its legal in Michigan and I grow my 12 plants all year and have no problem paying taxes on the supplies I use. I use what I grow and not a seed leaves my house or anything else. It is mine and it is legal and has been voted on. Try and take that away and someone is going to have a very very bad day.
Legalization May Not Be What You Think....
- Thread starter hockey4848
- Start date
ImTheFireMan
Well-Known Member
its already legal here in cali, go get a card.
roachwagon
Well-Known Member
yeah I agree jdizzle. Its always about cali, we are trying to legalize here in WA state but we never get it recognized, same with Oregon.
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
And healthcare was supposed to be about reducing the deficit... ROFLMAO!!! (to no one in particular)...
I really would like to see a bunch of DEA agents get canned. They get paid taxpayer money (higher taxes) to take productive citizens (for the most part) and throw them in jail where the taxpayers have to support their confinement for additional dollars. Show me where that is saving society any money... Dont get me wrong, if someone commits a violent crime or a crime with a gun I would like to see them do hard time. However, some grower or dealer of weed does not deserve the same treatment. This war costs lives, costs families, costs huge amounts in taxes and other associated expenses...
We would save money on enforcement, save money on confinement and prosecution, save money on border enforcement (less drug trafficking) and we would gain money from tax revenue. California can barely afford to keep beat cops on the streets... You had better believe that they are going to legalize and tax pot for that one reason alone...
I really would like to see a bunch of DEA agents get canned. They get paid taxpayer money (higher taxes) to take productive citizens (for the most part) and throw them in jail where the taxpayers have to support their confinement for additional dollars. Show me where that is saving society any money... Dont get me wrong, if someone commits a violent crime or a crime with a gun I would like to see them do hard time. However, some grower or dealer of weed does not deserve the same treatment. This war costs lives, costs families, costs huge amounts in taxes and other associated expenses...
We would save money on enforcement, save money on confinement and prosecution, save money on border enforcement (less drug trafficking) and we would gain money from tax revenue. California can barely afford to keep beat cops on the streets... You had better believe that they are going to legalize and tax pot for that one reason alone...
ford442
Well-Known Member
i have never liked the idea of SWAT teams busting into homes armed to the teeth.. now i know that they do this about 150 times every day in the us.. 70% of those are for pot i assume.. it occurs to me that this is why we have people that hate the police for creating a fascist oppressive state.. back off on the door smashing and the dog shooting and maybe you will have a better reaction from the public...
lordj
Active Member
It's simple, really. Just get rid of the federal laws against the possession, sale and distribution of marijuana, in any amount. Too many people in jail while some drunk runs over a stroller. Here's what I believe will happen if they make it legal:
1. The price of pot will go WAY DOWN because these things will happen:
A. Tons more people will grow it, the supply will outstrip the demand. Pot grow warehouses will spring up like crazy. I mean BIG warehouses (Hello, Pfizer). You can grow it on a farm but once people find out where the farms are, they'll wait for harvest and steal it from the farmer. When the price goes way down, some of the warehouses will go idle due to the decline in price.
B. The cartels won't make any money off it; they'll have to figure out something else (cocaine, meth, heroine, etc.).
2. 800,000 potheads will get out of jail.
3. Initially, the sales tax revenue will be substantial, but soon enough, government won't be able to rely on the revenue because the prices will go way down, people will grow their own, etc.
4. And finally, 800,000 potheads will get out of jail.
Think about people growing it in their homes: IT'S EASY. We don't make our own cigarettes or booze but after all the lights, nutes, grow medium and accessories costs, a lot of them will stop growing it and just buy it at the local liquor store for $5-$10 an ounce. Lots of people won't die senselessly because of the "WAR ON DRUGS". Juarez might actually become a decent place to visit. Californians relying on the legalization for income will be disappointed in a few years when the furor (and the tax revenue) dies down.
Can you imagine what a bottle of 10-year old scotch would cost if we still had Prohibition?
1. The price of pot will go WAY DOWN because these things will happen:
A. Tons more people will grow it, the supply will outstrip the demand. Pot grow warehouses will spring up like crazy. I mean BIG warehouses (Hello, Pfizer). You can grow it on a farm but once people find out where the farms are, they'll wait for harvest and steal it from the farmer. When the price goes way down, some of the warehouses will go idle due to the decline in price.
B. The cartels won't make any money off it; they'll have to figure out something else (cocaine, meth, heroine, etc.).
2. 800,000 potheads will get out of jail.
3. Initially, the sales tax revenue will be substantial, but soon enough, government won't be able to rely on the revenue because the prices will go way down, people will grow their own, etc.
4. And finally, 800,000 potheads will get out of jail.
Think about people growing it in their homes: IT'S EASY. We don't make our own cigarettes or booze but after all the lights, nutes, grow medium and accessories costs, a lot of them will stop growing it and just buy it at the local liquor store for $5-$10 an ounce. Lots of people won't die senselessly because of the "WAR ON DRUGS". Juarez might actually become a decent place to visit. Californians relying on the legalization for income will be disappointed in a few years when the furor (and the tax revenue) dies down.
