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gls
05-06-2009, 10:46 PM
Is Marijuana Legalization a Big Government Plot?

“Should it be legal? Yes. Do we want it legal? No.” This counterintuitive wisdom on marijuana legalization comes from “Charlie,” a colorful, sixty-something marijuana entrepreneur working out of Boston’s Shawmut. From behind a Pancho Villa-mustache, “Mark,” a colleague with three decades in the business, concurs: “Every time I go over to Hempfest, I chant: ‘Keep Marijuana Illegal!’”

The greater the involvement in the marijuana industry, the greater the apprehension there is toward legalization. This flies in the face of the conventional wisdom of the grass-smoking grassroots. “Legalize It!” goes the ubiquitous mantra at rallies and upon car bumpers. But in Massachusetts, where last November the voters overwhelming opted to decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, full legalization stands to drive freelance pot dealers such as Charlie and Mark further underground—and drive the price of the product sky high.

Legalize It? Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

What are stoners smoking that makes them advocate less available, more expensive, and highly bureaucratized marijuana? That’s the question provoked by any sober reading of the various proposals to legalize marijuana.

And marijuana legalization is certainly eliciting a more sober look than it ever has. When President Barack Obama opened-up a town-hall style meeting in March to the Internet, questions about marijuana legalization outnumbered every other topic. His attorney general, Eric Holder, announced in February that federal raids on pot dispensaries in the Golden State would cease under the new administration. Time magazine recently weighed in on the hot topic, asking “Can Marijuana Help Rescue California’s Economy?” and dropping the question mark in a subsequent piece entitled “Why Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense.”

It makes sense in the way that a conversation about the sound of colors makes sense—when high. Marijuana can’t rescue California’s economy for the obvious reason that it is already an integral part of California’s economy. Making it legal, given the widespread availability of the drug, will do very little to fuel the state’s economic engine. If anything, legalization will further hamstring productivity by hampering an industry with the destructive power of external rules, regulations, and taxation that is currently free from such burdens.


Continues here: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/reefer_madness1/

gls
05-06-2009, 10:55 PM
Under some of the current schemes being proposed, after all of the regulations, taxes and general costs associated with running a business, "legalized" marijuana would cost just about as much as it does now on the black market.

idiom
05-06-2009, 10:57 PM
Yes, but the crops would be massive, employ a lot more eople and produce industrial quantites of fibre and oil.

surf
05-06-2009, 10:58 PM
"tax and regulate" is not what we need or want (if you've enjoyed it previously). "Decriminalization" is more what i'm looking for.

Bruno
05-06-2009, 11:00 PM
Under some of the current schemes being proposed, after all of the regulations, taxes and general costs associated with running a business, "legalized" marijuana would cost just about as much as it does now on the black market.

In which case there would still be a black market that would undercut that price, because it is far too overpriced today. Its the most profitable drug there is. A free (or $10 high quality seed) could produce thousands of dollars of return (endless, if you clone that one plant over and over and over and over...)

gls
05-06-2009, 11:09 PM
"tax and regulate" is not what we need or want (if you've enjoyed it previously). "Decriminalization" is more what i'm looking for.

Well, what they have in Amsterdam is pretty ideal, although they have been cracking down on some aspects in recent years. Cutting back on the number of licensed coffee shops, putting a cap on THC content, no longer allowing marijuana and alcohol to be served in the same establishment, etc.

He Who Pawns
05-07-2009, 06:52 AM
This article is lame, IMO. Sure the black market growers right now don't want legalized competition! Why do you think the offshore gambling companies are trying to keep gambling illegal on American websites? They don't want legal competition.

If the taxes are too high on legal weed, then people will buy it on the black market. It's the same with ciggies.

Dr.3D
05-07-2009, 07:26 AM
If the taxes are too high on legal weed, then people will buy it on the black market. It's the same with ciggies.

And alcohol.

The idea that it can be done legally will have much influence on those who would have done it illegally. There will be the 'why take the risk' if I can do it legally?

acptulsa
05-07-2009, 07:29 AM
Organized crime hates libertarians. If nothing's a crime, what is there for them to do but trade their Armani for Brooks Brothers and sell their guns for tuition at a business school? They hate that.

gls
05-07-2009, 07:58 AM
If the taxes are too high on legal weed, then people will buy it on the black market.

Well, the problem is that once it is "legalized", those who continue to operate outside of the system will likely face the threat of even worse draconion punishments than they do now, as the government goes all out to defend its new source of revenue. This could result in high-priced, low quality government-regulated bud and much fewer (if any) true free-market alternatives.

Dr.3D
05-07-2009, 08:01 AM
Well, the problem is that once it is "legalized", those who continue to operate outside of the system will likely face the threat of even worse draconion punishments than they do now, as the government goes all out to defend its new source of revenue.

Just like when alcohol was legalized?

The crime rate dropped considerably and almost over night.

Now, just lately, they are trying to crack down on the Native American people on the reservations who are making and selling alcohol to others on the reservation.

acptulsa
05-07-2009, 08:02 AM
Well, the problem is that once it is "legalized", those who continue to operate outside of the system will likely face the threat of even worse draconion punishments than they do now, as the government goes all out to defend its new source of revenue. This could result in high-priced, low quality government-regulated bud and much fewer (if any) true free-market alternatives.

Well, this both is and is not the lesson we learn from the history of bootlegging following prohibition. On the one hand, those who continued did indeed face stiff resistance from treasury agents. On the other, the free market hasn't been unkind to the drinker.

I wonder how many of you realize just how many of the team owners in NASCAR are descended from bootleggers? The one 'industry' directly begat the other.

He Who Pawns
05-07-2009, 08:09 AM
I mean, don't millions of Americans "Home Brew" beer? I don't hear about raids on their houses. Weed is easy to grow at home.

Dr.3D
05-07-2009, 08:09 AM
Well, this both is and is not the lesson we learn from the history of bootlegging following prohibition. On the one hand, those who continued did indeed face stiff resistance from treasury agents. On the other, the free market hasn't been unkind to the drinker.

I wonder how many of you realize just how many of the team owners in NASCAR are descended from bootleggers? The one 'industry' directly begat the other.

Yep, it seems it would suddenly become what is should be.

As I recall, in some states you can buy 190 proof alcohol while in other states you can't.

It seems legalization would throw the ball into the court of the states where they would decide how strong the 'bud' should be allowed to be sold in that state.

Dr.3D
05-07-2009, 08:11 AM
I mean, don't millions of Americans "Home Brew" beer? I don't hear about raids on their houses. Weed is easy to grow at home.

We can hope it would go along the same lines the legalization of alcohol took and people would be allowed to grow their own just as they are allowed to brew their own.

gls
05-07-2009, 08:17 AM
Just like when alcohol was legalized?

The crime rate dropped considerably and almost over night.

Now, just lately, they are trying to crack down on the Native American people on the reservations who are making and selling alcohol to others on the reservation.

Yeah it's like the semi-famous moonshiner (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/mar/16/moonshiner-popcorn-sutton-dead/) who recently commited suicide rather than reporting to Federal Prison for his "crimes".

I'm not seriously arguing against legalization, but it's worth considering how government 'regulation' might be even worse than prohibition when, as the author points out, those advocating for it look neither like Jerry Garcia nor sound like Ron Paul. If we're dealing with those whose sole motivation is to expand their own power and influence, and they believe 'legalization' is a means to that end, that's a scary premise IMO.