That's right! The largest city in my great home state of Maine has legalized the chronic. It is the first city to do so on the East Coast, and will set up very strong support for the entire state to legalize it in 2016. The measure won by almost 65% I believe.
It is important to note that it is still illegal under state law, which city law enforcement still enforce, but I strongly believe this will lower the priority AND set up future support for full, state-wide legalization.
20 years of chronic use and I learned something new today. It makes sense but I never thought of it. In the past I would eat edibles on an empty stomach thinking "minimum dilution" or whatever just like if you want to get drunk quick you do it on an empty stomach. Well THC bonds to fat really well so when consuming an edible, if you pair it with a nice big glass of vitamin d milk....it will intensify and extend the experience. Any fat will suffice but milk is probably the best way especially if you are having something sweet anyway.....
Hooray east coast. Its weird how weed on the streets of any west coast city is a no-brainer but the idea of it in Chicago or NYC is pretty hard to wrap my head around...prohibition is ending.....
Interestingly enough I believe I heard yesterday that Illinois or Indiana became the 13th state to ratify same sex marriage, which if you guys remember Bush had practically succeeded in squashing completely across the nation before he left.
The puritans are losing their grip...finally...and we get to watch....
It failed the first time, so it will be interesting to see how they change it to increase the public approval. I was pretty amazed that WA passed and OR failed.
It will definitely happen soon. I'm really interested in the taxation side of things. I think it could be a huge source of income for each state, but the Washington method of something like 3 separate 25% taxes sounds crazy.
Someone I knew did a research paper. Claimed if we legalize and take the 10's or 100's of billions wasted ea. year on war on drugs. The many millions or billions spent on on procecuting and incarcerating drug users, put that money back in the tax coffers.
Then tax it like alchohol, smokes to add that revenue to the govt. teat!.
We could ALL have free heath care and probably still get a tax break.
...not to mention keeping real criminals IN prison and freeing up more police to catch them. Cheap legal drugs would mean less drug related crime and mayhem, reducing all govt. costs associated with dealing with that as well! Seems like a no brainer doesn't it?
A good buddy of mine from the service, actually came across a trail wired up with Claymore mines! Needless to say he gtf out of there fast. Said if the two of us had been out on that trail, shooting the shit and not paying attention. We'd have been cut in half.
The low tech guys were fond of hanging treble fishooks from trees little lower than eye level. Definitely not the "Peace, Love, Dope" crowd out there growing!
I'm totally gonna stop in P-town on the way to the Loaf this year and stock up! I used to live with this kid who ran for a big Munjoy Hill dealer. I am just happy some legit Congress street boutique can put those assholes oit of business. I will totally support a legalized and taxed Maine nug trade.
A friend did a position piece, researched that bud has been a very stable commodity price wise for at least the past 10 years. But his analysis is that once businesses, taxes and a centralized money making machine get established the price will likely at least double. And for the most part, folks will not be able to grow their own and thus forced to buy the higher priced bud. Thus again, the issue, is who is making the money...not the nug farmers and the consumers are getting it in the ass again. Verses, yes decriminalize/legalize and let everybody grow their own...and stop wasting money on the fascist police state.
A friend did a position piece, researched that bud has been a very stable commodity price wise for at least the past 10 years. But his analysis is that once businesses, taxes and a centralized money making machine get established the price will likely at least double. And for the most part, folks will not be able to grow their own and thus forced to buy the higher priced bud. Thus again, the issue, is who is making the money...not the nug farmers and the consumers are getting it in the ass again. Verses, yes decriminalize/legalize and let everybody grow their own...and stop wasting money on the fascist police state.
I think that with the nug "industry," many more people would value local small production growers vs. huge commercial operations. Everyone would boycott Monsanto if they started growing weed... well most everyone.
As for the money... Depending on location, growers are already charging too much, ESPECIALLY for medical purposes. Yes, some practically give it away, and their prices will likely increase, but some are certainly out there for a major profit, charging more than $300 per ounce. No better than commercial companies in my mind. For a relatively low start-up cost, you can make your money back after your first grow or two. Nothing else that you grow will make you as much money. How many tomato plants do you need to make $1000? How many bud plants? Only 1 if you're doing it right.
