My view on legalization vs decriminalization

It is decriminalized in some states, like california, and they would never put nicotine in our cannabis man.

 

I don't think they'd add nicotine, but marijuana doesn't just grow over night. So I'm sure they'd find some way to mass produce it and who knows what it would be laced with.

 

You guys don't realize that decriminalizing is the dumbest thing a government can do. By decriminalizing they're saying it's legal to have marijuana and smoke it but not to grow it or sell it. I don't know where they think it'll all come from.
As for the whole putting chemicals in weed they most certainly wont do that. Weed is only going to be legal because it's a natural and safe thing to smoke. Think about this... if they do for some reason put chemicals in it we can always grow our own.
As for the price, it will without a doubt go way down. The mail reason weed is so expensive is because you pay the grower extra for taking the risk of getting caught. When weed is legal and companies are starting to make it it will be much much cheaper because they will grow tons of it to fill the huge demand. They don't need to put radioactive ferts in weed to make it grow fast like they need to for tobacco, and they will certainly find extremely better ways to mass produce it just like the best grow ops do now.

Basically legalizing is the main goal and it will happen soon. It works in Amsterdam and it'll work here too. They can't make it legal for being healthy and then put things in it that make it unhealthy...

 

This. Minus the Amsterdam comment since it's illegal there.

The truth is that once it's being mass produced, prices will go down a good amount, an average dime should be 2g+ of flame. Also, we'll see a market for bho, budder, tinctures, edibles, things of that sort. A vast market will be opened with the pot industry, those dealers who didn't have jobs before can easily find one after legalization.

 

I'm in favor of legalization.

There are not many benefits to decriminalization. Decrim doesn't get it off the streets and behind counters to minimize the amount of weed that is accessible to kids. It doesn't mean it's legal to grow. It doesn't mean you can have as much as you want without it being a felony. It will also do nothing but make the drug cartels have a market with less fear which means they will be making even more money and spreading more violence.

Also, decriminalization means there it is still a crime and smoking, growing and being in possession of cannabis shouldn't be viewed as a crime in any stretch of the imagination.

Legalization, on the other hand, brings regulation. It also destroys the underground market for weed, which is a good thing.

There would be no demand for additives in weed, companies would realize that there would be no money in taking a safe, natural product and adding anything to it because the market demands safe and controlled cannabis. Chances are, if it were legalized, we would be seeing it grown and sold by small businesses and smoke shops, much like a despensary without needing a card.

Prices would be LOWER than they are now. Black market inflation would no longer be a factor. At market value, even if it were taxed TWICE as much as cigarettes are currently being taxed it would still be cheaper than black market value.

 

I was half way through my thoughts on decriminalization and legalization when I realized CurtChronic summed it up perfectly!
nicely done mate! +rep

peace,
hippy

 

The tobacco industry is the black hole that it is because they got powerful before the government or the people were able to put meaningful restraints on their power. By the time that people started to realize that they were dangerous, they had bought themselves a healthy place in Washington where they couldn't be effectively regulated.

A legal marijuana market would evolve in a completely different space than the one that tobacco evolved in. The government will be involved from the get-go (since realistically we need government buy-in to make legalization or decrim work), and the public is much more skeptical and informed than they were a couple generations ago.


Legalization will happen state by state, and on different terms for different states, which makes it harder for any single entity to control all of it. State governments could easily regulate to require labeling, or prohibit any kind of post-production.

Decrim alone leaves too much ambiguity in the system. It would probably mean no legitimate businesses around marijuana production, distribution, or sale, which would mean no tax money and removes a major reason for a lot of non-smokers to support the initiative. Places where legal ambiguities exist tend to encourage uneven and discriminatory enforcement, which tends to target poor and minority communities. In Cali right now where marijuana possession is less of a big deal, I see that most of the busts that do happen (I watch the police blotters and crimereports.com) occur in poor black and Hispanic neighborhoods. I'm sure that plenty of the wealthier people and college kids that live in the upscale parts of town are smoking, growing, and selling too, but they aren't getting arrested for it. Part of that stems from rates of relative use, but part of it has to do with when the cops do and don't choose to look the other way.

 

Legalization is the only way. By keeping cannabis in the black market, person to person conflict resolution happens by means of voilence, even if it's decrimilized. By legalizing, cannabis can join the free market, and conflict resolution gets solved by means of the court system. Instant reduction in crime.

