When I was in macroeconomics class in college, I was a bit of a teacher's pet. Oh fine, I was a fucking kiss ass. Oh how I loved guns and butter, supply and demand, elasticity, inelasticity and public policy. This lead to many after-class conversations about such concepts as marijuana legalization.
My professor was worldly, wise, and not afraid to crack a nasty joke in class. My god...this class was everything I loved. I miss it.
One day, after class, I walked with my professor to her office. I asked her, "what do you think would happen if marijuana was legalized?"
"It doesn't matter what your political and philosophical opinion of it is, the bottom line is that if it were regulated it could then be subject to a special tax, like cigarettes. It would be a huge source of income for the government."
At the time, I was a conservative little pisher. So I wanted to disagree with this, but it made so much sense that I couldn't no matter how hard I tried to spin my mental wheels.
She was a touch before her time. She just needed a little visible hand of Obama to get her idea off the ground.
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Have you ever been inside a "medicinal marijuana dispensary"?
In California, it's hardly an illegal-looking operation. It's not on par with illegal abortions, sketchy Mexican plastic surgeries, or buying Viagara from the internet. It's pretty damned safe and regulated. Whatever your position on consumption, it's no worse for the human body (but this is a war between lungs and liver) than alcohol.
There are advisers that know their crop better than their own ass. There are private consultation rooms. A professional cashier. You can be assured that you won't be getting something you don't want. Additionally, you can be sure you'll be offered the healthiest in weed options for you and your condition - that is, of course, if you legitimately have one.
The prices are fair, but they're raking in money hand over fist. In California, state law prohibits these cannabis confectionaries from being "money making organizations".
As of present, the only tax collected from dispensaries is standard California sales tax. Last year, this rang up to $18 million.
That's it? A paltry $18 million? Gee gadz. Seems to me we're missing out. It also seems to me that California has just been handed quite an auspicious gift - the new federal disinterest in prosecuting these dispensaries and other sticky-icky related crimes. Now, the state can decide how these "crimes" shall be prosecuted.
In a time when Los Angeles kindergarten classes receive a $30 a year for supplies, road repairs simply don't happen, and the state budget is simply fucked - isn't this quite the blessing?
This new removal of federal interest in prosecuting marijuana related crimes allows California to act - and possibly fully legalize and tax marijuana. Oh bless this new income opportunity. It's more than a piggy bank. It's a Three Mile Island of cash flow.
Seems like um, dare I say, we should just legalize it.
It does more than just create a source of income, it would eliminate a major money-suck: marijuana possession and distribution crimes. Prosecution, court times, and incarceration are absurd for such a non-violent crime. Legalization would also eliminate the opportunity for marijuana distribution to become a violent crime at all.
I don't smoke weed. This isn't a plea and examination for my own benefit. I hate weed. The last time I smoked, my boyfriend and I ended up slumped over in the corner of some back house on our friend's property. Unable to stand, unable to focus my eyes, and unable to formulate a fucking sentence. I was also convinced at the time that it was a great idea to take a cab from Burbank to West LA (approximately a $60 cost). Yeah. I don't like weed, but I know a lot of people to whom it is a favorable substitution for alcohol. Good for them.
Everybody needs their vice. Everybody also needs a savior. Right now, California needs both.
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I happen to like it. But I know I have no business being out in active society when I use it. My reflexes are seriously below par. As much as I hate it being illegal ... and rediculously expensive ... I'm not sure I want it more accessable either. Just say'n.
And as far as "if we legalize one drug" thinking, the "drug war" has failed miserably because once kids figure out how savagely they've been LIED TO about dope, they figure that the same degree of bullshit applies to every other drug, many of which pose real dangers.
I wrenched my back something fierce a year or so ago. I didn't consider visiting any medical marijuana dispensary. I don't trust anything like that at all.
I would love, however, to be able to grow a couple of plants alongside my tomatoes. I wonder if I'll live long enough to see the laws changed so that a weed is just a weed again.
The stupidity of modern man is truly boundless.
I know a lady who is a medical marijuana patient in the state in which I live. Every year she grows a couple of plants in the back yard, and that takes care of her for an entire year. Other than regular watering and fertilizing and an occasional dose of organic insecticide it requires little care. I think it is fair to say that marijuana takes less work than having roses. It is simple to harvest and it dries in a couple of weeks. It takes a little work to trim the buds, but overall is probably less work than making a batch of homebrew beer -- and less expensive. It requires little space, and someone in an apartment could grow it outside in a container on the back patio.
