Haha, Obama on legalizing Marijuana

[Capital Knockers]

You're arguing to a Bill O'Riley esque type of person here. It's just not worth it

You're most likely right, I just figured he had a little more common sense than he's displaying here. I come from a family, circle of friends, and a community that's very open/smokes marijuana regularly. It's been around since I was 11, so has drinking and smoking. From personal experience I can argue anything he's saying. Where's his information coming from? This Bill retard?

[gran guerrero]

him and rush limbaugh who abuses oxycotton

[DankNuggets]

this has got to be one of his more obvious trolling attempts. he really doesn't even try anymore.

he'll try to pull some BS about an oz or regular costing 40 bucks in texas, and completely fabricate a situation where a store will sell 1/4 of the amount for the same price as if it's not the most ridiculous idea you've ever heard. It will ALWAYS cost more money on the black market, even if it's taxed 200%. The reasons are just like he mentioned: it will be mass produced here, there will be no lossed product, no insane mark-ups by middlemen after middlemen, better quality control, etc, etc. Using his own argument, you can even work it against him. It's like playing chess with a 2 yr old.

Who in the world would want to buy drugs from a dealer just out of habit? I don't know about ya'll, but I'd like to kick him in the nuts for everytime he made $5-10 dollars off of doing absolutely nothing (and mind you this is my friend usually). If it's a business, sure, there are business costs and such. If it's a dealer, it's just him marking it up so he can smoke and still make enough profit to re-up. That and there'd be very little, if any, incentive to continue a black market when you could legally sell it. The only way you could compete is to keep the price artificially low, and then you wouldn't make enough money to justify the possible consequences.

And growing it would be a pretty long term committment if you're a pothead. You'd need like 3-6 sets of plants in different stages of production to have a constant supply, if not more.

[gran guerrero]

Umm the thing is that tobacco and alcohol haven't needed a black market in well forever besides the brief period of prohibition in America. However ever since Marijuana was deemed illegal it has been a forbidden substance that people have had to obtain through illegal sources, and many people have made friends with their drug dealers to get better deals, bigger amounts of weed, and better weed. Just because weed gets legalized doesn't mean that years upon years of getting weed through a dealer instead of a store would change over night. If I did drugs still and weed were legal, lets say I went to the store and a quarter ounce was 35 dollars for some regular, and an 1/8th of an ounce of dro was around 40, I would obviously just call up my friend and still buy from him.

Also who says that the person who is in jail for smoking or selling weed is going to be good for the economy in the first place, chances are the person is a useless piece of shit who would just live on my tax dollars from welfare more than being released from jail and him going out to find a real job.

ok im bored so I felt like responding to this. All the points I want to talk about is in bold.

Let's start with tobacco. It grows from the ground, it's rolled in paper, it's smoked, it reduces stress and gives cancer. You can buy them practically any gas station/conveniance store/grocery store in variety and different prices. Must be 18 years or older to purchase.

Weed; It grows from the ground, it's rolled in paper, packed into a bowl/bong/vaporizer. It's smoked, it reduces stress, relieves pain, cures ailments, not a source of causing cancer (The only reports of people who smoked weed and contracted lung cancer also smoked tobacco on a regular basis). If it were deemed legal, it can be purchased like tobacco, 18+ (varieties in quality and price)

Alcohol; it's a poison that gets you crunk and if your not religious in any sense then you're probably drinking it. Have to be 21 years older in the states (but we all know everyone starts drinking in their teens) prohibition didn't work, people got violent and created organized crime (al capone, etc...)

Weed; it's an herb that gets you high. Some religions smoke it and some people consider it a religion. If you live in a conservative area you can place the age limit at 21 to purchase it. Prohibition kind of works, because people don't get violent on weed, it did/does lead to crime over concerns with trading said product in black markets.

Not everyone is friends with their drug dealer

Some times your friend ends up becoming your drug dealer because you can't find a connect of your own.

Not all drug dealers give you discounts, unless you're really good friends with the person you might get it 5 dollars cheaper, they still got to make money.

People don't always buy large quantities of weed, and some dealers don't sell large quantities, you got some dealers who only sell weight (large quantities) and some who just sell a little for average smokers.

You don't always get the best quality weed. You really have to have an eye/nose for what is good, cause if you don't then you can be ripped off easy.

How many companies would start accepting this is in question, but if they saw someone making mad money off of it and it was legal, then what is to stop them from trying to do the same.

You think the prices of weed in the black market will be the same on the regulated, legal level? Fuck no it won't. The reason why weed costs so much for a majority of people is because it is ILLEGAL and in HIGH DEMAND with a LIMITED SUPPLY. Cmon I know you know about supply and demand. It's not hard to figure out that if a major company started to grow farms of marijuana (becuase it's now legal) that the price wouldn't be much different than buying a pack of cigs.

Why would anyone want to continue to go to their dealer when you can buy it at publix/walmart/gas station/walgreens/where the fuck ever it is being sold at a reasonable price and fast availability. Not every dealer is like Jay and Silent Bob standing on the corner every day with the same weed ready for you and shit. Fuck my dealer doesn't answer his phone time to time or wait for a call back (which can take hours or never happen at all), I have to wait till he wakes up (which is like past 12-2pm - which is annoying sometimes) wait till he gets out of school, wait till he reups (restocks on his supply), wait till he gets back home, wait till he's done fucking his girl, wait till his parents aren't bugging him, or what ever fucking reason else he might have for not selling me my weed.

Are you seriously going to continue to go to your dealer when you could get it cheap and fast at any time you want from a store/gas station?

I wouldn't, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't either unless your friend gives it to you practically for free and has his own plants or whatever.

[kthx]

This is so stupid, do you honestly really think that the government won't tax the SHIT out of marijuana even if it was legalized. Look at cigarettes, I can go to Mexico or some other crappy country and buy a pack of smokes for $2.50, yet here in Texas packs are nearly $5.60 a pack, and I hear in places closer to New York they are 7-8 dollars a pack. Thats nearly 2-3 times the cost of a pack at cost straight from the manufacturer. So lets say that they legalize marijuana, the streets would literally be flooded with it within weeks, and the black market would be saturated with the drug making it cheaper not more expensive than the government could sell it for after the heavy taxes they put on it. Most of the expense of marijuana is the secrecy in which they have to get it into the country not the weed itself. So lets see, we grow marijuana in the U.S. which will most likely be fields of weed ran by illegal immigrants so it won't produce any jobs for American citizens, who else is going to farm the fields? Farmers will stop producing crops and instead grow weed because of its much higher selling price per acreage than most crops, much like farmers in some middle eastern countries decided to grow poppy farms for opium instead of crops. Instead of a black market middleman who raises prices you will have a government as the middleman who raises prices with taxes. I don't see how anyone here can seriously think that legalizing marijuana in America is a good idea for anyone, or that it would become much cheaper through the government than it would be for a dealer who has a easily obtained, legal, shipment from countries who don't have to pay their workers a minimum wage.

I could go on forever about the negative benefits of this such as the government having to step in and force people to grow crops instead of money but instead I will just leave it at that.

[Zeebu]

i honestly dont know, but how much money do you think the government spends on marijuana related crimes?

right now, just to take something youre probably losing money on and turn it into a small profit seems like an OK plan

[Capital Knockers]

This is so stupid, do you honestly really think that the government won't tax the SHIT out of marijuana even if it was legalized. Look at cigarettes, I can go to Mexico or some other crappy country and buy a pack of smokes for $2.50, yet here in Texas packs are nearly $5.60 a pack, and I hear in places closer to New York they are 7-8 dollars a pack. Thats nearly 2-3 times the cost of a pack at cost straight from the manufacturer. So lets say that they legalize marijuana, the streets would literally be flooded with it within weeks, and the black market would be saturated with the drug making it cheaper not more expensive than the government could sell it for after the heavy taxes they put on it. Most of the expense of marijuana is the secrecy in which they have to get it into the country not the weed itself. So lets see, we grow marijuana in the U.S. which will most likely be fields of weed ran by illegal immigrants so it won't produce any jobs for American citizens, who else is going to farm the fields? Farmers will stop producing crops and instead grow weed because of its much higher selling price per acreage than most crops, much like farmers in some middle eastern countries decided to grow poppy farms for opium instead of crops. Instead of a black market middleman who raises prices you will have a government as the middleman who raises prices with taxes. I don't see how anyone here can seriously think that legalizing marijuana in America is a good idea for anyone, or that it would become much cheaper through the government than it would be for a dealer who has a easily obtained, legal, shipment from countries who don't have to pay their workers a minimum wage.

I could go on forever about the negative benefits of this such as the government having to step in and force people to grow crops instead of money but instead I will just leave it at that.

No offense buddy, but stick to your element, you really sound so naive when you talk about marijuana. Seriously, you could most likely kick my ass in some politics thread somewhere or something, buddy to buddy here, you really have no legs to stand on here. Farmer won't just stop growing real plants, and if they did, that would just make those plants worth more for the farmers that kept growing them, and eventually others would go back to it as well. It would balance out.

As for the taxes, do you actually know how much marijuana costs? Like straight from the plant, you could sell it for whatever you want really, but once it goes down the chain it's generally 10 a gram, 40-50 a quarter, 80-90 a half, and anywhere from 150-200 an oz depending on quality. Sure you can get it for less if you have a friendly dealer, but most people that know their pot would backup what I quoted there. If you think the government is going to tax it to the point where people would rather by from their un-reliable dealers than a corner store you're dead wrong. Guess how much smokes cost here? 9.00-11.00 a pack. People still buy them all the time. Even though they can get a pack of 200 native for 10-15 dollars, they still buy them just as much as they did before. Alright maybe a tiny decrease because illegal ciggarettes are a bit more available, but the point still stands.

