Look - here's the plan:  We increase seizures over the next five years, however instead of destroying the captured merchandise we warehouse it and build an enormous stock pile.  We then legalize individual use, flood the market with confiscated product at far below accepted price points putting the cartels out of business and ending the drug war in one fell swoop.  We clip the tax coupon and everyone but the cartels lives happily ever after.  We also institute sentence reductions to gradually release the pot prisoners at an accelerated pace (we can't just dump them all at once for obvious reasons).

Did I miss anything?

Emmeran wrote:

Look - here's the plan:  We increase seizures over the next five years, however instead of destroying the captured merchandise we warehouse it and build an enormous stock pile.  We then legalize individual use, flood the market with confiscated product at far below accepted price points putting the cartels out of business and ending the drug war in one fell swoop.  We clip the tax coupon and everyone but the cartels lives happily ever after.  We also institute sentence reductions to gradually release the pot prisoners at an accelerated pace (we can't just dump them all at once for obvious reasons).

Did I miss anything?

Yes, you did. Give every man woman and child in the country (legal or not) a kilogram of cocaine. The smart people will look at the bag and realize that if they snort even one line that they will be dead before the kilo is gone, then flush it down the toilet. They won't be able to sell it because everyone already has a key of their very own. The rest of the population will soon be dead along with the cocaine cartels.

I know four people who are current or former mules.  All are white and range from HS to college educated.  I never once thought to myself that ACTUAL Mexicans were the ones bringing large amounts of drugs across the border.  That would be just fucking stupid.  Who is more likely to get profiled and caught?  The white guy returning from a night in Tijiuana or the brown guy coming to "visit relatives"?

Last edited by Scotty (2013-03-29 10:56:34)

Some excellent ideas here.  At the very least we would garner the results of some large scale social experiments.  As for the Mexican dirt weed, just remember, they are bringing it in and selling tons of it.  So, there certainly is a market.  Probably wouldn't sell much in my part of California where every backyard sports a dozen fine high-yield plants.  The price for excellent bud has dropped to under $800/lb, down from over $2000 a couple of years ago.

Not that I haven't partaken of a pound or two back in the day, but now I look for quality and take a pass on the average stuff. I am certain there is still a market as not everyone can be or wants to be enjoying the best. In fact, I recently read an article about the need for more average weed in the dispensaries as people think the newer grades are just too much for them. Did I read that here somewhere? Hell if I can remember.

Taint wrote:

phreddy wrote:

Some excellent ideas here.  At the very least we would garner the results of some large scale social experiments.  As for the Mexican dirt weed, just remember, they are bringing it in and selling tons of it.  So, there certainly is a market.  Probably wouldn't sell much in my part of California where every backyard sports a dozen fine high-yield plants.  The price for excellent bud has dropped to under $800/lb, down from over $2000 a couple of years ago.

Mine's organic, Mendocino-grown. Why settle for less?

Eggs-actly.

GooberMcNutly wrote:

Why do you think the "Legalize and Tax It" movement hasn't gained much traction? Even lawmakers are smart enough to know you can't tax something anyone can grow in their back yard.

Well, you can legally make your own alcohol too but that hasn't put the beer, wine, and liquor industry out of business.

Most potheads aren't going to grow their own pot.

Also the cost of growing top grade. It is a big endeavor to get a grow room set up to control all the variables involved. Temperature, lighting, watering, air quality. etc. all have to be taken into account if you want to grow the best.

But if you look at the domestic beer or cigs market as a model you will see that people are more than willing to consume cheap garbage at low prices. They would be more than willing to hack away on backyard trimmings if it's cheaper than some fancy leaf from a hydro farm. Of course, being lazy, they will buy some shag from Altria that's been doctored with all kinds of adulterants. But Ill bet the next step after taxation will be to limit backyard grows so that the small farmer is completely regulated out of the market.

I'm not sure about legalization, just de-criminalization is a good start; Portugal is reporting good results.

Disclaimer:  I stopped doing this shit when I was 16, I'm just a beer and bourbon man now.