If it were legal, given the ease and low cost of production (for small quantities) I don't see why people wouldn't grow their own, especially since they could save a hell of a lot of money by so doing.
I have a whole other list of why pot shouldn't be legalized, most of it hinges on the fact that pot is a complex drug that can be as harmful as it is helpful. We use cocaine and opium in medicine, but I don't see anyone asking for them to be legalized.
R
The same could be said of tobacco too -- especially with cigarettes at nearly $7 a pack here in Michigan, but you don't see many people growing it. You can buy loose tobacco to skim a few bucks and roll your own, but you don't see many people doing that either.
Pot is not as easy to grow as you say it is, from my own personal witness. I've never grown any myself, but I know two guys who have, both with minimal success. The first guy was a dude I dated in my early 20s who constantly had the light on in his bedroom closet and I couldn't ever figure out why (I was so adorable!) and the second guy was my ex-boyfriends brother, who couldn't tie his own damn shoelaces, but knew everything there was to know pretty much about weed. If anyone could grow weed it was this guy, and every time he tried it was an epic fail for the most part. The weed just sucked. I don't know: California climes are much different than here in the Mitten, but it's still expensive considering the fact that plants need almost constant light, and that you have to keep the males and the females seperated (isn't that right? I'm drawing on old knowledge here.)
Having a green thumb is a gift. I can't even keep my philodendron alive on my nightstand, which is supposed to be THE plant for the gardening deficient. As we do with cigs, I'm sure there are people out there who will just say 'fuck it' and pay the tax.
Where I live, there are 20 pot collectives and only three McDonalds . . . .I smell trouble . . .
Seriously, I think its past time to legalize it!
Rated!
buying pot today is horribly expensive and dangerous due to the criminals you have to deal with and the risk of arrest.
Still, pot heads have not planted every open acre with seeds to enjoy free weed.
How come?
Because people are lazy, especially pot heads.
People would pay a fair price to the producer and a fairly unfair tax if it was legal.
At least that is how I see it.
I don't have a problem with pot being used medically. I didn't realize that it was illegal in this manner in other states. I think it's foolish not to use it in that manner. When I talk about legalizing pot, I'm talking in terms of legal like tobacco, as they are arguing here in California. I don't believe it should be as legal as tobacco. I'm also not for putting drug users in jail, whether they are addicts or recreational users. You can be fined for being drunk on the street, I see no difference.
But here is my main concern: THC, which is getting stronger in pot, causes psychosis. In young men under the age of 30, this can lead to schizophrenia. (I've only seen studies on men, I don't know what it is for women.) I know & have known more than a few people who become aggressive and/or paranoid when they smoke pot. It is not all peace love and happiness. I cannot in good consciousness vote that pot be as legal as tobacco when it can, in a single use, cause mental illness.
“These findings may provide insight into the biological basis of why cannabis use worsens schizophrenia, and, as a result, identify a novel target for new drug development that could improve treatments available for schizophrenia,” said Dr. Lewis.
(Thanks Marcelleqb, I hadn't heard about that link)
I'm still in favor of legalizing it, but maybe it needs an legal age to it, like alcohol has.
Yes! This would turn this state budget deficit around in a New York second! All for it! I'd rather take a legal toke from time to time than be addicted to prescription medication. Can't stop thinking about our Native American Indians, sitting in a nice friendly circle, passing the "peace pipe." Damn right they figured out how to achieve peace! Then the Euro transplants came over and screwed that all up! And then some. OK, I'll go quietly now. Like your post very munchie!
Just saying, I don't think most people would go through the effort of growing, waiting, harvesting, etc. when the store is in constant supply.
that ludicrous smear is belied by the simple fact that fifty million people in the states have smoked and schizophrenia is virtually unheard of.
Pitiful that you would repeat such foolish propaganda.
http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/streetdrugs.html
It doesn't make someone not prone to that condition all of a sudden get the disease, but it does seem to push along a weakened system.
however " It is also notable that some research suggests that alcohol abuse is a stronger predictor of psychotic symptoms than regular cannabis use (by a factor of four)." you don't see anyone talking about the need to ban alcohol because it causes schizophrenia.
From the BBC, 2005:
"Award-winning researchers have claimed that smoking cannabis trebles the risk of becoming schizophrenic.
