So where will all that 'legal' pot come from?

[FR7 Baptist]

Washington and Colorado say you can legally smoke marijuana for fun now, but here's the catch: You can't legally buy it.

Voters in those states passed initiatives last month to legalize recreational use of marijuana. As of last Thursday, it's legal under Washington law for anyone 21 and over to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of "solid marijuana-infused product" (in other words, a pound of pot brownies) or 72 ounces of "marijuana-infused liquid."

In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed Amendment 64 to the state Constitution on Monday, legalizing not only recreational use but also home growing, unlike in Washington.

"Part of the mission of our company is to transform marijuana from a back-alley drug being sold by criminals into a premium product being enjoyed by responsible adults," said Jamen Shively, chief executive of Diego Pellicer Inc., a new company that hopes to open a chain of stores in Washington and Colorado as soon as the budding legal issues are cleared up.

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[InTheLight]

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I guess it will be homegrown, for now. I heard Jamen Shively on POTUS Sirius radio recently. He was attempting to show that the legalization of pot would be a great thing for the U.S. Callers to the show were asking tough questions about the consequences of easy availability of pot. Questions about minors getting access to better and cheaper pot, about the inevitable increase in workplace accidents, about falling grades at educational institutions, school and workplace absenteeism, and a whole host of other things related to more and more people using marijuana. Incredibly, the guy denied that any of these things would happen. He painted a picture of having government regulated stores, similar to liquor stores, where you would go and buy pot from a boutique-like setting, similar to wine connosieurs.

 

[poncho]

I wonder when Monsanto will try to corner the market with GMO pot crops.

 

[LadyEagle]

I wonder when Monsanto will try to corner the market with GMO pot crops.

Heh. In answer to the OP, I imagine it will come from our govt owned lands where illegals from across the southern border are growing it in our national parks. After all, we are nearing the fiscal cliff.

 

[Revmitchell]

So where will all that 'legal' pot come from?

From Potheads who have nothing better to do in life.

 

[SolaSaint]

I have heard of government growing pot, so I'm sure they have plenty in stock to sell at a good price. Soon we will see our politicians spinning the benefits of legal pot because it will help pay for education and more cops on the street. You know just like the spin they give to promote gambling and Casinos. God help us.

 

[padredurand]

Let's see.... we put in 65 acres of high moisture corn that sold for $340 a ton....

[whistling to myself while I do the math in my head]

Web says an ounce of good quality weed sells for $300-400.....

[whistling to myself while I do more math in my head]

400 pounds to the acre... divided by 16.....

Do you think the cows would notice?

 

[Arbo]

So where will all that 'legal' pot come from?

From farmer dudes.

 

[Oldtimer]

Let's see.... we put in 65 acres of high moisture corn that sold for $340 a ton....

[whistling to myself while I do the math in my head]

Web says an ounce of good quality weed sells for $300-400.....

[whistling to myself while I do more math in my head]

400 pounds to the acre... divided by 16.....

Do you think the cows would notice?

Get your crop in quickly before the other corn producers do the math, too. Be sure you include in your plans how to turn it into biofuel, as well. When the market is glutted with pot for human consumption, you'll have an alternative revenue stream, till all cars become electric.

Cows notice? Doubt it, as you'll sell your beef/dairy herd, along with your chickens and pigs because you can no longer afford to feed them.

People notice? Doubt it. When high on pot, do people pay attention to what's no longer in the grocery store, affordable by the average Joe? It'll probably be too late when they realize the true meaning of "eating high on the hog". Oh, well.... rice seasoned with chicken necks can be tasty.

Whisper -- don't tell anybody else. Keep a couple of acres or so of corn in production to keep your heirloom seed viable and supporting breeding pairs of animals. Do the long term math in your head, as well.

 

[TCassidy]

Pot grows wild in almost every field, ditch, and roadside from California to Virginia. And, yes, the cows notice. And love it! They eat it and get all silly, running around the pasture and kicking up their hooves.

Legalize it. Tax it. Just like alcohol. Didn't we learn anything from Prohibition? All Prohibition of alcohol did was to create a criminal class that supplied the demand. The same is true of pot (and most other street drugs). All the "war on drugs" has done is create a criminal class that makes war on other dealers as well as on the public in general why doing nothing to stem the use of such drugs while costing the taxpayers over 10 billion dollars every year. Brazile cut their drug use in half. How? They legalized it, taxed it, and watched revenue go up and use go down.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Legalize it. Tax it. Just like alcohol. Didn't we learn anything from Prohibition? All Prohibition of alcohol did was to create a criminal class that supplied the demand. The same is true of pot (and most other street drugs). All the "war on drugs" has done is create a criminal class that makes war on other dealers as well as on the public in general why doing nothing to stem the use of such drugs while costing the taxpayers over 10 billion dollars every year. Brazile cut their drug use in half. How? They legalized it, taxed it, and watched revenue go up and use go down.

And tell the Feds to get off the backs of the states who are doing just this.

 

[InTheLight]

Brazile cut their drug use in half. How? They legalized it, taxed it, and watched revenue go up and use go down.

Where would you suppose the price of pot would be if it were legalized? Higher or lower than the street price?

What about the potency? Higher or lower potency if made legal?

 

[TCassidy]

And tell the Feds to get off the backs of the states who are doing just this.

