[quote]Makavali wrote:
EDIT: Also, cartels would have to offer mega-cheap weed to counter the promise of legal consequence free weed.[/quote]
I think they’d be completely gone. I mean how many of us are still buying booze from…wherever people got booze from when it was illegal.
LOL that didn’t come out as good as I wanted.
[quote]sands wrote:
It’s to hard to tax is probably one of the main reasons.
And I doubt that making them legal will drive the cartels out of business, it’ll simply make them drop there prices to compete.[/quote]
The black market exists because of illegal materials/substances. There is no black market for legal substances. So how does what you wrote make sense? The cartels exist because the substance is illegal. That means the government is creating its own problems (and departments to fight these “problems”…meaning they receive more money to fight them) by allowing it to remain illegal.
[quote]TermInNate wrote:
I think they’d be completely gone. I mean how many of us are still buying booze from…wherever people got booze from when it was illegal.
LOL that didn’t come out as good as I wanted.[/quote]
Exactly. Legal sources just have more security around them. I’d feel safer going down to the corner store and picking up a quarter ounce than going to the dealer to get an overpriced small amount where they’ve got God knows what else there too.
…we are allowed to grow 5 plants for personal use, but the growbox i’m currently building houses 20. The dutch were close to legalizing cannabis in the '90s but neighbouring countries weren’t happy about it. Instead of just doing it, the government made things tougher. Anyway, grow your own, it’s not that difficult; when my first crop comes in i’ll post some pics…
Dude…what manner of self-respecting stoner actually gives a rats ass about what some non-enlightened condescending authority figures say about our wonder herb?
Stop seeking validation from society, fantasize with all your might on imposing your will on the same society, grab a joint/bong and you’re good to go.
Choose the reality you live in, look at yourself as a stout oak tree testing the winds of change and emotion - let yourself sway to the rhythm of your soul…but be uprooted by nothing!
Short answer: Pot Rocks!
Long answer: Pot STILL rocks!
[quote]Professor X wrote:
sands wrote:
It’s to hard to tax is probably one of the main reasons.
And I doubt that making them legal will drive the cartels out of business, it’ll simply make them drop there prices to compete.
The black market exists because of illegal materials/substances. There is no black market for legal substances. So how does what you wrote make sense? The cartels exist because the substance is illegal. That means the government is creating its own problems (and departments to fight these “problems”…meaning they receive more money to fight them) by allowing it to remain illegal.[/quote]
There is a black market for cigarettes, but you could argue that is because they are smuggled and not taxed. Depending on the tax situation if various drugs are illegal, you could bet there would be smuggling to avoid the taxes.
But the prices would be no where near what they are now.
As for why various drugs are illegal, much of it has to due with racism and segregation. Couldn’t have all those hooped up black guys on weed or whatever, even though 1/20 housewives were hooked on over the counter remedies laced with cocaine or morphine.
From my understanding the southern segregationists were the first to push for drugs banning laws in the 1920s. these fellows also gave us the first gun control laws in the late 1870s, if anyone cares.
The war on drugs is a huge moneymaking industry. Who would employ all those cops, judges, prisons etc…? Well, I guess they could always go back to fighting crime.
Dudes and Dudettes, Welcome to Canada!
Our Pot industry is worth an estimated $10 Billion per Year.
Good? So I’m told.
Available? For a price.
Illegal? A little, but only if you bet caught.
In the mean time check out Pineapple Express, an upcoming stoner-action-comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco due in theatres August 8, 2008
Enjoy responsibly,
[quote]
Professor X wrote:
The black market exists because of illegal materials/substances. There is no black market for legal substances. So how does what you wrote make sense? The cartels exist because the substance is illegal. That means the government is creating its own problems (and departments to fight these “problems”…meaning they receive more money to fight them) by allowing it to remain illegal.[/quote]
I generally agree with marijuana legalization, but this is incorrect - or at least not specific enough. High-tax items can also be sold “on the black market”, with the seller not collecting the tax. Alcohol and cigarettes are sold this way - and the Bureau of ATF is dedicated to stopping such sales.
[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Professor X wrote:
The black market exists because of illegal materials/substances. There is no black market for legal substances. So how does what you wrote make sense? The cartels exist because the substance is illegal. That means the government is creating its own problems (and departments to fight these “problems”…meaning they receive more money to fight them) by allowing it to remain illegal.
I generally agree with marijuana legalization, but this is incorrect - or at least not specific enough. High-tax items can also be sold “on the black market”, with the seller not collecting the tax. Alcohol and cigarettes are sold this way - and the Bureau of ATF is dedicated to stopping such sales.[/quote]
That would still qualify as “Illegal activity”, right? You are right though, just like tom mentioned above with smuggling cigarettes.
