When I was in macroeconomics class in college, I was a bit of a teacher's pet. Oh how I loved guns and butter, supply and demand, elasticity, inelasticity and public policy. This lead to many after-class conversations about such concepts as marijuana legalization.
My professor was a worldly, wise, and not afraid to crack a nasty joke in class. My god...this class was everything I loved. I miss it.
One day, after class, I walked with my professor to her office. I asked her, "what do you think would happen if marijuana was legalized?"
"It doesn't matter what your political and philosophical opinion of it is, the bottom line is that if it were regulated it could then be subject to a special tax, like cigarettes. It would be a huge source of income for the government."
At the time, I was a conservative little pisher. So I wanted to disagree with this, but it made so much sense that I couldn't no matter how hard I tried to spin my mental wheels.
She was a touch before her time. She just needed a little visible hand of Obama to get her idea off the ground.
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Have you ever been inside a "medicinal marijuana dispensary"?
In California, it's hardly an illegal-looking operation. It's not on par with illegal abortions, sketchy Mexican plastic surgeries, or buying Viagara from the internet. It's pretty damned safe and regulated. Whatever your position on consumption, it's no worse for the human body (but this is a war between lungs and liver) than alcohol.
There are advisers that know their crop better than their own ass. There are private consultation rooms. A professional cashier. You can be assured that you won't be getting something you don't want. Additionally, you can be sure you'll be offered the healthiest in weed options for you and your condition - that is, of course, if you legitimately have one.
The prices are fair, but they're raking in money hand over fist. In California, state law prohibits these cannabis confectionaries from being "money making organizations".
As of present, the only tax collected from dispensaries is standard California sales tax. Last year, this rang up to $18 million.
That's it? A paltry $18 million? Gee gadz. Seems to me we're missing out. It also seems to me that California has just been handed quite an auspicious gift - the new federal disinterest in prosecuting these dispensaries and other sticky-icky related crimes. Now, the state can decide how these "crimes" shall be prosecuted.
In a time when Los Angeles kindergarten classes receive a $30 a year for supplies, road repairs simply don't happen, and the state budget is simply fucked - isn't this quite the blessing?
This new removal of federal interest in prosecuting marijuana related crimes allows California to act - and possibly fully legalize and tax marijuana. Oh bless this new income opportunity. It's more than a piggy bank. It's a Three Mile Island of cash flow.
Seems like um, dare I say, we should just legalize it.
It does more than just create a source of income, it would eliminate a major money-suck: marijuana possession and distribution crimes. Prosecution, court times, and incarceration are absurd for such a non-violent crime. Legalization would also eliminate the opportunity for marijuana distribution to become a violent crime at all.
I don't smoke weed. This isn't a plea and examination for my own benefit. I hate weed. The last time I smoked, my boyfriend and I ended up slumped over in the corner of some back house on our friend's property. Unable to stand, unable to focus my eyes, and unable to formulate a fucking sentence. I was also convinced at the time that it was a great idea to take a cab from Burbank to West LA (approximately a $60 cost). Yeah. I don't like weed, but I know a lot of people to whom it is a favorable substitution for alcohol. Good for them.
Everybody needs their vice. Everybody also needs a savior. Right now, California needs both.
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