that's what it will be if only we legalize marijuana. Why, the State's coffers and all the medical patients who have been oppressed will be able to live free. Prison's will open their doors, and California could once again become the nation's leader in new industries, creating jobs in every sector. Our currently illegal crops could also be used for hemp clothing, oil, and the other byproducts of this bountiful plant. Jobs would be created and we'd save money in so many ways.
Nah, there's no down side, no unintended consequences. /sarc
How you can live in Humboldt County, be witness to the overwhelming unintended consequences of defacto legalization and wish that upon the rest of the state, I do not know.
How you can write a piece on the topic and not even acknowledge that there are some risks, some problems, I do not know.
It all SOUNDS so good. Yet we know what happened here - rental houses snatched up, and eviscerated, house fires, neighborhood degradation, attracting every bum from New Jersey who thought this was the location of the new Gold Rush, Home Invasions up, murders over Pot...
If you are going to LEGALIZE IT, it has to be NATIONWIDE. If you just legalize it in California, you just turn the whole state into Humboldt County, with all the bums and criminals looking for the big bucks moving in, with their pit bulls, automatic weapons, toxic chemicals and absolute disrespect for the law. Tax cheats at best. Murderers at worst.
I've said I'm for Legalizing it so that the criminals, made legal, will have to pay taxes on their incomes, pay business expenses, and employee withholding - unintended consequences which could lead to a whole new - armed - class of IRS agents, because I do not believe that growers and dealers are going to willingly fork over 65% + of their incomes willingly.
Dave Stancliff's Op-Ed linked above, is all hearts and flowers. Too bad the world just isn't like that.
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The TS gets another pot leaf on the front page with this story - Marijuana legalization supporters say bill could save billions What are they going to do when it is legal? If it gets legalized will there still be drug tests? Will employers care if you test positive for Pot if it is legal? If it's only legal in California, will the price stay high? (no pun intended) So many questions.
And Paul Gallegos, the pot DA himself gets a quote: Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos said he supports the bill, (NO KIDDING!!) but doesn't know if it will garner enough support to pass.
”I think there is a strong argument that responsible adult behavior should not be a crime ... we allow adults to drink and many can't be responsible and fair enough -- we punish them,” he said.
Gallegos said the bill (The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, Assembly Bill 390, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco - already on Wikipedia, wow) would have a huge impact for the county in terms of crimes associated with the black market sales of marijuana.
”It would probably reduce the value of marijuana pretty significantly, so we'd probably see a reduction if not a complete end to the ancillary crime associated with marijuana,” he said.
In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the Humboldt County Drug Task Force referred a total of 394 cases to the District Attorney's Office, Gallegos said. Out of those, 356 were filed and 28 were rejected. The year's case load left 108 defendants convicted so far, but not all the cases have been resolved yet, he said.
Gallegos said each case takes half an hour just to review, so the numbers illustrate how much time and resources his officer spends on marijuana-related cases.
He said he hopes the bill will get rid of the ambiguity of Proposition 215 laws and redirect funds towards more regulation.
Wow. A whole HALF HOUR.
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California's saving grass - Taxing marijuana should be legal in California Student newspapers rejoice... On Feb. 24 The LA Times released an article stating that California is considering taxing marijuana. Wait a minute . . . yes that means they would make it legal.
From the TS Comments:
ReplyDeleteanono says it pretty well - If the State of California legalized marijuana it would be a disaster.
What regulatory agency would ensure the proper or accurate ammount of taxes were paid, if paid at all? If you think that more than a very small minority of growers would pay taxes on the profits then you've been smoking too much medicine.
The real disaster would be the influx of people (organized crime) from out of state. If marijuana could be grown legally in California, with no fear of prosecution, people would grow it and transport or mail their marijuana to friends and associates in Indiana, Georgia, Kansas, Lousiana, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, South Carolina, Maine and so on and still make big money! This would invite the Mexican drug Cartels to operate in California even more than they are now. HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BORDER VIOLENCE RECENTLY?
It may sound good in theory but it would be a real disaster in reality. There would only be a minimal chance of legalization/taxation working if marijuana was declared legal in every state at the same time! And there is no chance of that happening.
And what would all the additional pot production do for the current, and future, "drought"? It takes lots of water to grow marijuana.
There's someone who gets it.
And then there's THIS unintended consequence - from The Dude - You obviously have not been following this legislation, nor did you even read the fu(king article. The only legal growing would be done by state-licensed and regulated farms, just like tobacco on the east coast. If someone were growing it in the field behind their house and selling it at the farmers market, they would still be breaking the law. They're talking about legalizing USE, but HEAVILY regulating the production.
ReplyDeleteMeaning, of course, the dreaded CORPORATIONS! NOW we know why the drumbeats are sounded against corporations.
Prompting Any a mouse to pipe in So they want to give control to the Corporations & ATF. Are you nuts? ATF are Thugs & the Corporations will rob the small farmers blind. Obviously the representative has his hand in the Corporate cash drawer or doesn't think through the end results. He only thinks as life(and cannabis) as money and wonders why things are falling apart financially for the state of California. I'm sure it's better to not tax yachts or those poor suffering billionaires. After all wasn't that what Prop 13 was all about?
Yeah, corporations = unintended consequences.
It's an interesting thread - see it here -
Thing is every "home grow" is illegal because AG is illegal as a 'home based business.' This was the bases of the Arcata Ord.
ReplyDeleteAs to paying taxes by growers, first thing to do is DEMAND that the shops (some 1,000 of them in Cal) issue 1099's and keep full records on cannabis bought and what was paid out to whom. IRS would go wild with all the back and current taxes owed.
I know a few growers medical who pay all their taxes.
But this goes into the idea of employees too, fill out w2's and I-9's - do regulare with holding from checks, work comp, SSI et al.
Once its legal (just what Holder did a week a go was enough) the Dept of Labor and Industral Nagot. is already looking into this. As are the other regulators for standard business.
Big business, or a driven lad from here, can produce at below Mex rates - as currently charged to shops. Should be ann intresting few years.
DT (of course)
PS Lymphoma worst, eating away my legs, but we'll beat it! };-)
Good to hear from you, DT. You're the one who should be writing the columns on this stuff.
ReplyDeleteOf the 394 cases PVG doesn't say how many are marijunana? Heroin? Meth? Coke? X? Pills?
ReplyDeletekind of misleading there paul
I still think Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, et al, are watching the so-called Emerald Triangle closer than the FBI & DEA combined...
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Rose! We need 100 more like you to out big pot once and for all. You are one courageous woman!
ReplyDeleteYou're right too that the growers won't willingly pay taxes. In fact, you can find a more selfish bunch of money grubbers anywhere. Check out the so called "schools" they build for their own kids. The Mateel Center was supposed to be a community resource. First chance they got, they bled it dry and then turned on each other publicly.
Mr CP
Here's some more "hearts and flowers" for you at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/576/marij...
ReplyDeleteThis link gives you the results of an empirically-based survey that you may find interesting.