The problem is people just aren't ready to even accept this as a legitimate idea, and that's sad. We'll see how many people still hate this idea 5 or 10 years down the line. Honestly, the more these old fucks that hate the hippie generation die out, the more people will realize that it's the fucking same as a pack of smokes or a case of beer - just safer/better for you and with a bad reputation.

Oh and another edit, most dealers are middle men, school kids, party animals etc. As Gran said, they have no stable hours, no constant dedicated supply. Trust me, they wouldn't be able to compete with the government and would be too lazy to try.

edit again - illegal immigrants. I think the government taking such drastic measures would want this in the hands of full blooded americans. Maybe years down the line it would fall completely to them, but if you know as much about growing pot as I do, it wouldn't start with very many illegal immigrants, and if it did, they'd be supervised heavily by full americans.

[kthx]

I am not entirely against weed, and you are also under the false impression that getting caught with weed means you go to jail. I got caught when I was 17 with weed, driving around and smoking and I went to a holding cell for one night until I could get bailed out. You all act like there are prisons full of people who get caught with a gram of weed when that isn't the case at all. Meh I am too tired of argue this right now, I will do it tomorrow when I wake up.

[Capital Knockers]

I am not entirely against weed, and you are also under the false impression that getting caught with weed means you go to jail. I got caught when I was 17 with weed, driving around and smoking and I went to a holding cell for one night until I could get bailed out. You all act like there are prisons full of people who get caught with a gram of weed when that isn't the case at all. Meh I am too tired of argue this right now, I will do it tomorrow when I wake up.

Cool beans. I know not every state is as bad as I said, and if I over-generalized forgive me. I know their are states that can jail you for a joint, or under a quarter of marijuana, and that's to me, a crime worth more jailtime than posessing marijuana. For fuck's sake, I can't imagine my dad, sister, aunt, cousin being in the states, smoking a joint, and thrown in jail. I swear I'd go apeshit clock tower style, it's SO stupid >.<

edit- Alright after some research, alot less people are actually imprisoned for marijuana than I thought, as more states have started realizing it's a waste of jail-space. Let's just get the remaining people out and I'll be happy. Point for ya there wark.

[kthx]

The problem with it is that some people can handle smoking weed and lead active normal lifestyles like I used to when I smoked. And then you have people like Xog that become completely useless and lost in alternate realities and delusions. And there is the problem, for every me or you, there are 5 Xog's and in the end I guess I am willing to just deal with it being illegal and not smoke since it isn't that big of a deal to me for the good of our culture and civilization.

[Capital Knockers]

The problem with it is that some people can handle smoking weed and lead active normal lifestyles like I used to when I smoked. And then you have people like Xog that become completely useless and lost in alternate realities and delusions. And there is the problem, for every me or you, there are 5 Xog's and in the end I guess I am willing to just deal with it being illegal and not smoke since it isn't that big of a deal to me for the good of our culture and civilization.

best thing you've said, I'm willing to settle here. Though I don't know how in the world pot could bring you to delusions and alternate realities, people must be lacing his shit. Or I need to get some of his hookups. That or I've just been smoking too long.

PS - fuck you for posting this in useless crap PaulO, or whoever moved it here, I find this to be quite the general discussion

[kthx]

Well either do but there is Xog.

[gran guerrero]

Most pot related crimes that send ppl to jail are usually minorities

It's like an effective add on for cops

And most prison systems are privatized now, and are located in old oil towns where the oil is dried up.

[Money]

Cool beans. I know not every state is as bad as I said, and if I over-generalized forgive me. I know their are states that can jail you for a joint, or under a quarter of marijuana, and that's to me, a crime worth more jailtime than posessing marijuana. For fuck's sake, I can't imagine my dad, sister, aunt, cousin being in the states, smoking a joint, and thrown in jail. I swear I'd go apeshit clock tower style, it's SO stupid >.<

edit- Alright after some research, alot less people are actually imprisoned for marijuana than I thought, as more states have started realizing it's a waste of jail-space. Let's just get the remaining people out and I'll be happy. Point for ya there wark.

honestly you have no say in this matter, you are from canada.

not trying to be a dick but u have no clue about laws and jails and police and different states laws on marijuana. so please before you post your righteous candian stoner bullshit get your facts straight first or move here. sick of foreign people informing us americans how shit is run in our own country

[Xog]

The problem with it is that some people can handle smoking weed and lead active normal lifestyles like I used to when I smoked. And then you have people like Xog that become completely useless and lost in alternate realities and delusions. And there is the problem, for every me or you, there are 5 Xog's and in the end I guess I am willing to just deal with it being illegal and not smoke since it isn't that big of a deal to me for the good of our culture and civilization.

Either shut the fuck up or smoke some DMT and mind your own business. I enjoy and respect psychedelics, thank you very much.