Legalizing - A Rational Business Plan

[LieutenantDank]

There are many sites, and even more individual people, that discuss the pros and cons for legalizing not only marijuanna, but other drugs as well. People cite facts like health risks, crime problems, addiction tendencies, comparisons to other "vices", and many other debatable topics. The one thing I honestly have never seen is an in-depth, detailed forcasting of a business plan. Not once have I seen anyone detail a viable way for the government to do what it's primary concern is : make money.

Now think about it. Government-run grow houses and distribution centers. Heavy taxes, similar to alcohol and cigarettes. Fines for infractions also similar to alcohol, such as smoking (drinking) in public, supplying weed (alcohol) to under-age users, production of your own weed (moonshine). Reduced costs due to severly decrease processing, trying, and incarcerating offenders. As it stands now, weed is a mutli-billion dollar a year industry. Instead of the comparisons I stated earlier, why not show the government how much it will not only save, but also make from the legalization and institutionalization of marijuanna.

[emagdnim13]

i fully agree except the production of your own.


i would think it doubly ignorant to then legalize the plant but outlaw the cultivation.


i'd be growing my own rather than smoking something the gov grew

[LieutenantDank]

Hard alcohol is legal, but the private production of it without the proper licenses and permits is not. The government claimed in the past that it was due to health reasons. However, a significant amount of taxation comes from the sale of hard alcohol.

While growing might be viable to legalize in the future, right now I think baby steps need to be taken. I'd much rather be able to go to a store, buy some weed, and get high as a kite without any legal problems then grow my own weed.

[FormrlyKnownAs]

We may in our life times never see anything close to that occur... sad but true... even if the public and the law-makers were behind a plan such as that, the ciggrette companys wouldnt like it nor would any alch company... the legalization of weed would hurt their profits, they alone have eough control to put to rest any plan for legalization of weed here in the US... we may see THC become more respected on a medical level, even now it is being researched so that it can be used and used in a form that is not a plant... but we will most likly not see it legalized on a public level in our lifetimes if all factors stay at status quo...

by the way, there are countless factors that fight he legalization for Mj and most al would have to be extinguished before we could finaly legalize it...

[LieutenantDank]

Originally Posted by FormrlyKnownAs

We may in our life times never see anything close to that occur... sad but true... even if the public and the law-makers were behind a plan such as that, the ciggrette companys wouldnt like it nor would any alch company... the legalization of weed would hurt their profits, they alone have eough control to put to rest any plan for legalization of weed here in the US... we may see THC become more respected on a medical level, even now it is being researched so that it can be used and used in a form that is not a plant... but we will most likly not see it legalized on a public level in our lifetimes if all factors stay at status quo...

by the way, there are countless factors that fight he legalization for Mj and most al would have to be extinguished before we could finaly legalize it...

I would doubt profits would come in to play. I would guess that the majority of the people that have any interest in smoking weed already do; legalizing it would just make it easier, safer, and allow the government to make money.

If people could post feedback, as well as how much they spend on weed, either on a per week or per month basis, that would be great. It might not be a bad idea to get numbers together and see how much the government could actually make.

[FormrlyKnownAs]

The goverment is the least of your problems, your major hurtles will be the conservitive party... religious groups... and multi-billion dollor corperations as well as genral public negitivity and a heap of other cynical groups or other organizations...

no matter the profit pulled by the goverment, the fact is the other factors that oppose it will over shadow any price tag, nomatter how large the figure is... plus we dont have enough excepted and throughly tested and proven theroys and even fewer scentificaly excepted facts... sorry...

[mooglemage]

i agree with all of your points except that about cultivation.
theres a BIG difference between growing a plant and harvesting MJ, and producing your own alcohol.
firstly, weed is just that, a weed. it thrives in many conditions, and to legalize the product from the plant, intrinsically legalizes the plant itself (cannabis plants are only illegal in that they produce THC laden marijuana. without THC products illegalized, the plant is legalized). The plant can quite easily grow on its own in the woods, and if someone HAPPENED to put the seeds there, it would then constitute a crime. (i know im taking this to the extreme, and clearly its easy to prove that someone with a complex expensive grow operation is growing for consumption, not by accident). For example though tobacco is legalized for consumption/possesion etc. and is a multi-million dollar industry, with STRONG sway in washington, it is TOTALLY legal for anyone to grow their own tobacco plants. Its not common, because the curing of tobacco is complicated, and many plants would be required to yield an appreciable amount (tobacco is used in much higher quantities than weed obviously)
secondly, misproduction of alcohol, and illegally produced alcohol is extremely dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from illegaly/poorly produced alcohol, being tainted and poisonous. It is almost impossible to grow weed that is poisonous to smoke. Lacing with another drug is besides the point, because those drugs would be illicit.