With that in mind, and the difference in prices based on geography, I think that the average price wouldn't change all that much. It does depend on taxes though. If we are talking about a single, 15% tax, that isn't shit. Where you run into issues is the proposed taxation methods in Washington State, where an ounce is sold for $200 to a retailer with a 25% tax. The retailer now has a $250 ounce, and they need to make a profit. So they up the price to $300. The consumer is charged another 25% tax, so they are paying $375...
Prices won't change unless something happens to make growing impossible, which I doubt. If big business tries to get it and jack the price, we will just all go back to the black market. Sort of why the whole medical movement was the groundswell for the issue, the medical side gave it some protection from big business, forcing the legalization and commercialization to take place on a level where Pfizer and friends won't touch it. While this will probably change, it probably won't change before prohibition ends.
The way it is currently, you have to a medical card to grow...folks are getting raped $200-300 just to get an evaluation (that has to be renewed annually) with the assumption you will "qualify/approved" for a medical card; and I think you can only grow for your self. IIRc back in the day in AK you could grow 6? plants (not needing anything as far as a license) for personal use....and most folks aren't going to burn up 6 plants...especially if they synchronize their grow/consumption.
Its about centralization and every well placed greedy money making fruckass$....FRUCK that...shit should be like growing tomatoes...anybody can if they want to...and if they grow a good product they should be able to sell it to a local shop/market like any organic locally grown produce....and if gov wants to do a sales I'm fine with that.
it will be interestin gto see how supply/demand plays out on the next couple years, i would think demand is going to go up, so if supply gets limited/restricted?...
what happened in Holland when they legalized? or any other realworld examples
Like with any substance; there is what is called the "general prevalency rate" meaning that in the general population there will be a certain percentage of population that will be the truly "addicted/dependent", the occasional recreational/social user and the experimental/try it out use.
So like in Europe, herion addicts are iirc 1% and there is the public funded methadone and treatment systems...folks that are properly dosed can be productive and law abiding members of society. The law for public mayham while intoxicated/under the influence are about public safety and apply mostly to folks that are behaving in a risky manner...addicted or not. As for the experimental use, it is mainly accepted with a cautious eye towards education, public safety and the potential developing into an "addicted" status.
You know it would be much cheaper to buy up all the heroin in the world and give it away to the folks who are addicted and in pain. Than the money spent on fighting the war on drugs...but then only the farmers would make some money and the drug enforcement industry would be out of business.
As far as supply and demand...if folks were allowed to grow...it would likely be able to meet the demand at a much lower price point...and at some point would level out...because only so many folks will smoke. However there is a definite potential for expansion of herb in to lotions/potions/cosmetic/fabric and materials under the "hemp" and just not for medical uses. There is probably big money in growing and processing in to other consumer items...pot smoking market is probably relatively small comparatively.
i suppose the growing rights/limitations will be a state by state thing as well, as will demand
heard an NPR interview with a WA official in chage of the rollout...one big issue was the control of supply flowing into neighboring states that are no yet with the program. how they gonna do that was no addressed, but border checks with dogs etc, seem iminent. i got stopped outside the PDX train station ( guess i looked suspicious with my boards and giant backpack) for an unofficial search, given the distinct impression that declining the dogsniff was not an option, unrelated case, but....ominous
No "big business" gonna touch weed because its still a federal law issue. Yeah Obama's DEA isn't gonna bust up Humboldt country. But Ted Cruz gets elected and here comes the War on Drugs again. No big pharma or big ag is going to invest in a quasi legal market. If they start looking at commercial dope yield R& D and the next federal admin says "you stop all that tomorrow or we will pull your federal subsidies" they will lose all that investment.
No large institutions want to be in this business because of the local/state v. federal divide.
Will legalization or decriminalization bring new demand? I dunno. Will you start smoking weed just.cuz its legal? If demand goes up I could see price going up. But paying a transaction tax (every at wholesale) may not jack the price too much if its just replacing the hidden cost of local law enforcement and evasion (still gotta pay for your own security up there in NoCal though. Haha.)
My experience in Cali was that prices we down and availability went up when medical became legalized. Different structures may mean different things elsewhere. But we'll see..
ted cruz is a non-factor, he will drown in his own idiocy and hypocrisy soon enough, i.e. sara palin
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