I have followed this for about a year, after Denver passed a city ordinance to legalize marijuana for adults. to date I have really seen no viable argument against legalization.
the ‘gateway theory’ has finally been rebunked by the federal government (most branches anyway), as studies have proven that a person predisposed to hard drugs will eventually find those drugs, that pot was easier to come by and therefore normally the first introduction to drugs. most marijuana smokers I know don’t do any other drugs, some don’t even drink. so it’s a different type of person that’s drawn to pot as opossed to herione or cocain.
some say it would send the wrong message to kids, to legalize. the truth is, most kids can find someone to supply alcohol. it may require a little leg work but they can usually pull it off. but pot, they don’t NEED to find anyone to buy. every major study done shows most teens in the US today can get pot easier than they can alcohol or tobacco. DRUG DEALERS DON’T ASK FOR ID!
tax and regulate pot like alcohol, tax the heck out of it. take the profit away from gangs and drug gealers, and raise money instead of wasting it.
this is a case of the law against a substance being more destructive to US citizens than the substance itself. it is a bad law annd needs to be overturned. discuss.
from my window in the ER I have never seen anybody present with a marijuana induced health problem
Nearly all the pro-marijuana-legalization arguments I have heard call for marijuana to be taxed - usually heavily taxed.
Why would this be a good thing? And how would the government go about taxing it? If I wanted to grow 3 plants in my yard from seeds I bought online, how are they going to tax me? Wouldn’t there be a bunch of people trying to cheat the tax and get around it in various ways?
The argument for taxation is that it would offset any costs marijuana inflicted on the state, and then some. It would turn pot from a huge cost into a revenue maker.
And as for cannabis tax evaders, yeah they’d be there. People smuggle cigarettes to dodge the taxes. The thing is, most people don’t bother with bootleg cigs and wouldn’t go for bootleg pot. The convenience and standardized quality of taxed commercial pot would make them a consumer favorite over homegrown. And the cops would still be after illegal growers and dealers, just not so vigorously.
Same way they tax alcohol or tobacco. Require each commercial package of product to have a stamp showing the tax had been paid. You may have a few enthusiasts who grow their own, just like people brew beer or make wine at home. Most of the market will opt for easy, predictable product.
It seems a prerequisite that everyone who argues for marijuana legalization has to include the phrase “tax the hell out of it” in their argument.
Isn’t that a little unfair? I don’t think the government should tread heavily when singling out groups to weigh down with a greater portion of the tax burden.
What if studies show that the greatest numbers of pot smokers are singles in their 20s and retirees, but the disproportionate taxes they are paying are going to fund elementary schools that they nor their [non-existant] children will ever use. Is that the right thing to do?
I’d also like to point out to the “tax the hell out of it” crowd - these types of taxes are called Sin Taxes. Do we really want to open that can of worms?
That can of worms has been open a long time. Remember the Boston Tea Party? Alcohol and tobacco are taxed. Why would marijuana not be?
That was about taxation without representation. Don’t see how it’s relavent.
I didn’t say it shouldn’t be taxed. I just don’t think they should “tax the hell out of it”. And cigarette taxes are getting out of hand, which is what originally got me thinking about this (I’m neither a cigarette nor a marijuana smoker.)
It’s relevant because it was a response to a tax on tea…a “sin tax” as you mentioned earlier.
Nearly every single person I know would turn into a botanist if it were legalized. To say nothing of people in warmer places like California or Florida. It’s pretty easy to grow weed, and it’s a little harder to grow good weed but still not as hard as brewing good beer. I think there would be more than a few enthusiasts, especially since it would be cheaper to grow your own than to pay the tax (if the “hell” is indeed taxed out of it.)
The idea of big companies peddling weed is quite unappealing to me, and I would hope that if it were legalized, there would be a flourishing of local growers and farmers.
That was not a sin tax. Tea Act of 1773.
You make a valid point. Were marijuana legal I don’t really see how you could heavily tax it. If it were a light tax I imagine people would just purchase it because it’s easier. If they tried to tax it as much as they tax tobacco I bet people would just grow it in their yards.
Of course if it was legal, I wonder if companies would even want to grow it. Wouldn’t they be at risk for lawsuits 20+ years in the future kind of like tobacco companies?
Marc
Oops. You’re right. My bad.
I’m sure even with taxing the hell out of it it’d still be a lot cheaper than current prices.
That did not stop the tobacco companies.
The main problem I have with legalized marijuana is that the smoke will affect others. Tobacco smoke is bad enough, but I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and even though I led quite a sheltered childhood, I was in a few places where the smoke was thick enough to get me mildly woozy. Ironically enough, the one time I actually toked, I didn’t inhale, so just breathing the secondhand smoke affected me more than my own efforts.
I’d have no problem if nonsmokable pot was legalized. Potheads tend to become slackers, but one can slack without pot. I just don’t want to get high unless I choose to.
Cigarette smoking is already restricted to very few public places - none in some areas. I would think marijuana smoking would be even more restricted. I really don’t think your boss is going to be calling you into his office and blowing pot smoke in your face while he lectures you about last month’s numbers.
What’s an ‘illegal grower?’ Are you proposing we only let certain companies grow it? What’s the point of that? Given the choice, most people would buy mass-produced stuff because they wouldn’t want to put the time into growing it, same as with their vegetables.
I wasn’t thinking about workplaces, although I have had several smoking bosses who’d light up while talking to me, which I find deeply unpleasant. I was thinking more about how a lot of restaurants around here have smoking and nonsmoking sections, and how the smoke seems to drift into the nonsmoking sections. Many restaurants have outside seating, which is always a smoking area, and those areas are frequently where nonsmokers have to pass to enter the restaurant. We also have a lot of buildings that have smokers congregate right outside the entries, and which reek of smoke even when nobody’s actually smoking there.
I think my point is a valid one. I don’t want to inhale anyone’s smoke, whether it’s pot or tobacco smoke. I don’t care if someone wants to eat pot, as long as it’s not in an unmarked communal dish.