You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy!
Let me state up front: I DON’T SMOKE POT, BUT I DO PAY TAXES.
And here are my two cents, as distorted as they might be.
Pot is as prevalent as sunshine in California. It grows wild in the woods of Big Sur and it’s smoked from Watts to Beverly Hills.
It is the common denominator of social inequity and cerebral stupidity. From the poor to the rich, reefer madness is in vogue, has been and always will be.
It’s about as illegal in California as looking at a thong bathing suit, roller skating by on the boardwalk at Venice Beach.
What do they say; “it’s ok to look, but not touch”
As many of you know, the Golden State became the first to legalize the drug for MEDICINAL USE.
Sure it’s good for Glaucoma, and it is a tried and tested way for cancer patients to ease their pain, without being heavily sedated on much more powerful narcotics.
For good or bad, California has always been an innovator when it comes to fads and life style choices that the rest of the country will ultimately adopt. Selling pot is no different.
An AP report indicates that L.A. County alone has 400 pot dispensaries and delivery services that are legally operated under the new law. That is twice as many outlets as Amsterdam which is known throughout the world for its pot coffee shops.
People now order baggies of pot like they would a pizza. They pay with their credit cards, and they tip their delivery boy who brings them a bag of Maui Wowie!
The joke has always been that California was going to fall off into the pacific after a major earthquake. Well California has all ready fallen off the face of the planet economically. The state is broke and falling apart. It is one of the world’s largest economies and it’s crumbling under its own economic demise.
So here’s what I say. If you can’t beat em, smoke em.
Legalize pot and tax the crap out of it.
It is the ultimate sin tax, outside of prostitution, and please don’t get me started on the economics of the world’s oldest profession.
The AP reports that legalizing marijuana would immediately pump around a billion dollars into tax coffers. That billion dollars means people keep jobs, and DMV stations remain open and teachers stay in schools and well you get the picture.
Why not tax the wacky weed? It’s here to stay and it’s California’s biggest cash crop!
I’d appoint a department to govern the ganja industry like any other business. Alcohol Beverage Commission oversees booze, well create a Marijuana Management Office.
The M.M.O. It would employ inspectors and generate revenue through licensure and inspections and tax dollars.
The money that would be generated from pot is astronomical, especially when you start thinking about the side industries that would flourish. Just the windfall economic boon to the farming industry alone is enough to consider legalizing reefer. You have field workers and the people who make the equipment necessary to grow and cultivate the crop. How about the tractor companies and the irrigation hardware to keep this cash cow nicely hydrated. Then there is the packaging and the distribution and the trucking and the stores where it is sold legally like cigarettes are.
So many jobs, so much new money. It’s like diving into an icy lake and finding that warm current, you didn’t expect. You like that warmth, so you tread water happily in it. That warmth California could feel, is called LEGALIZED MARIJUANA.
I say let farmers pull up the rutabagas and put down the Sensimian.
Inspect the crop, regulate the crop, and then TAX THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT.
100 percent tax. 200 percent tax. who cares? What was illegal is now bountifully available. People will be glad to pay the price that is either established by the free market place or the government. I bet the new legalized price of pot will be way cheaper than buying it from some surf dude in Santa Cruz who has a melon full of stupid.
Buying drugs is dangerous and quality control is about as reliable as a wink of the eye. People die when illegal drugs are bought and sold.
When alcohol was illegal and speakeasies flourished, so did bullets and blood shed. Now booze is on every corner. It still may kill you, but not usually because a whisky deal went bad. that you can pick up a six pack at the Shell Station, blood shed is not so prevalent. not How many people are gunned down at the beer cooler at Albertsons because they were buying Coors.
The way I see it, the industry is governed by supply and demand and not renegade outlaws.
Columbia drug cartels are not really looking to maximize their illicit fortunes through hops and barley. So they stick to cocaine and heroine, where danger is high, and profits higher.
Many of you say, oh but if it’s legal people will smoke it. Yes, yes they will. maybe it will mellow people the hell out.
Another argument: People will get hooked on pot and it will lead to other drugs? Probably. That’s just the way it is. Alcohol is legal. if you drink in moderation you have no worries. If you guzzle rock gut out of a jug, chances are you are going to have problems. I don’t care what you do, if you can’t control your intake something bad will happen. Whether its pot or marshmallows too much of anything is problematic.
Can you imagine marshmallow check points? Marshmallow fat farms? Marshmallow related Jenny Craig seminars.
You can’t legislate morality. You can’t legislate pot. We tried to legislate alcohol. That worked well, huh? People partied like there was no tomorrow. When alcohol was outlawed, guess what happened? people drank alcohol. but something else happened as well. People turned violent and killed each other to control the untold millions associated with the illegal activity. So let me get this straight; alcohol is outlawed, but everyone is drinking it. Alcohol is illegal, but gangsters are making tax free fortunes running liquor. And since alcohol is illegal, the government can’t tax it, but oh yeah, my grandpa’s tax dollars went to subsidize entire police units to battle an illegal alcohol trade.
Nice. That’s the American way. and it is stupid.
So take off the blinders America. Every state should follow California’s bold lead. Pull up a bong and inhale. It will mellow you out, and will ease the economic woes of a country that needs a real economic stimulus plan.
Don’t tax my income, tax my sin.
Roads built by pot. Schools built by Humboldt County’s finest.
You know who is all ready on board with my plan? The twinkie and Cup cake lobbies are ready.
The snack industry stands to make a new fortune when pot is legalized.