[PublicAnimalNo9]

Lemmy wrote:

Gunnair wrote:

Agreed though I wonder really at how many people would grow their own.

That's the fly in the ointment. It's easy for me. I live in a rural area. I also have a cottage. I have lots of places to grow. But most people live in urban areas. Where are they going to grow? And if people just started to grow it in their backyards, it'd be a pretty easy target for the punks in town. You'd have to somehow keep keep your plants secure. Otherwise, the cops would spend every waking moment answering complaints about stolen plants.

Ummm it IS quite possible to grow them indoors without destroying the house like a grow-op does. People have been growing a wide variety of plants indoors for a long time now.

[Lemmy]

Window weed...yuk. And chemical-tasting hydro? Even yukkier.

[bootlegga]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/11/01/rcmp-organized-crime-ring254.html

Quote:

RCMP say they have seized more than half a million cartons of cigarettes and 6.2 tonnes of drug precursors as part of an investigation into an alleged Asian organized crime ring that has resulted in the arrests of eight people.

The investigation began in 2009 after customs officials in Vancouver found counterfeit cigarettes in a shipping container they say were bound for Toronto, Ontario RCMP said in a release. The RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency partnered with other international agencies over the next two years to further investigate and have since seized 11 sea containers, seven in Vancouver and four in Toronto.

Some deluded individuals seem to think that just because something is legal, gangs aren't involved in making a profit off of it. Taxes make everything expensive and cigarette smuggling is still a lucrative trade for organized crime, as is bootlegging in the north. All legal products....still putting money into the pockets of organized crime. So why would legalizing pot be much different. Sure they may take some losses, but undercutting heavily taxed government licensed products has always been a way criminal organizations have made plenty of money.

I agree that legalizing it won't stop gangs from still selling it, however it will shrink their 'market share' from 99% now (I'm sure some pot smokers probably grow their own) to 5% or 10%, which will vastly shrink the amount of money they raise. And while they may look for other rackets to pursue, the police can use the resources freed up from chasing pot smokers to chase the new criminals.

Legalizing it would also have the bonus of creating a new source of tax revenue, so instead of just spending billions building prisons and having cops chase these assholes, society actually gains from it, somewhat.

Same goes for prostitution - legalizing it will never get rid of it, but it will reduce the income organized crime gets from it, as well as create another source of revenue. The 'proof in the pudding' (re: prostitution) so to speak can be seen here in Edmonton. When I was a kid, prostitutes walked the streets of downtown and looked for johns, nowadays most of them work in 'massage parlours', which are regulated by the city health department, not the police, and almost the only time you do see a prostitute on the street is if they are a junkie looking for a few bucks to get a hit. While it is still illegal to sell sex, the police here don't bother raiding massage parlours and just sit back and let the city collect fees for 'escort licenses'. However, if made truly legal, a lot of that hidden income would become taxable.

I see pot the same way - and I'm not a pot smoker (never have, never will). I honestly don't see the difference between alcohol and marijuana - if someone wants to use it in their own home, I say let them - just tax it like we do booze, cigarettes and all the other legal 'vices'.

[andyt]

Good for you Boots. I stopped smoking it decades ago, but I think the harm of criminalizing it far outweighs the harm of legalizing it. But somehow the anti crowd demands that legalization produced perfect results. In that case we should criminalize booze, since it does far more harm than pot and also has criminal production and distribution. If I thought prohibition worked, I'd be all for that, including booze and cigs.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Lemmy wrote:

Window weed...yuk. And chemical-tasting hydro? Even yukkier.

Window weed? ewwwww not a chance You actually can grow pretty damn good indoor weed without resorting to hydroponics.

[andyt]

I thought the best BC weed was grown indoors, in fact most of it is AFIK. Don't know if they use hydroponics, but certainly grow lights work a lot better and let you grow year round.

[Curtman]

bootlegga wrote:

I agree that legalizing it won't stop gangs from still selling it, however it will shrink their 'market share' from 99% now (I'm sure some pot smokers probably grow their own) to 5% or 10%, which will vastly shrink the amount of money they raise.

Something else to think about..

A 25 gram pack of highly taxed tobacco product costs $10 to $15 including the packaging. 1 gram of non-taxed marijuana costs $10 to $15.

About 12% of the population in Canada smokes marijuana regularly. About 17% smoke cigarettes.

That's a LOT of money.

[MacDonaill]

You're right. When the government overtaxes something, it creates a black market. Solution: legalise it and don't tax the fuck out of it.