Can you imagine what a bottle of 10-year old scotch would cost if we still had Prohibition?
ford442
Well-Known Member
great points lordj!! i agree 100%..
i will add on 1. B. that it is going to be a real uphill battle for the crime syndicates to compensate for losing 70% of their profits - it is really impossible to get more people addicted to hard drugs than already are - they would have to push harder into something like gun running and human trafficking which attracts a lot more international attention than bales of weed.. also - how are they going to expand any of their operations without their huge profit margin? they spend $30,000,000,000 a year on bribing officials and that is almost all of what they take in from their non-pot sources...
like i said before - there is a bigger picture here than just the puffing and passing and state officials have become increasingly aware of it..
i will add on 1. B. that it is going to be a real uphill battle for the crime syndicates to compensate for losing 70% of their profits - it is really impossible to get more people addicted to hard drugs than already are - they would have to push harder into something like gun running and human trafficking which attracts a lot more international attention than bales of weed.. also - how are they going to expand any of their operations without their huge profit margin? they spend $30,000,000,000 a year on bribing officials and that is almost all of what they take in from their non-pot sources...
like i said before - there is a bigger picture here than just the puffing and passing and state officials have become increasingly aware of it..
lordj
Active Member
The two main reasons to legalize it, regardless of tax revenue claims are:
1. Dilute the cartels money machine and therefore, end the violence.
2. End the parade of people going to jail for using pot.
Anybody (even kids) who wants to smoke does it now anyway, so it's not like you're gonna have a whole bunch of people suddenly trying it out.
End the stupidity, hypocrisy and violence. NOW, dammit!
1. Dilute the cartels money machine and therefore, end the violence.
2. End the parade of people going to jail for using pot.
Anybody (even kids) who wants to smoke does it now anyway, so it's not like you're gonna have a whole bunch of people suddenly trying it out.
End the stupidity, hypocrisy and violence. NOW, dammit!
ford442
Well-Known Member
i want to also see -
3. Cannabis studied and used as it should have been as a safe, renewable product for medicine, industry, and energy.. i am considering the environment and our health as humans - not the revenue..
it is strange and kind of bothers me that the tax money is what people seem to think of first... really? we have to bribe you to do the right thing? or are you accepting a bribe to abandon your actual principles? i guess money somehow outweighs and overrides all physical existence when it comes down to it...
3. Cannabis studied and used as it should have been as a safe, renewable product for medicine, industry, and energy.. i am considering the environment and our health as humans - not the revenue..
it is strange and kind of bothers me that the tax money is what people seem to think of first... really? we have to bribe you to do the right thing? or are you accepting a bribe to abandon your actual principles? i guess money somehow outweighs and overrides all physical existence when it comes down to it...
jahjah kush
Member
might be a lil off topic but op do you honestly think that the federal government would cut off all funding to the state of california if marijuana was made legal? get real it would be completely impractical
lordj
Active Member
It would be a reason for California to secede from the U.S. if funding was cut off... they're pretty damn far from Washington as it is. A whole other country!
Another benefit from legalization: growing hemp. Lots of uses for it: paper, clothing, insulation just to name a few. Read somewhere that George Washington (or maybe Thomas Jefferson) said: "Grow the hemp plant. Grow it as much as you can."
Another benefit from legalization: growing hemp. Lots of uses for it: paper, clothing, insulation just to name a few. Read somewhere that George Washington (or maybe Thomas Jefferson) said: "Grow the hemp plant. Grow it as much as you can."
Greens22
Active Member
your an idiot. For many of us, its not about the money, but for the freedom to smoke cannabis with no worries. If it is legal, if anything, the economy will increase and not decrease. you said you were well read on this topic, and it looks like your not. Have you thought about the other uses the cannabis plant has other then producing delicous buds. It can be used for food, clothing, fuel, etc...there are so many uses, that there will be many more job openenings, boosting the economy because of the increase in money flow through our system.
ford442
Well-Known Member
of course it is ok to have un-fun rules for kids in this current age for their own physical protection, but when you start telling full grown individuals what to do you had better have a damn good reason.. we have the ten commandments - i am not very religious, but i agree that these are heavy duty rules so that civilization functions.. however, we have these things like canings, beheadings, severe punishments for things that don't actually harm anyone or create a problem.. arbitrary penalties for the trod upon - black people may not step on a white person's shadow? we have a pretty good justice system, but there needs to be more of an issue than adults choosing to smoke on a garden herb to justify forcing a man or woman into a dirty cage and keeping them there...
i am convinced that some people who have not tried weed for themselves to see what it is like think that it is strong like heroin - stronger than alcohol and that is why beer is legal and pot isn't? am i right? because strong narcotics are really an entirely different subject.. can anyone even name a commonly used recreational drug that is more mild than grass? people really think that it is something other than what it is.. addictive? no - are you a hermit who has never seen another human being? gateway drug? i'm not even sure what that means - is it something like in the Portal game?
i will stop ranting now.. reading the original post kind of infuriated me.. "a step I would not feel comfortable taking."
