# How Is Legalizing Marijuana...Legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** weed-pot-marijuana\ **Created:** [November 2, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218 "2022-11-02T12:03:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/121 "2022-12-08T12:49:27Z")
It is a peculiarly quaint notion of the 1700s that everything and everybody isn’t connected to everything and everybody else. We now know that’s provably nonsense. We’re still learning as a planet to live with this reality. Given the extreme rigidity of the US’s constitutional arrangement, and similar albeit lesser rigidities in other nation’s governing systems, we can see that governments will be increasingly out of step with reality for a long time to come. The problems arise when governments get too out of step with the realities of their societies. That’s when crowds take to the streets, buildings burn, etc. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/122 "2023-09-01T00:53:06Z")
> **[Federal health dept. says marijuana should be downgraded to Schedule 3 drug](https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/08/federal-health-dept-says-marijuana-should-be-downgraded-to-schedule-3-drug/)** > > If DEA accepts HHS's rescheduling recommendation, it could ease marijuana access. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/123 "2023-09-01T16:20:04Z")
So far the legalized marijuana business has been pretty much a bust for several reasons: - over supply, driving down prices - lack of interstate transport; can’t grow it in a better climate and transport to states where there is stronger demand - excise taxes and the resulting bootleg mj production to avoid taxes I doubt being downgraded to a Schedule 3 controlled substance will help with these issues. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/124 "2023-09-01T16:58:03Z")
States don’t have to enforce federal laws. The feds don’t have to enforce federal laws either. I think the states and private enterprises they authorize and regulate are violating federal laws currently. What can the feds do about that? I live in a very small state with legalized medical and recreational marijuana sales. Marijuana dispensaries are approved and regulated by the state. Can the FBI come here and arrest my state? Can a grand jury indict my state? Would the whole state have to go to court? If they arrested me would I get a good deal for cooperating and providing evidence against the state? Other than sending in troops, what could the US of A do about this? If the federal government wanted to enforce the federal laws what can they do about a matter like this short of a civil war? Granted, this particular issue will go away before long, the feds will stop considering marijuana to be a federally controlled substance. The OP is about how a substance regulated in one way by the federal government can be regulated differently by the states, and in a manner that is antithetical to the federal regulations. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/125 "2023-09-01T17:00:25Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So far the legalized marijuana business has been pretty much a bust for several reasons: Has it though? I’m curious to read some cites about that. The two people I know who are lucky enough to own dispensaries seem to be making money hand over fist. Last year, Illinois had $1.5 billion in pot sales, 50% over the year previous. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/126 "2023-09-01T17:09:07Z")
Competition is killing the outlets now. When the first few opened they were raking in the cash hand over fist. Now they have to compete with other outlets and the prices are dropping dramatically. Some states put heavy regulations on the outlets and the providers, all of that increases the costs of operating the businesses and competitive pricing has cut into profit margins. Like any other business boom cycle there will be a shakeout and a limited number of outlets remaining in the end. And very likely only a handful of owners controlling all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/127 "2023-09-01T17:13:21Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So far the legalized marijuana business has been pretty much a bust I disagree with this statement. Take Montana, for example. The population of the state is about 1.1 million. Recreational pot was legalized for sale in January of 2022. For the months of January 2022 through July of 2023, cannabis sales have exceeded 487 million bucks, and tax revenues are over 76 million dollars. (This includes medical marijuana.) > **[Cannabis Sales Reports - Montana Department of Revenue](https://mtrevenue.gov/cannabis-sales-reports/)** > > \[vc\_row\]\[vc\_column\]\[vc\_row\_inner\]\[vc\_column\_inner width=”1/2″\]\[vc\_column\_text css\_animation=”none”\] January 2022 to September 2023 Estimated Sales Medical $ 141,145,165 Adult-Use $403,252,279 Total $544,397,444... ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/128 "2023-09-01T18:16:42Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > But its more risk management, why take the risk. I know people that take back like multiple bags of 500g of weed on a regular basis with no issues. Do they really sell cannabis retail by the pound in Michigan? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/129 "2023-09-01T18:31:56Z")
