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This could also have a major long term economic effect on other crops that hemp competes with, e.g., cotton and man-made petro fabrics.
How about a bill making alcohol distillation for personal use legal, too?
And a bill to eliminate tax collection on certain weapons.
Then defund the BATF because it has no mission. (And shouldn't have had one since alcohol prohibition was repealed.)
5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners! What a bunch of hooey!
All nannys, get a hobby.
This is where I most strongly disagree with the argument that "the right to life is the fount of all other rights." It is not. SELF-OWNERSHIP is.
The way I judge a state is the tax system, is a two or more party system of government available, and how well they protect the citizens. So far there's at least fifty found wanting
I'm all for reducing the size of government, but I can't get behind a project that encourages the destruction of rational thought and is accompanied by so many social ills and is devoid of production. "The mind is a terrible thing to waste."
Untaxed weed is cheaper and is the majority of the trade.
Legal dealers are finding it difficult to make a profit.
Law enforcement will have the task of going after untaxed sellers a buyers. This will be very unpopular.
they did in the Ozarks.
One of those unintended consequences politicians always fail to think of.
Taxes raising the price of legal weed so the illegal weed is cheaper....absolutely brilliant!!!
Any benefits of eliminating the black market won't be seen until the legal stuff is at least slightly cheaper than the illegal.
It's a pretty predictable career path - intern during the poli sci major in college, then get a staffer job in someone's district, get promoted to the capital staff, then maybe a legislative analyst or constituent PR rep for a few years, then Chief of Staff for someone, and get hooked up eventually with a county central committee, a campaign manager (that takes a cut of donations) and some fundraising types.
Real 'producers' in society rarely do that because by the point they have the time in their career (I've considered it) to look at doing something for the public good, they can't afford the pay cut or the BS of it all.
We know they won't give it back to the people it was taken from, thats for sure.
1. Whether or not Marijuana is illegal represents a significant change in enforcement policy and training. So they care about that for a number of reasons.
2. Marijuana is a significant drug cartel/organized crime product. Decriminalizing Marijuana alters the income for the cartels, something they will not be happy about. Likely to cause them to lash out to either A: maintain the revenue or B: protest the lost revenue. Police are certainly going to care about that since either one means increased violence.
ANY change to drug laws, especially in border states directly affects the policing environment in a range of ways.
Marijuana should never have been treated the way it has been. As usual the lessons of history (Prohibition) were ignored, and now we will have problems unraveling from it.
Bottom line, for the police/sheriff/border patrol in border states especially, it could cause a dramatic change in their work environment, and not necessarily reducing their danger. So YES they care about the changes.
If it's sold legally, the cartels are dead. Violence decreases. The criminals would find some other criminal activity to get involved with, but this one would be gone.
1. The cartels have illegal products beyond pot, and thus would not be "dead"
2. You make the assumption that the cartels will meekly let that revenue go. Something that they have certainly not done in the past. Inter-Cartel violence is over territory encroachment and the resultant revenue changes. Why do you think they will not act on that change.
3. The likely pursuit for the cartel if this change occurs would be extortion/protection on all the "legal" pot dealers right off the bat. With the longer term goal of driving them out of business. The extortion/protection gives them some of the lost revenue back while they drive the competition under.
4. To recover all of their revenue, they need only eliminate the "legal" competition and drive the price back where they want it.
I put "legal" in quotes for a few reasons.
First, just because TX makes it legal, it is still illegal under federal law. As scojohnson pointed, out, the federal enforcement agencies are still free to act, albeit under altered circumstances.
Second, if this change happens, then the cartels themselves become "legal" in TX, for that product at least. Making it much harder to prosecute them for their other activities.
Third, the governments, local, state, and federal, will attempt to control the pot market, just like everything else. And they will FAIL. When they fail, that will increase the chaos even more.
Bottomline ----
Decriminalizing pot locally instantly destabilizes a situation that was none to stable to begin with.
Do not expect a quiet and peaceful outcome.
#2 -- What do you expect the cartels to do, shoot it out with cops? The cops would love that, and would easily win. Actually the cartels ARE fighting the change to some extent -- by supporting politicians who want to keep pot illegal and penalties high.
#3 -- Extortion on the "legal" dealers won't work any more than it does on fully legal businesses. The local cops will either help the victims, or if the cartel does gain control, the feds will come in and shut that business down. (Organized crime involvement is one of the 10 problems the DEA has said will provoke it to act.)
#4 -- This I don't buy at all, because bills like Colorado's do more than legalize shops selling pot -- they also legalize growing your own, and many users will do exactly that rather than pay the new high taxes to legally purchase pot.
2. I expect the cartels to pressure the non-cartel distorters, not shoot outs with the cops.
3. I hope I'm wrong, but we will have to see how thing shake out. Assuming the change happens.
4. Some people will grow their own to save money. How many will keep at it is a different question though. I think a lot of people will give that up due to the work involved. Growing doesn't fit well with the instant gratification mind set.
Yes. My prediction if marijuana were truly decriminalized at all levels is your item #1 would predominate and the cartels would go to other illegal activities and leave marijuana alone. I think criminalization causes the cartels and undoing it removes them, at least from this one area of the economy.
I suspect the retailers would find some alternative banking system that will work with them, unless the gov't won't allow any bank-like institutions to work with retailers.
This is not the same thing as Operation Choke Point (which technically does not make it illegal for banks to serve the targeted businesses, but merely threatens a federal audit for money laundering against any bank that does serve them).
If they want to not have the local deputies and police involved, to each their own, just don't cry about a generation of useless young adults.
Local LEOs are backup and extra bodies for those other agencies as well as intelligence sources. Do not ignore 2nd order effects.
The Law of unintended consequences has not been repealed.
Law Enforcement folk are generally conservative, so pot legalization compromises their personal ethical stances and makes them believe that they can no longer go after the 'bad guys' who sell pot.
Jan
I'm a Christian and do not consider myself a non-thinker.
wiggy
Not saying that I was for a fact.
Carnosaurs have their hissss moody moments.