely affect SOME people?

I see you never responded to this point: Do you have any idea how many pot users are psychotic killers? Just about none of them.

[ConservingFreedom]

Since the use of a drug such as tobacco fell without it being made illegal, the fall in pot use can be explained without reference to its chronologically prior banning.

[DiogenesLamp]

You think you can better persuade the rest of FR with denunciations of me than with rebuttals of my arguments? I have a higher opinion of FR.

There are a lot of highly knowledgeable and very intelligent people here on Free Republic, but it has seemingly been my curse to end up arguing with the fools.

but their legality, as befits a free people.

I guess the concept of "Soma" is just over your head?

[ConservingFreedom]

The maxim “Do what you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone” is a horrible moral code.

But a pretty good philosophy of government.

[DiogenesLamp]

When pot gets totally legalized and it will, there will be no tax boon. It will be grown in gardens right along side tomatoes.

And in ditches right along side the bodies.

[Mad Dawgg]

"And in ditches right along side the bodies."

Yeah, I saw all the pictures of dead bodies in the ditches in Colorado from all the weed smokers dieing en mass.

Maybe Congress can pass a law...

(Yes, the above would be sarcasm)

[Beagle8U]

” Try growing any usable amount of tobacco.”

The nursery 1/2 mile from my house sells tobacco plants in flats right along with tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc etc.

[offwhite]

"the fall in pot use can be explained without reference to its chronologically prior banning."

Uh-huh. Just like those hoofbeats could be zebras.

[ConservingFreedom]

Those "zebras" are more common than you think: from 1980 to 1995, alcohol consumption dropped by 23% while remaining legal.

[DiogenesLamp]

Has it solved that problem to date?

Greatly Ameliorated but not "solved." To "solve" the problem, we need to use tactics more like Singapore.

The fact that usage has been held down to 2% for over 100 years is evidence that it has been pretty successful so far. in China it took less than 70 years to reach 50% usage according to the Drug Library.org.