Will Pot Be Legal In Your Lifetime?

[The Dude]

The question I have concerning those who think legalizing pot so we can tax it and use it as a revenue source is if the you tax pot at any considerable level won't people simply grow their own instead because it would be so much cheaper to do that then buy it? You can't exactly grow tobacco with ease on your own to make your own stock of cigarettes. Likewise, brewing your own beer or growing grapes and making your own wines isn't exactly the easiest or cheapest way to do things either. So even with higher taxes on alcohol and cigs, it's still cheaper and easier for the average guy to buy it with the taxes then produce their own. Pot on the other hand seems like it would be easy enough to grow your own stash in the basement or out in your garden with relative ease and low costs. I can't help but think if it was legalized there would be a massive move towards home production and all this talk of a tax source wouldn't amount to near as much as people think.

 

As far as legalization goes, I really don't see why not. No different then tobacco or alcohol IMO. I just don't buy that it will ever be a significant source of tax revenue.

 

There would be some home production, sure, but I think you both overestimate potheads and underestimate the work that goes into creating great strains of cannabis. There's a whole underground science to the stuff.

 

I love french fries. Potatoes are easy enough to grow. But in order to make homemade french fries, you have to do a lot of things over a long period of time. There's basic expense involved that probably makes a world of sense long term (like cannabis), but you have to be more than in the mood for french fries to make your own. I'm sure there are some agricultural types who are already growing in their greenhouses or out somewhere in the woods. I don't think that means the market is going to disappear. In fact, I'd be surprised if sales dropped at all with legalization.

 

 

Nobody is going to grow their own potatoes for french fries when a bag of potatoes cost $3. I don't think you can really compare growing weed to growing food when you know that if legalization occurs, pot will be taxed much the same that cigs are. It varies from state to state but if you look it up, most of the time half of what your are paying is taxes for a pack of cigs. The last I checked, smoking wasn't a cheap endeavor. Are pot users going to want to do the same thing when they can grow their own at a fraction of the cost?

 

OK, another question for you potheads. How many plants would it take to supply one person for a year? I can't imagine it takes too many, even for the heavy smokers. Now throw in the thought that some people will want to sell the extra to friends and neighbors to make some profit on the side. If the government does try to tax pot like cigs, I think there will be a huge black market since enforcement of sales taxes will be next to impossible to stop. I just don't see any scenario where there is going to be this big surge in tax revenue from pot. The same mentality of the people who are using pot illegally right now will continue to exist if it is legalized and heavily taxed.

I'm sure they'd pay extra for the quality and convenience. It's The American Way.

 

Our society is the antithesis of self-sufficiency. I doubt most lazy potheads will suddenly become hyper-motivated to become botanists.

[Husker_x]

The question I have concerning those who think legalizing pot so we can tax it and use it as a revenue source is if the you tax pot at any considerable level won't people simply grow their own instead because it would be so much cheaper to do that then buy it? You can't exactly grow tobacco with ease on your own to make your own stock of cigarettes. Likewise, brewing your own beer or growing grapes and making your own wines isn't exactly the easiest or cheapest way to do things either. So even with higher taxes on alcohol and cigs, it's still cheaper and easier for the average guy to buy it with the taxes then produce their own. Pot on the other hand seems like it would be easy enough to grow your own stash in the basement or out in your garden with relative ease and low costs. I can't help but think if it was legalized there would be a massive move towards home production and all this talk of a tax source wouldn't amount to near as much as people think.

 

As far as legalization goes, I really don't see why not. No different then tobacco or alcohol IMO. I just don't buy that it will ever be a significant source of tax revenue.

 

There would be some home production, sure, but I think you both overestimate potheads and underestimate the work that goes into creating great strains of cannabis. There's a whole underground science to the stuff.

 

I love french fries. Potatoes are easy enough to grow. But in order to make homemade french fries, you have to do a lot of things over a long period of time. There's basic expense involved that probably makes a world of sense long term (like cannabis), but you have to be more than in the mood for french fries to make your own. I'm sure there are some agricultural types who are already growing in their greenhouses or out somewhere in the woods. I don't think that means the market is going to disappear. In fact, I'd be surprised if sales dropped at all with legalization.

 

 

Nobody is going to grow their own potatoes for french fries when a bag of potatoes cost $3. I don't think you can really compare growing weed to growing food when you know that if legalization occurs, pot will be taxed much the same that cigs are. It varies from state to state but if you look it up, most of the time half of what your are paying is taxes for a pack of cigs. The last I checked, smoking wasn't a cheap endeavor. Are pot users going to want to do the same thing when they can grow their own at a fraction of the cost?