I WILL BLOW UP THE SUN!! are you comfortable with that? 
i am convinced that some people who have not tried weed for themselves to see what it is like think that it is strong like heroin - stronger than alcohol and that is why beer is legal and pot isn't? am i right? because strong narcotics are really an entirely different subject.. can anyone even name a commonly used recreational drug that is more mild than grass? people really think that it is something other than what it is.. addictive? no - are you a hermit who has never seen another human being? gateway drug? i'm not even sure what that means - is it something like in the Portal game?
i will stop ranting now.. reading the original post kind of infuriated me.. "a step I would not feel comfortable taking."
I WILL BLOW UP THE SUN!! are you comfortable with that? Well people that were afraid of industrial hemp putting them out of business did some sneaky stuff in the early 1900s to start making it illegal, such as get a law passed that require a tax stamp for your hemp/marijuana and then not making any of the stamps. Industrial hemp is a great source for superior paper, ropes, clothing, plastics, ethanol, so many things. I even hear a lot lately that you can make materials with hemp that are superior to nylon. That is the reason why it was illegal, so many rich bastards were afraid of losing business. They got everyone else to go along with it by making them think it would turn them into a crazy black person or a lazy mexican and a bunch of crap like that. Since people were still pretty racist at the time, they believed it. And over the years they just added more bullshit on top of that, and since people were raised from a young age and told all these terrible things about it, a lot of people still believe it is a terrible thing these days.
I bet it will be at least decriminalized in several states within the next few years, and hopefully fully legalized and regulated within this decade. It is probably the single most useful, harmless, beneficial plant on the face of the earth. We will be able to buy it freely soon.
I bet it will be at least decriminalized in several states within the next few years, and hopefully fully legalized and regulated within this decade. It is probably the single most useful, harmless, beneficial plant on the face of the earth. We will be able to buy it freely soon.
o B12UT4L o
Member
I agree its not about money for me, I WANT MY FREEDOM to grow and smoke! I do wonder though what kind of money can be made by legalizing? We all have those friends who are afraid to grow or buy because the might get caught and lean on us to help them out... how many people are like that? I think if it was legal the number of new users could be astronomical. Although that might keep the prices up for a few months because the supply could not meet the demand.
ford442
Well-Known Member
there are lots of moochers - but, they already smoke.. i don't know anyone who doesn't smoke now just because of the law..
i think it would be nice if more people tried it and enjoyed it.. there will be no problem with that.. i don't think supply will ever be an issue - it is easy to grow more especially in a state with 25,000,000 acres of farm land..
right now we make $00.00 on recreational marijuana in this country - a business that totals well over $100,000,000,000.00 every year.. there is a lot of real trade money to be made legitimately and then taxes upon it.. and there will be NO 'social costs' afterward..
i think it would be nice if more people tried it and enjoyed it.. there will be no problem with that.. i don't think supply will ever be an issue - it is easy to grow more especially in a state with 25,000,000 acres of farm land..
right now we make $00.00 on recreational marijuana in this country - a business that totals well over $100,000,000,000.00 every year.. there is a lot of real trade money to be made legitimately and then taxes upon it.. and there will be NO 'social costs' afterward..
cannapharm
Well-Known Member
Hey yall! I see a lot of mixed feelings about the issue of legalization.
I think it should be legalized simply because "we the people" should have an option, to consume cannabis or not to consume cannabis (just like w/ alcohol). Thats to begin with. As far as the tax revenue, thats a debatable subject b/c everyone is speculating the possible outcome of numbers. I think it will bring millions to the state of CA and every other state that fallows. Now, I do know why some people may oppose. For example, EVERY SINGLE collective owner does not want MJ to be legal b/c legalization will considerably drop the price of cannabis. Once its legal (if not in 2010, 2012 for sure) the demand will skyrocket and the price will drop accordingly. Thats a no brainer if you have some basic econ knoweladge. As of right now, the only concern I have is cannabis being a schdl 1 drug. The first step should be to change that, i think. Things will be a lot easier if Federal Administraion changes that. Trust me.
I think it should be legalized simply because "we the people" should have an option, to consume cannabis or not to consume cannabis (just like w/ alcohol). Thats to begin with. As far as the tax revenue, thats a debatable subject b/c everyone is speculating the possible outcome of numbers. I think it will bring millions to the state of CA and every other state that fallows. Now, I do know why some people may oppose. For example, EVERY SINGLE collective owner does not want MJ to be legal b/c legalization will considerably drop the price of cannabis. Once its legal (if not in 2010, 2012 for sure) the demand will skyrocket and the price will drop accordingly. Thats a no brainer if you have some basic econ knoweladge. As of right now, the only concern I have is cannabis being a schdl 1 drug. The first step should be to change that, i think. Things will be a lot easier if Federal Administraion changes that. Trust me.
DryIsADirtyWord
Member
Just out of curiosity - why does everyone seem to think that the DEA would lose their jobs? They have a perfectly legit purpose and job - coke, crack, heroine, crystal meth ... they'll still have plenty of work to do. Mary Jane should not be in the crosshairs though.
Semper Fi
Semper Fi