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Forum: Internet Links Topic: treating cartels like corporations started by: Malcolm Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 17 2014,09:48
< From here >.QUOTE "I've never looked at them as drug-trafficking organizations," Logan said of Mexico's cartels. "They're multinational corporations that will react to market pressures and do what they have to do to stay in business. There's your answer to, "What will the drug cartels do if we legalize drugs?" Posted by Vince on Mar. 17 2014,10:15
There's no money to be made here mining or logging. We've pretty much regulated the profit out of those.They can try to pay off our officials to allow them to mine and log here, but I think our government will prove to cost a lot more than Mexico's. Posted by TheCatt on Mar. 17 2014,10:18
It would be interesting to see the impact of legalization on cartels and other organized crime forces. I assume people in WA and CO have stopped buying quarter bags on the street.
Posted by Vince on Mar. 17 2014,10:32
I'm curious to that as well.
Posted by TPRJones on Mar. 17 2014,11:02
QUOTE I assume people in WA and CO have stopped buying quarter bags on the street. Not exactly. In CO at least it came down to a local-rule thing, with some places making pot okay to buy/sell with a license and some places going "dry". If you've ever been to Texas you'll have seen what that leads to, with liquor stores at county borders when a wet and dry county meet up and some dry counties having problems with illegal liquor sales. Although it's usually treated as less about prohibition and more about tax avoidance. Which is probably also how they are approaching the problem in CO, I would bet, especially with the taxes and overhead causing the legal stuff to double in price over the street version. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 17 2014,11:20
QUOTE ... especially with the taxes and overhead causing the legal stuff to double in price over the street version. The gov't could tax the everloving fuck out of bud and it'd still be cheaper/better than the street. However, let's see. < From here >. QUOTE The Huffington Post spoke with owners at many of the roughly 30 dispensaries that sold legal weed on New Year's Day, and they all said the same thing: an eighth of an ounce of marijuana, which would have normally sold for as low as $25, was fetching anywhere between $35 to $70, after taxes. Holy christ, that's a big range. That state pegging you for $70 for that amount is insane. QUOTE Prices were also increased by the new 25 percent tax -- 15 percent excise and 10 percent sales -- on all marijuana purchases in the state that voters approved in November, along with any other local jurisdictional taxes on top of that. Goddamn. I'd rather just declare my choice to partake of that substance on my annual IRS return and pay to have a permit. Those taxes are obscene. QUOTE But some dispensary owners, like 3D's Fox, chose to absorb the cost of excise tax in order to keep marijuana prices competitive. Fox told HuffPost that her most expensive eighths sold for approximately $50 after taxes. At that rate, that's probably enough to keep them competitive and on top of street dealers. Posted by GORDON on Mar. 17 2014,12:08
We are seeing the beginning of the legit pot economy, though. Efficiency improvements at the legal farms should see the cost of the supply drop, and one would assume the economies of scale would kick in and make the guy selling 50 tons a year 2 counties over cheaper than the hidden gro-op making 500 pounds a year over the border. Or whatever. I didn't go to drug school.I think they need to legalize it in Hawaii, though.... doesn't some of the good stuff come from there? And they have a lot of unused farmland and a killer climate. Would be a huge legit cash crop there with a lot of exports to other states. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 17 2014,12:39
QUOTE I think they need to legalize it in Hawaii, though.... doesn't some of the good stuff come from there? Best in the Americas? I'd say hydro grown indoors, maybe underground with the appropriate setup. Posted by Vince on Mar. 17 2014,13:52
(GORDON @ Mar. 17 2014,14:08) QUOTE We are seeing the beginning of the legit pot economy, though. Efficiency improvements at the legal farms should see the cost of the supply drop, and one would assume the economies of scale would kick in and make the guy selling 50 tons a year 2 counties over cheaper than the hidden gro-op making 500 pounds a year over the border. Or whatever. I didn't go to drug school. As soon as the powers that be decide that pot smokers are the pariahs that tobacco smokers are, they'll tax the crap to the point that the growers are the only ones that are hardly making any money off of it. I remember seeing a break down some years ago and the tobacco farmer ends up with a couple of cents per pack that they're making. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 17 2014,14:03
QUOTE As soon as the powers that be decide that pot smokers are the pariahs that tobacco smokers are... Stoners won't get that status until they're allowed to smoke indoors. Posted by Vince on Mar. 17 2014,14:15
(Malcolm @ Mar. 17 2014,16:03) QUOTE QUOTE As soon as the powers that be decide that pot smokers are the pariahs that tobacco smokers are... Stoners won't get that status until they're allowed to smoke indoors. Shit... most tobacco smokers can't smoke outdoors anymore in public places. As long as there is proof of the contact buzz, pot smoking indoors in public places will never happen. Posted by Malcolm on Mar. 17 2014,14:51
(Vince @ Mar. 17 2014,16:15) QUOTE (Malcolm @ Mar. 17 2014,16:03) QUOTE QUOTE As soon as the powers that be decide that pot smokers are the pariahs that tobacco smokers are... Stoners won't get that status until they're allowed to smoke indoors. Shit... most tobacco smokers can't smoke outdoors anymore in public places. As long as there is proof of the contact buzz, pot smoking indoors in public places will never happen. Yeah. Nowadays. But that only got that way after quite some time. I still remember taking a flight when I was six or so and cigarettes were plentiful and pervasive. Years of having it in bars also added to that. If this country had hash bars as long as liquor bars, the stoners would be getting tossed under the bus along with the nicotine users. Not surprisingly, both fields are claiming a < common solution > to the combustion problem. Posted by Vince on Mar. 17 2014,14:55
I remember my ex-mother-in-law (who smoked) saying she didn't mind not smoking during a flight, but if her pilot wanted a smoke she sure as hell wanted him to have one.
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