 

OK, another question for you potheads. How many plants would it take to supply one person for a year? I can't imagine it takes too many, even for the heavy smokers. Now throw in the thought that some people will want to sell the extra to friends and neighbors to make some profit on the side. If the government does try to tax pot like cigs, I think there will be a huge black market since enforcement of sales taxes will be next to impossible to stop. I just don't see any scenario where there is going to be this big surge in tax revenue from pot. The same mentality of the people who are using pot illegally right now will continue to exist if it is legalized and heavily taxed.

 

The reason you buy from a taxed vendor and not from a drug dealer (even if you know the person who grows it) is the same reason you buy any medicinal thing that's legal: when you go to the drug store you get exactly what you're paying for, nothing more, nothing less. Legal shops would likely have to submit samples to a lab every so often to keep their license. Better quality product, FDA guaranteed.

[Foppa]

If the Feds allow the states to determine the legality of it at some point...I'll guarantee Nebraska will be one of, it not the last state to legalize it.

[Blackshirts007]

If the Feds allow the states to determine the legality of it at some point...I'll guarantee Nebraska will be one of, it not the last state to legalize it.

i think its going on the national ballot this year along with the presidential vote

[HSKR]

The question I have concerning those who think legalizing pot so we can tax it and use it as a revenue source is if the you tax pot at any considerable level won't people simply grow their own instead because it would be so much cheaper to do that then buy it? You can't exactly grow tobacco with ease on your own to make your own stock of cigarettes. Likewise, brewing your own beer or growing grapes and making your own wines isn't exactly the easiest or cheapest way to do things either. So even with higher taxes on alcohol and cigs, it's still cheaper and easier for the average guy to buy it with the taxes then produce their own. Pot on the other hand seems like it would be easy enough to grow your own stash in the basement or out in your garden with relative ease and low costs. I can't help but think if it was legalized there would be a massive move towards home production and all this talk of a tax source wouldn't amount to near as much as people think.

 

As far as legalization goes, I really don't see why not. No different then tobacco or alcohol IMO. I just don't buy that it will ever be a significant source of tax revenue.

 

There would be some home production, sure, but I think you both overestimate potheads and underestimate the work that goes into creating great strains of cannabis. There's a whole underground science to the stuff.

 

I love french fries. Potatoes are easy enough to grow. But in order to make homemade french fries, you have to do a lot of things over a long period of time. There's basic expense involved that probably makes a world of sense long term (like cannabis), but you have to be more than in the mood for french fries to make your own. I'm sure there are some agricultural types who are already growing in their greenhouses or out somewhere in the woods. I don't think that means the market is going to disappear. In fact, I'd be surprised if sales dropped at all with legalization.

 

 

Nobody is going to grow their own potatoes for french fries when a bag of potatoes cost $3. I don't think you can really compare growing weed to growing food when you know that if legalization occurs, pot will be taxed much the same that cigs are. It varies from state to state but if you look it up, most of the time half of what your are paying is taxes for a pack of cigs. The last I checked, smoking wasn't a cheap endeavor. Are pot users going to want to do the same thing when they can grow their own at a fraction of the cost?

 

OK, another question for you potheads. How many plants would it take to supply one person for a year? I can't imagine it takes too many, even for the heavy smokers. Now throw in the thought that some people will want to sell the extra to friends and neighbors to make some profit on the side. If the government does try to tax pot like cigs, I think there will be a huge black market since enforcement of sales taxes will be next to impossible to stop. I just don't see any scenario where there is going to be this big surge in tax revenue from pot. The same mentality of the people who are using pot illegally right now will continue to exist if it is legalized and heavily taxed.

 

The reason you buy from a taxed vendor and not from a drug dealer (even if you know the person who grows it) is the same reason you buy any medicinal thing that's legal: when you go to the drug store you get exactly what you're paying for, nothing more, nothing less. Legal shops would likely have to submit samples to a lab every so often to keep their license. Better quality product, FDA guaranteed.

 

But you wouldn't buy something you know is good that was grown by a friend or someone you know for half the price? I can't buy that reasoning either because the vast majority of people using it right now has no FDA involvement and seem to be doing just fine without them. Unfortunately this will be the biggest downfall of legalizing pot, more massive government bureaucratic involvement. Also, another argument that the tax revenue will be minimal because most of it will go right back into whatever agencies are involved with controlling the sales.

[T_O_Bull]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

[Enhance]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

Unfortunately, I do not have a saved copy of my report (lost it when my computer crashed), nor do I remember where my information came from. I'm unable to rebuttal this.

