cannabisnews.com: How Legal Pot Could Harm The Cartels
function share_this(num) {
 tit=encodeURIComponent('How Legal Pot Could Harm The Cartels');
 url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/25/thread25808.shtml');
 site = new Array(5);
 site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500');
 return false;
}






How Legal Pot Could Harm The Cartels
Posted by CN Staff on July 17, 2010 at 14:24:05 PT
Editorial
Source: Newsweek
California -- So far, no modern country has ever legalized marijuana production—not even the Netherlands. Yet with heavy drug-related violence plaguing the U.S.-Mexican border, some analysts and policymakers now say that America should legalize weed in order to reduce the power of Mexico’s drug cartels.Marijuana carries the least amount of overhead cost for many of the cartels and provides some of their cash flow for buying guns and influence. Estimates vary, but analysts say pot accounts for somewhere in the range of 20 to 50 percent of the cartels’ profits.
But that could soon change with competition from El Norte: California has a proposition set for the November ballot—on which voters are roughly split—that would legalize the drug’s domestic production and sale. If the measure passes, says a recent analysis by the RAND Corporation, California could become a major supplier of the drug to the rest of the U.S. That, according to George W. Grayson, a professor of government at William & Mary, “would hurt the cartels badly.” RAND estimates that it could reduce the drug’s pretax price by more than 80 percent.Of course, whether legalization has any real effect depends on the rate at which the drug is taxed. A tax rate of $50 per ounce, for example, would generally not make high-grade California cannabis cost-competitive with less potent Mexican imports. Yet a lower tax rate could significantly decrease the cartels’ market share. That wouldn’t put them out of business—they’d still be major players in the markets for cocaine, heroin, and meth—but it could reduce their power.Newshawk: KonagoldSource: Newsweek (US)Published: July 17, 2010Copyright: 2010 Newsweek, Inc.Contact: letters newsweek.comWebsite: http://www.newsweek.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/wDFAvzOxCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help 
     
     
     
     




Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 18, 2010 at 18:31:18 PT
Dankhank
We finally did it. We will be having HD installed on Friday. DirecTV did a good deal for us and we won't have to sign a contract. That really matters not having a contract if we don't feel it's worth it but I'm sure we will love it.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by Paint with light on July 17, 2010 at 22:29:08 PT
re-legalize
"So far, no modern country has ever legalized marijuana production."Not exactly true.Cannabis is legal to produce in several countries.Also............So many times we(myself included) are guilty of using the term legalize when cannabis can only be re-legalized.It was legal to start with in a lot of countries, including here.As far as legalizing all drugs........I too have lost lots of friends to all manner of drugs including tobacco, alcohol, and prescription pills.I have lost far fewer to hard drugs than to the legal drugs.Would that have been reversed if hard drugs were legal?I am not sure.I know I haven't lost any to cannabis.Legal like alcohol at least.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by Dankhank on July 17, 2010 at 19:40:38 PT
Legal all ...
since it was easy enough to get hard drugs to get strung-out-on while illegal, perhaps the question to those unfortunates needs to be rephrased ...Do you support turning kids into snitches to catch more dangerous people, jailing junkies, drug war mayhem and fractured families?It's really about the narrative ...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by EAH on July 17, 2010 at 18:38:56 PT:
mostly true
The discussion about legalization has to stop making before and after points that seem as if prohibition has been controlling cannabis. For example,
"California could become a major supplier of the drug to the rest of the U.S."
OMG, IT ALREADY IS! We produce way more than we can sell at prohibition prices. Growers cannot get the price they want for excess product in CA. 
Rather than sell at discounts, they find new markets. Buyers are coming from across the US and buying up all that inventory. Thousands of pounds leave CA for other parts of the US and have been for years but it has grown a lot in recent years because production has. This is one reason why the Feds need to legalize, the stuff is moving around all over the country, unregulated and untaxed. THEY CAN ONLY INTERCEPT A SMALL PORTION OF IT. This growing underground black market chugs along and flourishes and LE will never control it.
If it becomes legal in CA this commerce will explode because CA production will. Another of their fallacies(not mentioned here), "There will be a great increase in auto accidents and deaths if it becomes legal" That is TOTAL BS. There millions of cannabis influenced drivers NOW! But it isn't the same as alcohol. It doesn't impair like alcohol does, especially to habitual users. Most of them drive stoned every day, all the time and do just fine. I did for 20 years.The $50 dollar per oz tax is idiotic. Only a person who knows NOTHING about the cannabis biz would think that is a good idea. Legalization will not end the black market with such a high and stupidly conceived tax.At least this article is backing legalization.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 17, 2010 at 18:11:59 PT
Sinsemilla Jones
I agree with you. Very few people want to see all drugs legalized outside the circle of those that do want them legalized. I have never met a person who says they want drugs legalized and I am talking about people that have had experience with hard drugs in their past.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on July 17, 2010 at 17:25:20 PT
The flowers of the cannabis plant are not the same
as the synthesized product of toxic chemicals.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by NoCowLevel on July 17, 2010 at 16:39:30 PT
Legalize all drugs
It's nothing short of hypocritical for us advocating the legalization of marijuana to say keep harder drugs banned. It needs to be none or all. If marijuana was legalized, then the cartels will simply switch to producing and selling more of the hard drugs, giving 'em even more money.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment