By downsized

December 30, 2009 5:34 PM | Link to this

If Monsanto or a Wall Street investment firm figured out a way for legalized pot to make them more money they’d just buy the votes to make it so. Congress is for sale and so are the laws they pass. However, because the government is already in the drug business they’d just consider it needless competition. Why provide cancer patients inexpensive relief when you can charge them exhorbitant prices for legal placebos?

By Blowfly

December 29, 2009 4:29 PM | Link to this

In some states they already tax marijuana. Iowa has a stamp tax that requires people who sell to pay. It’s totally ignored, however, if you get busted it’s another charge that gets added to the tab. If you legalize marijuana the assumption is the criminal elements disappears because the price comes down through legitimate competition. Also, if it’s legal the stakes are not so high, which changes the game. I suspect that most politicians would rather put slot machines in schools as a source of revenue than legalize reefer. .

By Raoul

December 29, 2009 9:58 AM | Link to this

Count me in for the legalization of pot. However, a more indirect approach to getting tax revenues from it’s sales would be the Fair Tax. Under the Fair Tax, consumption is taxed, and those that make money in the black markets will be taxed on the money they spend from profits made in illegal sales. Decriminalization along with the Fair Tax might be a nice combination (as opposed to full legalization and taxation.)

By vick

December 28, 2009 7:29 PM | Link to this

Bootleggers made out like bandits during Prohibition because they had a monopoly on an illegal product so they could charge exorbitant prices for their bootleg liquor. When Prohibition vanished so did most of the bootleggers. Organized crime syndicates of the period then had to diversify into other product lines, gambling, narcotics, prostitution, etc. The pot peddlers of today are in a very profitable position. They charge ridiculous prices (from what I hear) and they have a captive market. If marijuana is legalized, licensed, packaged, and taxed the prices will surely drop-just like after prohibition, when booze prices declined. Take away the outrageous profits and regulate trade in marijuana and I think many dealers will find other occupations. Too much competition. The goose that laid all those golden eggs will be a government goose and they will need to apply for jobs in government marijuana shops. How much do state liquor store clerks earn these days? Not much.

By Dave F.

December 28, 2009 6:17 PM | Link to this

“Legalize, tax and regulate. Then all those nickel and dime dealers will need to go bag fries in the drive thru.” Ok, say we legalize marijuana. Is that going to eliminate the criminal aspect of it? Are the illegal growers and pushers going to suddenly disappear? Will there be regulations for selling it? What’s to keep the current dealers from selling? In my opinion, we’ll have the same problems with the criminal element (Growers + dealers). I just don’t see what we’ll be solving if we legalize it, other than allowing users to smoke it without reprocussions…

By vick

December 28, 2009 5:39 PM | Link to this

TRS, you make some interesting points. If pot was legalized then it would be treated like booze, right? I know an old farmer in northern Ohio who would love to be allowed to distill his own liquor. The law prohibits it. You can home brew beer. You can make your own wine. You can distill alcohol. (that is illegal, though, unless you have a permit). Heck, you can even grow tobacco. Legalizing marijuana would create packaging requirements like tobacco and alcohol have. I don’t think growing good quality marijuana would be any easier than growing high quality grapes for high quality wine production. You don’t just toss some seeds out in your yard to get a satisfactory result from any crop unless you are incredibly fortunate. Taxing and licensing marijuana would remove most of the black market and hopefully, the crime syndicates that profit from it. In regard to testing; I think law enforcement officials could have equipment available that would establish benchmarks for impairment for pot just as easily as they do for booze if there was any mandate to do so.

By TRS

December 28, 2009 5:24 PM | Link to this

Vick - unlike the other things you mentioned, pot can be grown, processed and smoked quite easily by anyone whereas booze, cigarettes, etc require processing and packaging. I’d bet we’d see alot of home grown stuff and the tax revenue would go up in smoke (no pun intended). Another concern would be law enforcement. DUI’s have breatholizers but I am unaware of any easy test for detecting pot use. I do favor decriminalizing, making small amounts a minor misdemeanor with fines, but I’m not sure encouraging it through legalization is the best thing for society.

By vick

December 28, 2009 4:39 PM | Link to this

When Prohibition ended all the big bootleggers of alcohol went out of business. They had gotten rich while booze was banned. And hundreds of people died from poisoning by dangerous bootleg liquor.The last people who would ever want marijuana to be legalized and regulated are the pot dealers who have gotten rich selling this prohibited substance. Is marijuana safe? No. Is alcohol safe? No? What about tobacco? Think of all the tax revenue generated by taxing vices like booze and nicotine. Marijuana profits are pouring into the drug cartels. All that tax revenue is being squandered. What do you think, folks? Should pot be legalized?

By blou

December 28, 2009 4:03 PM | Link to this

I look forward to the day when all drugs are legal.America is/was a free country, but as usual, former congressmen through the baby out with the bathwater.Get gov’t out of schools so we can teach our kids the truth about everything, like how the Feds use the sale of heroin to fund their black ops.Can we be any more hypocritical? I see a civil revolution ahead if our legislators continue to stay this course.

By fortressdayton

December 28, 2009 3:18 PM | Link to this

As a person who neither smokes, grows, buys or sells I would vote Yes on legalization. A definite Yes on decriminalization of small amounts at the very least. Why do I say this? I have been to my share of bars and seen the worst behavior imaginable from otherwise upstanding people because of alcohol, which is legal. I have, however, NEVER seen two guys smoking weed get into a fist fight over some nonsense. DUI remains DUI, so that is not the argument. Legalize, tax and regulate. Then all those nickel and dime dealers will need to go bag fries in the drive thru.

By Smoke da coke

December 28, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this

Can we get any consideration for cocaine, crack and meth? I feel as a dealer I should not be penalized if the MJ growers get a pass.