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Originally posted by Aargh
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What we're doing now isn't working. Nixon started the "War on Drugs". In the 40+ yers tht war has been going on, it's cost federal and state governments over $1 trillion. That number is from a Harvard economist. Some of you will doubt the veracity of anything out of Harvard, because that's a bastion of Liberalism.
In 40+ years of the War on Drugs, we've seen no decrease in the use of the major illegal drugs - marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. There has been a decrease in the use of LSD - apparently no one is making that any more. We've seen crystal meth use rise from virtually none in 1971. We've seen the emergence of ecstasy and the abuse of prescriptions drugs, such as Xanax and pain killers appear and grow exponentially.
Since the War on Drugs was begun, we've seen the rise of drug cartels in South America and Mexico. We've seen urban gangs that are funded by selling illegal drugs. The import into and sale of illegal drugs in the USA has become so lucrative, that private armies can be raised and street gang leaders can become millionaires if they live long enough. The people making that money don't care if they kill someone. They're already breaking the law and subject to lengthy prison sentences, so killing someone is only a marginally more severe penalty if they're caught.
One problem with the Colorado implementation is that the legal sales are at a higher price than the illegal sellers were charging before the legal industry existed. That doesn't remove the illegal dealers, the illegal market, or the profits from the illegal markets.
Marijuana is incredibly easy to grow. 16 square feet per plant, some fertilizer, maybe some water, and that's about it for outdoor growth. The labor factor is identifying and eliminating the male plants. That part is commonly eliminated by planting clones of female plants so there are no males.
One plant will easily produce a pound of product. Retail in Colorado is running in the range of $200 - $400 an ounce, depending on the quantity purchased.
The legal pricing strategy is to be "just close enough" to the illegal dealers so that it's less likely customers will seek out the illegal dealers. That's not an effective strategy for eliminating the illegal dealers.
Right now, anyone who wants to do illegal drugs has no problem finding them. I think that if everything were legalized, the numbers of users wouldn't change by any statistically significant numbers. It would eliminate the drug cartels, the income source for street gangs, and greatly reduce prison populations.
The Libertarians and Tea Partyers out here should embrace this, because it would constitute a significant reduction in the government's interference with our personal lives and decisions. Or does that philosophy only apply when the government tells us we have to have health insurance?
In 40+ years of the War on Drugs, we've seen no decrease in the use of the major illegal drugs - marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. There has been a decrease in the use of LSD - apparently no one is making that any more. We've seen crystal meth use rise from virtually none in 1971. We've seen the emergence of ecstasy and the abuse of prescriptions drugs, such as Xanax and pain killers appear and grow exponentially.
Since the War on Drugs was begun, we've seen the rise of drug cartels in South America and Mexico. We've seen urban gangs that are funded by selling illegal drugs. The import into and sale of illegal drugs in the USA has become so lucrative, that private armies can be raised and street gang leaders can become millionaires if they live long enough. The people making that money don't care if they kill someone. They're already breaking the law and subject to lengthy prison sentences, so killing someone is only a marginally more severe penalty if they're caught.
One problem with the Colorado implementation is that the legal sales are at a higher price than the illegal sellers were charging before the legal industry existed. That doesn't remove the illegal dealers, the illegal market, or the profits from the illegal markets.
Marijuana is incredibly easy to grow. 16 square feet per plant, some fertilizer, maybe some water, and that's about it for outdoor growth. The labor factor is identifying and eliminating the male plants. That part is commonly eliminated by planting clones of female plants so there are no males.
One plant will easily produce a pound of product. Retail in Colorado is running in the range of $200 - $400 an ounce, depending on the quantity purchased.
The legal pricing strategy is to be "just close enough" to the illegal dealers so that it's less likely customers will seek out the illegal dealers. That's not an effective strategy for eliminating the illegal dealers.
Right now, anyone who wants to do illegal drugs has no problem finding them. I think that if everything were legalized, the numbers of users wouldn't change by any statistically significant numbers. It would eliminate the drug cartels, the income source for street gangs, and greatly reduce prison populations.
The Libertarians and Tea Partyers out here should embrace this, because it would constitute a significant reduction in the government's interference with our personal lives and decisions. Or does that philosophy only apply when the government tells us we have to have health insurance?
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