otherwise I really doubt that the government would OPERATE grows, or personally produce weed. That isnt their business, too much effort. They would let capitalism run rampant, and huge commercial grow operations would start pumping out weed, STRICTLY regualated by the government. Stores would start to sell weed, and be responsible for taxing it just as any product, as opposed to special government offices that grow/process/sell weed, totally not cost effective.

[FormrlyKnownAs]

well put

[LieutenantDank]

Originally Posted by mooglemage

i agree with all of your points except that about cultivation.
theres a BIG difference between growing a plant and harvesting MJ, and producing your own alcohol.
firstly, weed is just that, a weed. it thrives in many conditions, and to legalize the product from the plant, intrinsically legalizes the plant itself (cannabis plants are only illegal in that they produce THC laden marijuana. without THC products illegalized, the plant is legalized). The plant can quite easily grow on its own in the woods, and if someone HAPPENED to put the seeds there, it would then constitute a crime. (i know im taking this to the extreme, and clearly its easy to prove that someone with a complex expensive grow operation is growing for consumption, not by accident). For example though tobacco is legalized for consumption/possesion etc. and is a multi-million dollar industry, with STRONG sway in washington, it is TOTALLY legal for anyone to grow their own tobacco plants. Its not common, because the curing of tobacco is complicated, and many plants would be required to yield an appreciable amount (tobacco is used in much higher quantities than weed obviously)
secondly, misproduction of alcohol, and illegally produced alcohol is extremely dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from illegaly/poorly produced alcohol, being tainted and poisonous. It is almost impossible to grow weed that is poisonous to smoke. Lacing with another drug is besides the point, because those drugs would be illicit.

otherwise I really doubt that the government would OPERATE grows, or personally produce weed. That isnt their business, too much effort. They would let capitalism run rampant, and huge commercial grow operations would start pumping out weed, STRICTLY regualated by the government. Stores would start to sell weed, and be responsible for taxing it just as any product, as opposed to special government offices that grow/process/sell weed, totally not cost effective.

You pose some valid points. I was mainly thinking of limiting growing as a counter balance to being able to legally posses and smoke marijuanna. After all, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

And your last paragraph is what I was thinking, just came out wrong. The grow houses won't be government owned, but will be highly regulated and taxed heavily.

[tagstarr]

if it were up to me id legalize every drug......i only smoke bud but i think peaple should do what they want...u only live once, and if u wanna spend ur life doing drugs then who the fuck are we to stop them?

[PitThugZ]

fuck legalizing every drug. there are drugs that aint right. true people should be able to do whatever they want but when things are proven rediculously harmful then it shouldnt be allowed. basicly im talking aobut meth and heroin.

[FormrlyKnownAs]

Originally Posted by PitThugZ

fuck legalizing every drug. there are drugs that aint right. true people should be able to do whatever they want but when things are proven rediculously harmful then it shouldnt be allowed. basicly im talking aobut meth and heroin.

Im with you on that one, I would add a few to that list but im with you all the way.

[LieutenantDank]

Originally Posted by PitThugZ

fuck legalizing every drug. there are drugs that aint right. true people should be able to do whatever they want but when things are proven rediculously harmful then it shouldnt be allowed. basicly im talking aobut meth and heroin.

I would disagree on this. A lot of the crime from illegal drug use is due to the fact that it is illegal. If things like cocaine were readily available, things like drug deals gone bad and people getting rolled for their stashes would happen much more infrequently. I would imagine violent crimes would be down a great degree in fact.

[FormrlyKnownAs]

or we could take the more likely road and say that violent crimes would increese due to the fact that the drug has become much more widespread due to legalization and consumption would increase and crime due to drug related poverty would increase because of increased addiction.... thats only a sliver of what may occur with this drug alone much less others...

[chronictoker]

That's not really the issue, here, though. Government has never been about money...it is, but it's more about power than anything else. They'd have more power over the drug trade if it was legalized...It's just like alcohol prohibition...