[HuskerShark]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

 

I gotta say, I don't care how much money the government could make on it, I still just don't fully support legalization of weed. Some things are more important than money. If the major driving force behind the legalization of pot is money, then we had just as well legalize meth and cocaine and tax the hell out of them too.

 

I know that marijuana isn't all that bad. I've been around it a few times, never actually tried it. It just seems like one of those dark holes to me.

[Husker_x]

The question I have concerning those who think legalizing pot so we can tax it and use it as a revenue source is if the you tax pot at any considerable level won't people simply grow their own instead because it would be so much cheaper to do that then buy it? You can't exactly grow tobacco with ease on your own to make your own stock of cigarettes. Likewise, brewing your own beer or growing grapes and making your own wines isn't exactly the easiest or cheapest way to do things either. So even with higher taxes on alcohol and cigs, it's still cheaper and easier for the average guy to buy it with the taxes then produce their own. Pot on the other hand seems like it would be easy enough to grow your own stash in the basement or out in your garden with relative ease and low costs. I can't help but think if it was legalized there would be a massive move towards home production and all this talk of a tax source wouldn't amount to near as much as people think.

 

As far as legalization goes, I really don't see why not. No different then tobacco or alcohol IMO. I just don't buy that it will ever be a significant source of tax revenue.

 

There would be some home production, sure, but I think you both overestimate potheads and underestimate the work that goes into creating great strains of cannabis. There's a whole underground science to the stuff.

 

I love french fries. Potatoes are easy enough to grow. But in order to make homemade french fries, you have to do a lot of things over a long period of time. There's basic expense involved that probably makes a world of sense long term (like cannabis), but you have to be more than in the mood for french fries to make your own. I'm sure there are some agricultural types who are already growing in their greenhouses or out somewhere in the woods. I don't think that means the market is going to disappear. In fact, I'd be surprised if sales dropped at all with legalization.

 

 

Nobody is going to grow their own potatoes for french fries when a bag of potatoes cost $3. I don't think you can really compare growing weed to growing food when you know that if legalization occurs, pot will be taxed much the same that cigs are. It varies from state to state but if you look it up, most of the time half of what your are paying is taxes for a pack of cigs. The last I checked, smoking wasn't a cheap endeavor. Are pot users going to want to do the same thing when they can grow their own at a fraction of the cost?

 

OK, another question for you potheads. How many plants would it take to supply one person for a year? I can't imagine it takes too many, even for the heavy smokers. Now throw in the thought that some people will want to sell the extra to friends and neighbors to make some profit on the side. If the government does try to tax pot like cigs, I think there will be a huge black market since enforcement of sales taxes will be next to impossible to stop. I just don't see any scenario where there is going to be this big surge in tax revenue from pot. The same mentality of the people who are using pot illegally right now will continue to exist if it is legalized and heavily taxed.

 

The reason you buy from a taxed vendor and not from a drug dealer (even if you know the person who grows it) is the same reason you buy any medicinal thing that's legal: when you go to the drug store you get exactly what you're paying for, nothing more, nothing less. Legal shops would likely have to submit samples to a lab every so often to keep their license. Better quality product, FDA guaranteed.

 

But you wouldn't buy something you know is good that was grown by a friend or someone you know for half the price? I can't buy that reasoning either because the vast majority of people using it right now has no FDA involvement and seem to be doing just fine without them. Unfortunately this will be the biggest downfall of legalizing pot, more massive government bureaucratic involvement. Also, another argument that the tax revenue will be minimal because most of it will go right back into whatever agencies are involved with controlling the sales.

 

There are already independent companies that test for THC content. That's the way some medicinal cannabis shops work in California, or so I've heard (I also believe you can possess pot plants already there, at least in a limited quantity). They sell according to THC content, which is a measurable quantity if you've got the equipment. Again, growing 'the best' stuff is not something just anyone is going to or be willing to do.

 

The FDA already oversees a huge amount of products. I don't see how cannabis is going to be the straw that breaks the camel.

 

I'm thinking more than logistics or tax implications, the right wing of the republican party is hijacking an entire half of the electorate with outdated misinformation about cannabis. Most of the country is ready to move in the direction of liberty. Some...not so much.

[Foppa]

Maybe a bit off-topic, but what's the status of 'synthetic weed' in the States? Here in New Zealand, they pulled the biggest brand off the shelves, too many kids/young adults ending up in emergency rooms from extreme paranoia. Experts were saying that the health system wasn't even allowed to know what was in the ingredients that comprised it, but that it was much stronger than regular marijuana.

