Key vote supports recreational marijuana use

[sbr]

Legalizing it does little except add a few tax dollars and driving down the cost of it. Oh and INCREASE the involvement and costs to law enforcement.

People will grow there own which will mean very little of the expected tax money will be realized. If it stays illegal for people to grow on their own than the black market will still continue to function just selling it cheaper. It will drive down the prices either way.

It will interesting to see if it does pass if a 1920's Bootlegger-type rush will occur.

How would law enforcement costs INCREASE if it was legalized?  The billions (no citation) we spend on investigating, arrest, prosecuting, incarcerating, and "rehabilitating" people who do nothing other than smoke weed is absurd.

[crazy canuck]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

[Barrister]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

Unless you're in favour of legalizing cocaine and other hard drugs legalization of marijuana isn't going to affect your gang problem much.

[Tonitrus]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

Unless you're in favour of legalizing cocaine and other hard drugs legalization of marijuana isn't going to affect your gang problem much.

And even then, the gangs will just find other mischief to get into.  It's not like they're all just going to say "this sucks, guess I'll go work at Burger King".

[Strix]

How would law enforcement costs INCREASE if it was legalized?  The billions (no citation) we spend on investigating, arrest, prosecuting, incarcerating, and "rehabilitating" people who do nothing other than smoke weed is absurd.

If they plan on taxing it than that means the government will have to maintain a control over the manufacture and distribution of it. Marijuana is very easy to grow. It's not like alcohol or cocaine that involves a long drawn out process requiring some skill. You plant the seeds, you water the seeds, you harvest the leaves. That means that the government will still need to make it illegal to manufacture and distribute it.

However, now that it is legalized, the demand for marijuana will increase. Those people too afraid to use it will now do so and those who used it will probably use it more (or at least a more regular basis). This means increased pressure on law enforcement because more people will be involved in the manufacture and distribution. Which means more funds, training, and personnel dedicated to marijuana laws and their enforcement.

The need for investigating, arrest, prosecuting, incarcerating, and "rehabilitating" people will all increase exponentially.

Than comes the issues of legal manufacture, distribution, and sale? Will people be able to produce it outside of California and sneak it across the borders for legal sale? Much as the Bootleggers did from Canada? This will mean increased pressure on law enforcement along the state borders and on it's major roadways.

The only answer to the marijuana problem is either totally legalize it or keep it illegal. Legalizing it for the sake of tax money creates more potential issues than it solves.

[crazy canuck]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

Unless you're in favour of legalizing cocaine and other hard drugs legalization of marijuana isn't going to affect your gang problem much.

Really?  All the reports I hear say that the marijuana market is the most profitable.  If that is taken away form the gangs I see that as nothing but positive. 

[crazy canuck]

And even then, the gangs will just find other mischief to get into.  It's not like they're all just going to say "this sucks, guess I'll go work at Burger King".

Sure people will find ways to get into mischief.  But they will do less harm with a significant amount of their funding cut off.

[crazy canuck]

If they plan on taxing it than that means the government will have to maintain a control over the manufacture and distribution of it.

No, government just regulates it just like they regulate all other products available to the market. 

[Barrister]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

Unless you're in favour of legalizing cocaine and other hard drugs legalization of marijuana isn't going to affect your gang problem much.

Really?  All the reports I hear say that the marijuana market is the most profitable.  If that is taken away form the gangs I see that as nothing but positive.

Have any of the reports?

I don't have anything but my own observations.  It seems that (like Strix mentioned) pot is very cheap and easy to produce.  It is not addictive in the same way that cocaine is either.  Now it's not that there's no money in marijuana (the money spent on complex grow ops is proof of that), but that I'd bet there's more money in cocaine.  When people will pay $20 for a 0.1g rock, that's a high profit margin substance.

[Barrister]

The more gang violence I see in my fair city the more I am in favour of legalization.  It seems politicians in California have reached the same conclusion.

Unless you're in favour of legalizing cocaine and other hard drugs legalization of marijuana isn't going to affect your gang problem much.

And even then, the gangs will just find other mischief to get into.  It's not like they're all just going to say "this sucks, guess I'll go work at Burger King".

No.  To be fair if you legalized all drugs you'd cut off the gangs major source of money.  They wouldn't just go away, but they'd be a lot smaller and a lot less well armed.

But would the social and health consequences of legallized hard drugs be worth it?   

[Strix]

No, government just regulates it just like they regulate all other products available to the market.

Just like they maintain control over the manufacture, distribution, and sale of all other products available to the market. Some to higher degree than others.  Marijuana will be treated the same as alcohol and other legal drugs.

The issue is that marijuana is so easy to manufacture and so cheap that people won't be willing to buy it from the market unless the government forces them to do so. And the government will have to force people to do so if they want to collect taxes from the sale and manufacture of marijuana.

[Barrister]

Just like they maintain control over the manufacture, distribution, and sale of all other products available to the market. Some to higher degree than others.  Marijuana will be treated the same as alcohol and other legal drugs.

The issue is that marijuana is so easy to manufacture and so cheap that people won't be willing to buy it from the market unless the government forces them to do so. And the government will have to force people to do so if they want to collect taxes from the sale and manufacture of marijuana.

I'm not saying there isn't an issue here, but alcohol is probably even cheaper and easier to produce than pot.

[Strix]

I'm not saying there isn't an issue here, but alcohol is probably even cheaper and easier to produce than pot.

Not even close. Marijuana requires some seeds, a pot (or ground area), and water on a regular basis. Sure, you can get fancy with hydroponics and special lighting but it isn't required. The stuff you grow gives you more seeds, so once you start up the rest is easy and simple. Alcohol requires special equipment and ingredients that must be purchased not to mention the things needed for bottling and so forth.

Alcohol has always had the advantage of being easier to conceal than marijuana. If I want to make a good profit off marijuana than I need a large area of land. It's very hard to hide that for long.

[Barrister]

We need saskganesh to chime in on this one.

I still think alcohol is easier to make.

[crazy canuck]

The issue is that marijuana is so easy to manufacture and so cheap that people won't be willing to buy it from the market unless the government forces them to do so. And the government will have to force people to do so if they want to collect taxes from the sale and manufacture of marijuana.

That is easily proven wrong.  If marijuana is so easy to grow why do they buy it from drug dealers and in turn return huge profits to the gangs that control the market.

Also, if marijuana is so easy to grow then its cost to obtain it legally after decriminalization will be relatively low since it will no longer have the extra costs associated with growing and distributing an illegal product.