Well I have to say if you like your herb by all means have fun staring at the wall and wanting to eat everything in site. And those conversations where you would …ummmm what was I going to say again?
History:
I use to smoke lots of weed, hash and or hash oil. I smoked it every single day (cept a few here and there) from the time I was 15 till I was 23. Eventually I started reacting badly to it.
Every time I would get blazed it hit me harder and harder. I started having really bad anxiety. My heart would start to race. I would feel like I was dieing. I would get really really paranoid when this would happen. It was not fun. I tryed to smoke some weed about 7 years ago. Same thing happened accept it was worst. I went into shock and my hands were purple and I was sent to the hospital.
I loved smoking herb. I still love the smell of it. I still love the smell of when its smoked. I love the smell of picking it. But I hate the reaction I get when I am high from it.
Just thought I would put this out there for those who sing its praises. There are some downfalls as well. Not everyone is good with the all mighty sensi. At least not me. And I know I am not alone. I have talked with others who say the same thing about weed.
One of the things I hate about the weed is the stench.
Some think that it smells like a gods vagina, I just think that it smells like a skunk, worse yet a skunks vagina.
Is it just me or does Marlboro cigarette smoke also smell a lot like weed? It used to drive me nuts when I bounced.
Move to California. You can buy the kindest weed legally using your credit card. You should see these buds I got yesterday. Muy Bueno!
[quote]skidmark wrote:
Marijuana reduces alcohol consumption (according to the post above), is easily grown and would therefore not be taxable. It has to be illegal therefore.
The beer producers lobby alone would demand it.[/quote]
What are you talking about? They have sales tax on it already.
[quote]Makavali wrote:
Weed is more expensive than gold as it is.[/quote]
Well, not quite. But yeah, considering it can be grown in just about every climate it is way too expensive on the black market. It isn’t even that cheap in Amsterdam where it is legal to buy and smoke. A gram of the good shit can go for as much as 12 euro. That is over US$500 per oz. The majority of that money is going to Netherlands’ government.
To put the cost of weed in some perspective if one were to buy it in the same quantities as one does a pack of cigarettes it would cost $500 dollars at approx 1 oz. A person who smokes a pack a day and spends $5 per pack will spend 3x that amount per year. It would take me 2 months to go thru that much weed if I were to smoke it regularly every day – assuming it were good stuff and I didn’t need to increase my intake to more than a few one hits per night. If I smoked the same amount every day for a year I would spend 6x what a smoker does. Yeah gange is pretty friggin’ expensive.
I didn’t read the whole thread, but I thought it had to do with Mexican immigration and racial sentiment towards the immigrants. They brought marijuana to the U.S. Ban marijuana, ban Mexican immigrants.
I’m not sure the validity of that theory, but I just remember reading it once.
[quote]gabex wrote:
I didn’t read the whole thread, but I thought it had to do with Mexican immigration and racial sentiment towards the immigrants. They brought marijuana to the U.S. Ban marijuana, ban Mexican immigrants.
I’m not sure the validity of that theory, but I just remember reading it once.[/quote]
It wasn’t just Mexicans. It was blacks as well. They tried to claim that weed made white women listen to jazz music like black people which corrupted them. Our “anti drug history” is retarded.
If you have time, take a few minutes and laugh at Reefer Madness.
Pot definitely varies by individual with its effects. Being a mild psychedelic, it does have the potential to be not so pleasant for a number of people. I wouldn’t say, as one CNN talking head did, that it’s like “playing Russian roulette” with your mind,though. I have heard that it can trigger schizophrenia to those predisposed for it, but I don’t know the validity of that. I had quite a bad experience with it when I was 16 and it was not simply panic induced. But hey, if some people can get something positive out of its effects, who am I to say they should not use it?
gabex and professor x
this is true about why drugs became illeagal
and like cocaine became illeagal because people were worried about black people taking coke would come over to their state or within the state to steal rape or kill
white women. again with chineese people opium became illeagal because people didn’t
like their topknots or their smoking it, carrying water with poles on their shoulders…so for the most part drugs became illeagal as a result of prejudice and racism.
Barton
Why is it that every lifetime pot smoker I have ever known is 1) a welfare loser 2) seems to be bipolar to some degree 3) both 1 & 2.
I’m referring to people 25+ who have been smoking on a regular basis for several+ years. My opinion, based on my emperical observations, is that it has long term effects on the mind and is addictive.