 

It's just amazing that they make something so much more dangerous legal and market it, but still outlaw the less harmful organic product.

[Omaha-Husker]

Maybe a bit off-topic, but what's the status of 'synthetic weed' in the States? Here in New Zealand, they pulled the biggest brand off the shelves, too many kids/young adults ending up in emergency rooms from extreme paranoia. Experts were saying that the health system wasn't even allowed to know what was in the ingredients that comprised it, but that it was much stronger than regular marijuana.

 

It's just amazing that they make something so much more dangerous legal and market it, but still outlaw the less harmful organic product.

 

They tried to blame the Millard South Shooting on "K2" synthetic weed. It is illegal in Nebraska after that whole event.

 

Really synthetic weed is much much worse for you than natural weed.

[carlfense]

Really synthetic weed is much much worse for you than natural weed.

This is probably true.

[Enhance]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

 

I gotta say, I don't care how much money the government could make on it, I still just don't fully support legalization of weed. Some things are more important than money. If the major driving force behind the legalization of pot is money, then we had just as well legalize meth and cocaine and tax the hell out of them too.

 

I know that marijuana isn't all that bad. I've been around it a few times, never actually tried it. It just seems like one of those dark holes to me.

If you've ever consumed alcohol, I'm of the opinion that you've actually done something worse than weed, as far as how it works with your body and the affect it has on you.

[HuskerShark]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

 

I gotta say, I don't care how much money the government could make on it, I still just don't fully support legalization of weed. Some things are more important than money. If the major driving force behind the legalization of pot is money, then we had just as well legalize meth and cocaine and tax the hell out of them too.

 

I know that marijuana isn't all that bad. I've been around it a few times, never actually tried it. It just seems like one of those dark holes to me.

If you've ever consumed alcohol, I'm of the opinion that you've actually done something worse than weed, as far as how it works with your body and the affect it has on you.

 

I'm not sure if I agree. The fact that I believe marijuana is worse is due to my personal experiences with people who smoke it. They just aren't the greatest people in the world, to say the least. But then again a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that it is illegal, and not all that much to do with the drug itself.

[Husker_x]

When I did a research analysis on this very topic four years ago, I found out that the government could make upwards of $12-14 billion dollars a year from taxing and legalizing marijuana. With how much money it costs to incarcerate someone, they're out of their minds to not decriminalize it.

 

The truth of the matter is that marijuana, physically, can't kill you like meth or ecstasy can. Having done marijuana in my lifetime, I know first hand what the effects are like, and I personally feel that being drunk is far more debilitating than being high. Furthermore, the campaign adds they have against marijuana use are complete BS. I don't know anybody that would get high, and then watch their friend die in the middle of a street, like one of the ads suggested.

 

Doing marijuana might get people interested in doing stronger, without question illegal drugs, but people are going to do that anyways. I had a friend who did acid long before he tried marijuana (goes to film school...figures).

According to an article on MSN.com the first year savings would be 7 to 8 million and 4 to 5 million every year thereafter.

T_O_B

 

I gotta say, I don't care how much money the government could make on it, I still just don't fully support legalization of weed. Some things are more important than money. If the major driving force behind the legalization of pot is money, then we had just as well legalize meth and cocaine and tax the hell out of them too.

 

I know that marijuana isn't all that bad. I've been around it a few times, never actually tried it. It just seems like one of those dark holes to me.

If you've ever consumed alcohol, I'm of the opinion that you've actually done something worse than weed, as far as how it works with your body and the affect it has on you.

 

I'm not sure if I agree. The fact that I believe marijuana is worse is due to my personal experiences with people who smoke it. They just aren't the greatest people in the world, to say the least. But then again a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that it is illegal, and not all that much to do with the drug itself.

 

Take this opportunity to examine what you're actually saying. How many people do you know who smoke weed? Why would you use this limited sample to assess the dangers of cannabis and not actually look at any hard data? Why would this be an adequate basis for you, a voter, to oppose liberty? Think about it.

 

You ever seen someone get violent on weed? I haven't. I suppose it could happen but there is simply no comparison between being stoned and raging drunk. One leads to pretty much no action at all that requires effort (including fighting), the other is practically a catalyst for violence. Ask the cops how much fun alcohol adds to their job of arresting people.

 

There is simply no comparison between alcohol and cannabis. Alcohol is incredibly dangerous, and the stats prove this up, down, and sideways. Used in moderation, it's fine. Cannabis used in moderatio is also fine, and is unlikely to have many, if any, dire consequences in your life. The people who go on to use meth can blame meth for their troubles.