Scientists from Cardiff University studied the life patterns of 50,000 people who carried out national service in Sweden over a 27-year period.
The study found that people who had used cannabis more than 50 times before the age of 18 were three times more likely to develop schizophrenia."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4425730.stm
"Evidence has been around for some time linking marijuana use to psychoses; the debate concerns the nature of the relationship. Here are some theories:
The gene that puts a person at risk for schizophrenia may also predispose him to use marijuana, sometimes called cannabis. A study of Swedish military enlistees found that cannabis use might increase the risk of schizophrenia by as much as 30 percent in people who are genetically susceptible.
...Cannabis use triggers schizophrenia and other psychoses. Evidence is mounting to support this theory. For example, a recent review of studies that examined schizophrenia risk for cannabis users found that people who used marijuana by age 18 were more likely to develop schizophrenia than those who did not. Other studies report that people who have used marijuana more than 50 times were six times more likely to receive a schizophrenia diagnosis.
...Schizophrenia and Other Drugs
Studies that have examined the relationship between schizophrenia and other drugs are less common. Alcohol is the substance most often abused by people with schizophrenia. While alcohol can cause a relapse of symptoms, there is no evidence to suggest that alcohol use causes schizophrenia. And stimulants, like cocaine and amphetamines, are linked to types of psychosis, while heroin users were actually at a lower risk for developing psychoses."
http://www.everydayhealth.com/schizophrenia/drug-use-and-schizophrenia.aspx
"Interest in the association between cannabis and schizophrenia received a major boost from the Swedish Conscript study, a large historical, longitudinal cohort study of all Swedes conscripted in 1969-1970 (Andreasson et al., 1987). Since Sweden mandates military service, 97% of males aged 18 to 20 years were included. Individuals who at age 18 reported having used cannabis >50 times were six times more likely than nonusers to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia in the ensuing 15 years. Adjusting for other relevant risk factors, including psychiatric diagnosis other than psychosis at conscription, reduced but did not eliminate the higher risk (odds ratio [OR]=2.3) of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis use.
A reanalysis and extension of the same Swedish conscript cohort reconfirmed that those who were heavy cannabis users by the age of 18 were 6.7 times more likely than nonusers to be hospitalized for schizophrenia 27 years later (Zammit et al., 2002). The OR for cannabis use and schizophrenia remained significant (1.2), albeit lower than in the original study, despite adjusting for a number of confounds, including low IQ and stimulant use. Further, the finding of an increased risk of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis use persisted after controlling for the possibility that cannabis use was a consequence of prodromal manifestations of psychosis."
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/49641?verify=0
Your Post = Rated.
causation/coincidence.
Could it be that some schizophrenics are self-medicating with weed?
Schizophrenia is rare, marijuana use is ubiquitous. The alleged link you point to is puny and barely relevant in any event given the rarity of that disorder.
It is only ever talked about because Drug War assholes are desperate to justify the horrific expense of their war given the incredibly benign nature of cannabis. Any comparison with alcohol reveals that people like you are anti-weed because you are anti-weed, not because of general concern over adverse effects of drugs.
Or are you interested in reinstating alcohol prohibition?
For me, this isn't about politics or human behavior or what is the lesser of two evils, but about science, in particular, the effects of pot. After much consideration and study, I came to the conclusion that cannabis is a powerful, complex drug and should be treated with respect, that it should be used medicinally, but that it should not be treated casually and be as easily available as cigarettes or alcohol.
I didn't come to this conclusion lightly or make a flip decision based on rumor. I've grown up around pot and it wasn't/isn't a forbidden thing. I have many friends who use it and I never tell them that they shouldn't or even debate the merits of it - it's never come up in conversation and it would be rude of me to tell them how to live. I don't think less of my friends who smoke pot and I never disparage someone for the choices they make in life. People who smoke pot claim that it's harmless and even that it is good for you. I'm going to debate that, but I'm not going to tell them they can't or shouldn't smoke pot, or be dismissive of their views because they don't agree with me. If there was a law passed that said all drugs are available for anyone over the age of 28, I'd vote for it because I feel that at that age you are fully an adult, physically and mentally, but I won't vote for something that can harm a child or a young adult.
From my perspective the issue is not whether we are winning or losing the war on drugs. It's whether or not we are responsibly and reasonably dealing with human nature and personal responsibility.
Legalize it, tax it, move on. That works for me. You said it much more eloquently than I could. Great work!