People will never fall into line, applicable laws and policies will aid to help in prevention and protections for society but laws will be broken, money will be spent, legislator's will legislate, and users will use. Upholding a standard is important and needed but people are not always predictable nor manageable when the pleasure principal is invoked.
What if they knew they would get a bullet to the head? Dealers, that is. If I knew how much we spent in the legal system for users (not dealers) I may be able to get behind a program that uses that money to pay for rehab. Does anyone know the answer?
I just want them off the street. Get caught, you are done. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
I'm sure that may work, but I'm trying to think of realistic solutions. The only stats I can find are just total arrests and those include weed.
Yes, it was a joke. Kind of. My thought is to start with treating weed like alcohol, because its in the same class. As far as hard drugs go, I'm not ready to change anything on that front yet.
Its a supply and demand issue. We need to focus more on the demand side of things. Cut off demand and supply will diminish. We've done a good job of decreasing the demand for cigarettes and it has been positive. I don't think making it less tabu is a good idea. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
I just saw this thread while drinking my morning coffee. I can't believe it took 9 pages to read through before someone mentioned that ^^^; as it was exactly the lead in to I was going to write. A previous poster referenced the low social costs of weed compared to alcohol... Try telling that to the people of Mexico, or those in the barrios of LA, or Laredo Texas, or the Little Village in Chicago. People get their heads cut off over "just weed." I'd say decapitation is a significant "social cost." Is the "war on drugs" a failure? Well....It's a losing battle; I'll give you that. Does that mean it's not worth fighting? NO!!! The tactics must be sound to actually have an effect. Until the borders are effectively policed, no domestic anti-drug policies (enforcement, prevention, or treatment) have a prayer of making a dent in the problem. The debate really starts and ends with effective border control. You can legalize anything here, but if the black market profiteers have an easy (meaning not cost-prohibitive) path to making their product easily available to the public at a lower price than the regulated (meaning government-approved and legal) product, the black marketers will continue to do so, and violent competition between the black marketers will continue and even escalate. according to a web search just conducted by me, legal marijuana in California costs about $4000.00 per pound...(a kilo is 2.2 pounds, I extrapolated the figure based on that.) That price is almost exactly the same as wholesale black market hydro weed (the really good stuff). WHOLESALE. As in what large wholesale dope traffickers charge other dopers per pound. In fact, if those figures are accurate, "legal" weed prices are actually a little on the high side (no pun intended.) Now, Wikipedia notes that Oregon and Cali (both have "legalized" marijuana) have proposed significant tax increases on said weed. $50-100 per OUNCE, respectively. As in a $800-1600/lb TAX. You're looking at up to $5000.00/lb for "legal" weed. This drives the cost of "legal" marijuana way over the cost of black market weed. Do you think that legalizing weed is going to eliminate the profit margin for Mexican cartels? It would at least DOUBLE the profitability of illegal marijuana (which currently goes for appx. $800-1000/lb of Mexican weed) all the while making it nearly impossible for law enforcement to discern the difference between legally-purchased weed and black market weed. Seriously, I am all for homegrown. You want to grow your own weed in your backyard, fry your brain and trash your lungs; be my guest. But don't try to tell me that a government which has a $1.01/pack federal tax on cigarettes is going to pass on taxing the heck out of weed. The cost of the federal cig tax (plus the state taxes) has already created a thriving and profitable black market for smokes, the billion dollar profits of which goes to Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Russian Mafia. History has shown repeatedly that the creation of a regulated (meaning highly taxed) and legal market for a high-demand and dollar product, when the same product is readily available on the black market for a much-lower (but still very profitable) price point, is begging for competitive (and in the case of Mexican cartels; already demonstrably violent) black market profiteers.
Agreed . But making something legal that is now illegal sends the wrong message. We need to punish and educate. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
partially right...the extremely high taxes is also part of that. To a guy making $15/hr, a pack/day habit @ $8 per pack is a pretty significant hit. Just a guess, but if cigs were still $2/pack I'd venture to surmise that there would be a buttload more smokers out there.
What's confusing to me is a lot of the same people who say smoking cigarettes is bad and frowned upon then turn right around and say smoking marijuana is ok and should be legalized. Also, try living next to a medial marijuana growing neighbor and see the crap that comes knocking at their door...or ours when they get 'confused'. Can't see how legalizing it or any other drugs would make any of that any better. You'll still have addiction, perhaps even more since it's legal so it must be OK, and with that comes increased crime.
It is the simple fact that neither I nor you should be able to tell anyone what they can put into their own body.
I don't care if people smoke and die of lung cancer, as long as I don't have to pay for their related medical bills with increased insurance costs. They should have their own separate insurance.
I agree, unless it starts to impact my life or my family's. I just find it funny how (even people I know) have such a hatred for people that smoke around them, in public places, and talk about how bad it is....then turn around and joke about getting stoned. You even see it with public figures as well. I'd be interested to see what crimes you are talking about then. If it was smuggling, selling, etc. then yeah I can see what you mean. Breaking into homes and stealing seem to go hand in hand with a lot of drugs and I am only speaking from experience with family and others I know who have been and still are addicted.
