Marijuana Legalization

Discussion in 'Political Discussions' started by Kizmet, Oct 31, 2016.

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  1. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Don't even say that! My God, man, do you want a revolution?

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  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

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    Kizmet Moderator

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  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  6. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  7. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

  8. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  9. Kizmet

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  10. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

  11. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    As Bruce has pointed out recently, a number of cannabis dispensaries have opened up in Massachusetts following the legalization of recreational marijuana. The reports are that the lines are out the door and they can barely keep up with the demand. I am told that there are not a lot of new users, people who never smoked before, but that people who are not buying illegally anymore. I'm also told that dispensary prices are quite high compared to illegal marijuana and so a sort of divide is happening along economic lines where the people with a little extra money are going to the dispensaries and the people who can't afford those prices are continuing to buy illegally. Whoever owns these companies is making a lot of money. It does not appear to be causing any big social upheavals. I am not aware of any big increase in associated crime. It's all so new however that I don't think anyone could come to any conclusions about the effects. I'd want to track a number of variables across a number of years before reliably saying anything.
     
  12. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    Honestly, it reminds me of when they started putting casinos in places where casinos had not been before.

    From my former home (the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA area) the idea of converting Pocono Downs, a cruddy racetrack, into the Mohegan Sun Casino was scandalous when first announced. People were MAD. And really, all that was introduced initially was slot machines. Among the ridiculous arguments...

    1. It will bring in organized crime
    2. Communities would be torn apart with gambling being introduced (ignoring the fact that there was already gambling take place pre-casino since that's what race tracks do).
    3. The idea of the old gramma spending her entire social security check on slots and not having enough money for food.

    Much like the marijuana debate, it pretended as if legalization would introduce a foreign problem. In that case, gambling and in this case marijuana, to a community. As if the community had neither of these issues before and legalization will simply bring them into the mainstream. The reality was that the old ladies weren't able to play slots locally. Fortunately there were countless bus tours that picked up at the mall and drove you straight to Atlantic City, gave you some gaming chips to play with and drove you home that evening. Those buses were filled with seniors just itching to scratch the one armed bandit. By putting casinos in closer to home it simply kept their money local and created hundreds of jobs in an area that desperately needed them.

    There are people smoking weed all over the country right now. Legal or not. Even my straightlaced company is now weighing the options available to us with NYS legalization looming. For years, our policy was that no matter what any state where we have an office does, it's illegal at the federal level and we will fire you if we catch you with it in your system. Now, that's starting to show signs of change. The biggest issue with any of it is in liability and post-workplace accident drug testing. We can give you a breathalizer that should be able to tell us if you were drinking recently. Drinking last night isn't an issue but being drunk on the job is. Weed is a bit trickier to nail down. Still, it's a question we need to answer as things are shifting and we won't be able to afford firing potentially double digit percentages of staff when they piss hot for a substance that they can buy at a state regulated store.

    Our colleagues in Colorado and Washington don't seem nearly as stressed out about it and tell us we should blaze one, change the policies and worry about other stuff.
     
  13. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Here in California, we haven't seen that. Apart from the initial burst of interest on opening day, when the TV cameras were there, business at the dispensaries has been surprisingly slow.

    Our experience has been that sin-taxes on marijuana are so high and regulations so burdensome, that legal marijuana simply can't compete with the black market. And the same law changes that made retail dispensaries legal, simultaneously more or less decriminalized street-corner sales and possession. So most of the new business that was generated seems to be going to illegal sales. (Nobody is sure how much or even whether marijuana usage has increased, there aren't any reliable numbers.)

    It's ironic, but by some accounts total legal sales in 2018 (recreational and medicinal) are lower than medicinal sales alone were in 2017, before legalization.

    Tax revenues are underwhelming and the state has had to write-down anticipated revenues in their proposed budgets.

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/california-might-lower-its-marijuana-tax-heres-why

    One trend that we've seen is marijuana home delivery. Like Amazon for dope, you order it online and somebody drives up and delivers it to your address. That helps circumvent the many places that have outlawed retail sales in their city limits. (Much of Silicon Valley has done that, the more upscale towns).

    No visible street-level effects as far as I can see.

    One area where I would like to see it have an effect is driving the Mexican drug cartels out of the illegal cultivation business. Here in California they will appropriate areas in open space reserves, often near the urban areas, put in irrigation systems and everything, and station heavily armed guards. Exceedingly dangerous for hikers.
     
  14. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  15. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

  16. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Well I guess that means that I really don’t know much about drugs.
     
  17. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  18. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  19. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  20. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

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