Yep. California passed the medical mj law about 4 years ago but the feds (DEA) continued to raid mj dispensaries. Some of the more independent sheriffs warned the DEA that they would arrest and fed raiding a legally operated California business. My kind of sheriff!

 

[TCassidy]

Where would you suppose the price of pot would be if it were legalized? Higher or lower than the street price?

Probably lower than present.

What about the potency? Higher or lower potency if made legal?

Probably quality would be better, being processed by machinery like tobacco. Potency, unless artificially enhanced, is a function of growing place and time. That would probably be standardized.

 

[poncho]

Pot grows wild in almost every field, ditch, and roadside from California to Virginia. And, yes, the cows notice. And love it! They eat it and get all silly, running around the pasture and kicking up their hooves.

Legalize it. Tax it. Just like alcohol. Didn't we learn anything from Prohibition? All Prohibition of alcohol did was to create a criminal class that supplied the demand. The same is true of pot (and most other street drugs). All the "war on drugs" has done is create a criminal class that makes war on other dealers as well as on the public in general why doing nothing to stem the use of such drugs while costing the taxpayers over 10 billion dollars every year. Brazile cut their drug use in half. How? They legalized it, taxed it, and watched revenue go up and use go down.

Now why would you want to ruin a perfectly good 500 billion dollar a year money laundering racket for the bankers? Haven't they been good to us?

 

[InTheLight]

Probably lower than present.
Probably quality would be better, being processed by machinery like tobacco. Potency, unless artificially enhanced, is a function of growing place and time. That would probably be standardized.

My main opposition to legalization of pot is that minors would have greater access to it. It would be readily available, at lower prices, and higher potency. Studies show that pot use in children/teens with developing brains is very detrimental to adult intelligence. Legalizing pot could lead to a generation of people with underdeveloped brains.

Most of the arguments in favor of legalization make a lot of sense, I just can't get past this counterargument.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

My main opposition to legalization of pot is that minors would have greater access to it. It would be readily available, at lower prices, and higher potency. Studies show that pot use in children/teens with developing brains is very detrimental to adult intelligence. Legalizing pot could lead to a generation of people with underdeveloped brains.

Most of the arguments in favor of legalization make a lot of sense, I just can't get past this counterargument.

Aren't these same arguments basically applicable to alcohol?

 

[mont974x4]

If pot were run like most states run liquor stores then there would be no real impact on youth access. They do what they want to get what they want now, and that won't change.

However, we must consider the impact of removing the taboo/mystery nature of pot. It's like hanging a "wet paint" on a bench. It makes people just want to touch it. Remove that "doing this feeds my rebellious and adventure seeking" tendencies and use goes down. There is sure to be a spike at first as people want to experience the novelty of legal pot, but then it would become old news and lose its appeal.

Let's consider alcohol.
Person A grows up hearing how bad alcohol is and seeing his rebellious and "free" peers drinking. He rebels hard and drinks often. It becomes a serious issue for him. The allure of the taboo is very strong.

Person B grows up with a balanced and biblical view of alcohol. There is no taboo. There is nothing to rebel against. He experiments a bit in his teens but when he is 21 his alcohol use spikes upward hard. He gets in some trouble, but overall outgrows the novelty. He enjoys an occasional drink and does so responsibly.

How about guns?
I own several firearms. They are tools used to provide food an security for my family. I let my boys handle them with supervision. I take them shooting. I treat their BB gun like its one of my rifles. So do they. My youngest was asking Grandpa about "Daddy's secret safe in his closet". This is where I keep a loaded pistol locked up. I met his curiosity with openness. I took him home, opened the safe, unloaded the gun and handed it to him. He was 7 at the time. He has not asked about it again. When I worked security and it was an armed assignment my boys would regularly see me walk around with a pistol on my hip.

If I kept these things hidden and mysterious, as opposed to a healthy and honest approach, there can be only trouble.

We should have learned these lessons from Prohibition. It did not solve the problems associated with alcohol. It made criminals of honest people overnight. It created an entire economy built on crime. It bred violence.

 

[poncho]

My main opposition to legalization of pot is that minors would have greater access to it. It would be readily available, at lower prices, and higher potency. Studies show that pot use in children/teens with developing brains is very detrimental to adult intelligence. Legalizing pot could lead to a generation of people with underdeveloped brains.

Most of the arguments in favor of legalization make a lot of sense, I just can't get past this counterargument.

Studies also show that fluoride and psychotropic drugs are dangerous to developing brains and yet our leaders and physicians are still pumping our kids full of both. We now have a whole generation of people out there that have grown up taking psychotropic drugs that have been shown to cause both violent and suicidal tendencies. No one really knows what the long term effects on society this is going to have.

Recently the findings from a long term study of pot use has come out that shows marijuana not linked with long term cognitive impairment.

But what about all the prior research linking cannabis with lasting negative effects on cognition? Those studies may have been confounded by the fact that in many cases, heavy users were tested after being abstinent for only one day — so their performance could have been affected either by residual marijuana in their systems or by irritability or other effects of withdrawal. Studies that have looked at heavy users after longer periods of abstinence generally concur with the new research, finding no lingering effect on cognition.


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[InTheLight]

Aren't these same arguments basically applicable to alcohol?

Yes, and underage drinking is a big problem in the U.S.