That price is based on cost without labor. Their argument is people should get paid labor for doing something they enjoy doing anyway. I know plenty of farmers who enjoy farming, but they don't sell their crop at cost without labor. This is just silly... I have gone over the numbers in my head, and if I were able to expand on new law, I would need $50/oz to keep going.
That would be $50 to the grower, probably $25 to the state and $25 to store. If it was $100 for an ounce of fire on the shelf, would that be acceptable?
Fine. But NORML also has their sights set on things like KEEPING PEOPLE OUT OF PRISON, not just your profit margins. If anyone that wanted to could grow a small supply, you'd be out of business, and people would trade between friends or just sell in small quantity. (The types of things that the U.N.'s controlled substances act does not specifically deem illegal, but the governments interpret the treaty this way and have their way with citizens anyway as long as we stay complacent.
There is no gauruntee that all marijuana offenders who are jailed would be released. They broke the law, and got caught. Time gets served, unless there was a law calling for the release or a presidential pardon.
It depends. Some state legalization bills/initiatives call for releasing individuals convicted of crimes that would not be crimes under the proposed new laws. Federal "legalization" in the U.S., however, would take the form of removing cannabis from the CSA schedules entirely. This would not be a new law with provisions for releasing prisoners, etc... It would simply remove the mechanism by which people are now being arrested and prosecuted.
It the current state law proposals I read there is no provision for release. It would prevent more people going to jail, but in my state people don't go to jail for growing/selling anymore. Just years of probation.
Um no. That's not how it works. You can't just say "supply and demand should set the price", and also state that if "growers can't grow at 15/oz, then it'll be forced higher". The cost of production does not set the price of a good. Just because it may cost a seller $100, does not mean the price of a good is $100+x. The hope of a profit seeking seller is that the price > cost of production, as price-cost of production = profit. In a supply and demand model, the price of a good is determined in a competitive market when the amount of goods desired equals amount of goods sold. Basically for a generic good, if at $15 buyers demand 100,000 units and sellers can supply 100,000 units, then that is the market price. But if at $15 buyers demand 100,000, and sellers can only produce 10,000 then that is not market price. (same with at $300 buyers demanding 1,000 units vs sellers being able to supply 1,000,000 units). Also, the price of marijuana will be similar to rolling tobacco, which is about $1/oz(plus any additional taxes). Similar to alcohol and other goods, sellers will be able to price discriminate consumers by offering "premium"/"fair-trade"/"organic" products, which will simply pad profits. So in the long-run, I see marijuana running somewhere between $10-50/oz retail, and the "premium"/"microgrows" at about twice that. This may take years after legalization. But basically when the grower/dealer cartel(price fixing) stops, then the price will slowly come down to the actual market price. All it will take is a few brave enterprising growers/sellers willing to break from the establishment(and not be threatened by any retribution by competitors who may lose business because of it).
Since I have high grade organic fire, I want $50/oz. I'm sure hobos will love their $1/oz dirt weed, just like they enjoy their top.