 

Decrim is nice because I dont have to worry about getting busted by the 5-0 but it sucks because money is still going to the black market instead of hard working tax paying americans. Its also illegal to grow and prices are still mad high

 

I have to say, I would muucchhh rather not have marijuana legalized. Having it decriminalized would be a better choice for the people but would never happen because if only decriminalized people will be allowed to smoke it without breaking the law but the government is not allowed to tax it. legalization means to authorize it, giving the government permission to commercially produce it, spray the same cancer-causing radioactive chemicals on it just as they currently do to tobacco, and tax the living shit out of it. Taxing it may help the economy and im not really against it being taxed, but it being legal calls for mass commercial production. With commercial production, large companies are responsible to grow it, and growing millions of thousands of trees results in needing pesticide/herbicide spraying. It has been proven that tobacco/marijuana smoke DOES NOT cause cancer, the numerous radioactive chemicals the tobacco seeps in while growing is what causes cancer. And that is exactly why i am for decriminilization, not legalization, so I can sit back on my couch and smoke my bud without having to grow my own and without worrying about the chemicals being sprayed on my mj. If it is legalized, I am already planning on growing about 7 trees of my own so I wont have to deal with cancer causing chemicals but its a horrible idea to spray that shit on our precious weed

i had a similar thread on this exact topic so i just wrote exactly what i started the thread with lol share my views

 

It seems to me that you don't have a full understanding about the history of tobacco or the future of marijuana. The commercialization of marijuana would be nothing like that of tobacco. The industry calls for much different actions and the world is a different place now than it was back then.

Also, I see no problem with taxation. I believe I mentioned, even if it were taxed twice as much as cigarettes (which would be an ungodly amount of tax) it would still be cheaper than black market prices. I would do research before attempting to convince people that legalization isn't a good option.

 

If it's legalized, it means anyone's allowed to grow which would make the prices drop because of competition. If it was decriminalized, well anyone's able to grow without getting caught and the prices will drop because of competition. It is possible to buy tobacco without additives, grown organically etc. The difference between tobacco and marijuana on that point is that everyone's able to grow marijuana while tobacco is a lot harder to grow.

The two main differences between legalization and decriminalization is that with legalization the government is able to grow and sell themselves plus they're able to put taxes on weed bought from certified dealers. If it was decriminalized like in Holland, the government would still get taxes from weed bought in coffee shops.

I don't really think there would be any difference between legalization and decriminalization except for the way you obtain your weed and how much you're allowed to carry at a time.

 

Decriminalization is such a farce. In the eyes of the law, it's ok to possess cannabis, but not buy it? How much sense does that make? Cops don't even get it and arrest people where it's decriminalized all the time.

It's a plant. Plants should't be outlawed, and we shouldn't be wasting over $7 Billion a year trying to keep it outlawed.

 

Under decriminalization, it is still illegal to possess, grow, sell, etc., it's just that you can't be put in jail for violations. You can, however, be compelled to undergo dependency treatment or counseling, fined, etc. That raises questions about how effectively the government could tax it under decrim- you can charge a flat sales tax on everything a store sells, but if people have to declare how much weed they are selling in order to pay a weed-specific tax, they have to essentially confess to one illegal act in order to avoid another (tax evasion). This is very similar to the fifth amendment trap that got the original marijuana tax stamp act overturned by Timothy Leary.

Decriminalization without legalization is an improvement over the status quo, but it would leave people who are selling marijuana or basing a business off of doing so in constant legal limbo. Yes, the government may 'look the other way' most of the time, but it is under no obligation to do so- at any time they can swoop in and say "well, you know this is still technically illegal" and start imposing fines or shutting down businesses. It's a situation that is ripe for abuse.

 

You hit the nail on the head. +rep, sir. Decriminalization is an improvement, but legalization is the best option.

 

There is a point being missed in this argument...

Smoking the tops is only the tip of the iceberg, if you will, of the potential commercial uses of this plant.

Take a drive through the corn belt. As far as the eye can see, corn everywhere! Are we eating that much corn? No, it gets processed and used in just about everything we eat. Ever wonder what Aunt Jemima's would taste like if there wasn't corn?

Now try to imagine our economy if corn were illegal. That kind of impact is of the same potential magnitude as legalizing hemp.

Now take that concept, add the benefits that the stalks and hurd of hemp provide, and just imagine the commercial value of a cannibis crop. Medicinal, fiber, oil, biomass just to name a few. And all that comes after you take the cream off the top that you're concerned with.

Oh yes my friends. If you grow it they will come. They will most definitely come.

You can't get this with decriminalization. Full rescission of all controls is the only way to go.

I don't want to go to jail for smoking it. But I also don't want to have to use my food to fuel my car. I want to use the 95% of the cannibis plant that I don't smoke for that.