Max I’ve seen is an ounce bag (or tub) at MI dispos. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/130 "2023-09-01T18:34:30Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > So far the legalized marijuana business has been pretty much a bust for several reasons: Um,what? It’s been bad for the most of the small growers and we’ve gone to factory farming. In all other respects it’s been a huge boon. The dispensaries are thriving. Lots of employment and tax revenue. I can go to a several storefronts within ten minutes of my house and can choose from an unbelievable selection. I can place an order on the fucking internet and have it delivered to my doorstep in less than an hour. It’s a stoner’s dream. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/131 "2023-09-01T19:48:31Z")
Sure, great for the consumer. Prices are cheaper there is plenty of choices and options. But most players on the supply side make very little margin in the legal mj. It’s as low or lower than owning a retail gas station. Not a great investment. > **[Growing pains: Cannabis profit-margin has become too narrow](https://www.theunion.com/cannabis/growing-pains-cannabis-profit-margin-has-become-too-narrow/article_819d6437-1ebb-52f6-a8ea-eea6fc7c3611.html)** > > If the cannabis market — legal and illicit — was looking risky before, the industry’s countenance is now straight hostile. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/132 "2023-09-01T19:53:32Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > But most players on the supply side make very little margin in the legal mj. It’s as low or lower than owning a retail gas station. Not a great investment. There’s going to be a big fallout as many of them go under. But they’re all waiting for everyone else to go under and hope to be among the survivers. That probably makes the eventual crash even bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/133 "2023-09-01T19:57:02Z")
It’s mostly mom and pop companies that are in the business. Unless you have the ability to have interstate commerce, it’s not really worth the investment of bigger efficient players. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/134 "2023-09-01T20:00:42Z")
There are some larger businesses in the marijuana market. I don’t remember the names off-hand, but they’re there. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/135 "2023-09-01T20:52:26Z")
In the end large corporations will control the market, like everything else. If your state is looking at legalizing cannabis, be sure that there is a provision for people to grow their own. Here in Oregon I am allowed to grow 4 mature plants. I just gave away the last 2 pounds from last year and have 4 maturing female plants that are huge and flowering, supposedly Indica. I am not sure what I will do with the 8 or 10 pounds that I will get. I just like growing them, right out in the garden next to my berries and grapes. I don’t even smoke much more than a thimble full a week any longer. But if there is no provision for growing your own you are still a slave of corporations and whims of the marketplace. When you see a legalizing of cannabis without a provision to grow your own, your legislators have been influenced by the corporations that want to control the market. And it is properly called Cannabis. Marijuana is a racist term word used originally as a scare word for Mexicans and Black people that was part of Harry Anslinger propaganda. From just one of many sources. Call it Cannabis. > by adopting the Spanish word “marijuana,” rather than the already widely-used “cannabis,” Anslinger and other prohibition activists of the early to mid-19th century were intentionally connecting the use of marijuana by brown and black bodies, to dangerous and fabricated side effects of the drug. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/136 "2023-09-01T22:18:40Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Sure, great for the consumer. Prices are cheaper there is plenty of choices and options. But most players on the supply side make very little margin in the legal mj. It’s as low or lower than owning a retail gas station. Not a great investment. So exactly like any other farming operation. How is great for the consumer “a bust”? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/137 "2023-09-02T00:05:49Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And it is properly called Cannabis. Marijuana is a racist term word used originally as a scare word for Mexicans and Black people that was part of Harry Anslinger propaganda. Meh, I call it marijuana (or even more often, “weed”) because that’s what it has been called my whole life. Anslinger was an idiot who probably helped popularize it by using the exotic sounding Spanish term. Cannabis is a silly technical term to my ear. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/138 "2023-09-02T00:24:46Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Cannabis is a silly technical term to my ear. But it’s so much easier to spell, especially in areas that used to use an “h” instead of a “j”. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/139 "2023-09-02T00:39:48Z")
Well, it does have that going for it. Still, nah. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218/140 "2023-09-03T17:56:08Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But it’s so much easier to spell, especially in areas that used to use an “h” instead of a “j”. In Michigan, it’s officially spelled with an ‘h’ in the name of the tax related to it that’s reported on the same website that I often use for reporting clients’ other taxes (Michigan Treasury Online). It does bother me somewhat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-legalizing-marijuana-legal/974218.md?page=6)