I agree. You should also be getting your friends and neighbors and anyone else who is willing to write representatives to help get this passed. This will be a president for all other states.
How to contact your representative and make a chance! Taken from Rollitup.org forum... go to this page and find a local chapter of NORML close to you and join them... they will know how you can help out... www.norml.com or http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3433#California Wouldn't it be great to know that you were a voice that helped end prohibition?
ALL I got to say is FUCK Yes!!!!! I am there if it passes and it will be like a domino effect. EVeryone will see how much money can be made and bam everyone will be on the bandwagon.
Well i guess what i was getting at is that if the government taxes marijuana to a point that makes it more expensive than we can currently illegally purchase it whats the incentive for anyone to purchase it when there will no doubt be a market for illegal, unlicensed grown marijuana?
a 50 dollar tax equals 6.25 per 8th. i would much rather pay an extra 6 bucks to walk into a store than save 6 and get it from the guy down the street. plus with cultivation laws loosened more people will be able to supply, hopefully faster than the demand, so the price per oz will go down to compensate for the tax. anyway thats my hope, supply to exceed demand also i dont know why the government would step in to grow, they just tax and presto! instant money!
think about it in terms of alcohol, anyone can brew their own beer, but how many people actually brew their own beer rather than go to the store to pick up a six pack? i mean i could brew myself 30 bottles of beer for super cheap but the time and effort is not something i want to do right now. when weed is legalized, i could grow my own, but that would take months and why would i wait months when i could go to the dispensary and pick up a quarter of O.G. Kush and smoke the day away. i'll pay more for legal weed from a government regulated grower before a drug dealer on the corner. regulated marijuana, and taxing, is a great thing. prices arent going to skyrocket, i would think that prices would stay the same, maybe rise a little, but they arent going to make prices out of sight.. and even if they did, youre paying for LEGAL weed remember.
Adding to this I would point out that the growers of MJ would much rather sell it legally too, thus making it easier for them! The only people in the black market will be kids, kids growing and selling to other kids. I don't think we have to worry about this much because most kids live with their parents and it's very difficult to have a grow op while living with your parents.
i completely agree with the last point made referring to alcohol. But im not saying people would rather grow their own, which is time consuming, than pay some tax for it. What im saying is that their is already sucha huge market for weed and alot of people already have their drug dealers, friends, family, etc. that they can consitently get weed from. If this weed is still available, just at a cheaper price, then im still going to buy it "illegally". and no 6 dollars per eight is not a big increase but 50dollars of tax per ounce definitely is.
If peoples relationship with their dealer is super strong then maybe people would still be using the black market, however I find this unlikely. I find this unlikely because I can't imagine a dealer being able to offer a safer setting, more selection, and informative than an official cannabis shops. Also it's important to realize that the cannabis shops wont have crack, meth, coke, etc... and thus dissolving the gateway theory even more.
I know obama wants to stop medical marijuana raids, but it seems hard to believe the DEA wouldnt stop this.
I think the first question we should ask is...if there were to be passed, how long would that process take? On average.
"Ammiano, a freshman legislator who was sworn into office less than three months ago." I wonder how much this will hurt the movement of the bill...
it shouldnt i live here in the bay area and even though he's fairly new to state assembly hes been a well known figure in ca for a few years passing big bills. hes also one of the first gay assemblymen or something like that. as to the people that say i dont wanna pay 6 extra dollars for the freedom of going in a store, how about paying an extra 6 dollars or 50 and ounce for the cause of it being free, with that type of thinkin itll never be passed because people will say they still get it illegally. plus im sorry but no matter how good a dealer u have it wont be the same as some of these scientist types that now all about weed on a molecule scientific level that produce some of the best weed u can smoke, major reason why cali weed is known as the best because the laise faire attitude allows for scienctist to engineer great weed, and not bob from aroung the corner growing something in his closet. the main way to get this passed is to think about franklin d roosevelt when he came in to office during the great depression in 1933 he recognised that people love there alcohol we can tax it and he overturned prohibition!!!! plz lets not be behind the times on everything and pass this bill!
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&attid=0.1&thid=11fa47d08c776205&mt=application/pdf&pli=1 LMK if that link works. I got it in an email from one of his assistants. Here's his website: http://www.tomammiano.com/ And here's his email: tom@tomammiano.com Regarding the possibility of the black market staying strong. Growers, dealers, and any member of the cannabis industry faces risk and cost due to the industry's illegality. The legalization of the whole industry presents HUGE monetary savings, as well as the possiblity for expanding production, improving production methods, etc. Reduced costs for producing and selling will lower the price of product, and that combined with the ability to grow in higher numbers will combat the price increase due to the tax.
Please Californians go to norml.org and e-mail your representatives. They walk you through the process and give you the contact info. Get the word out to everyone you know who lives in California. If this passes and is instituted successfully it will set precedence for other states to follow suit. As someone else mentioned this is exactly like FDR ending prohibition and taxing alcohol during the depression. Leveraging this bill on it's economic impact is the key, and I believe it's the real reason why this legislation is finally being proposed. Not that attitudes haven't been shifting gradually but our own depression is making legalizing marijuana look better and better. I only hope that Obama stops the DEA raids and stands behind his word to allow states to make their own decisions on this issue. I don't live in California but I'll be crossing my fingers and smoking a special bowl tonight in hopes of this bill being passed.
I'd think if legalized the production costs would drop significantly, balancing out the increase in price for taxes... No? I'm very curious as to what would happen to those incarcerated for charges that would be legal under this bill.