So wishful thinking on your part. California law enforcement no longer has any problems with drug smuggling or violence coming out of Mexico since they’ve pretty much legalized marijuana right? A particular county no longer has to worry about drug cartels setting up operations in the backwoods since it’s legal to grow right? Oh wait…
So what do these criminals do then? Go home and make nice… I don’t think so… there’s actually one camp in the Government that would prefer for the cartels to continue handling drugs because of the unintended consequences it would pose if they didn’t… thinking maybe that organized crime is better than unorganized crime…
It’s true that some drug addicts use everyday while others use occasionally. But all are still addicts and none are really free. They’re all still slaves to their addiction until they quit entirely. But wouldn’t it be better if the government began actually assaulting the drug makers? Yes, it would help addicts break the habit that they truly hate.
No, I said this would happen if EVERYTHING was legalized, not just one drug. But we do know the cartels and others involved have gotten out of the pot business and trending towards Heroin now, since that is what is most in demand, Even the columbians, who are known for cocaine are producing and shipping less coke and more Heroin, to get in on this market.
I dont know what the cartels and other criminals would do if every drug was suddenly legal, they would have to find a very quick way to bring in billions lost from the drug trade, so who knows what they would get involved in…? They can only make that kind of money from something illegal though, so I guess they would find something else to get into, but I doubt it would be even remotely as lucrative or violent as the drug trade.
I understood you meant all drugs. I used the California and marijuana as an easy example of your idea not working. Legalizing drugs isn’t going to magically make all the issues associated with them go away. The only way to remove those issues is to, as others have pointed out, get rid of the demand.
I can tell you exactly what the drug cartels would do. They’d do exactly what they are doing today. As for markups, you really think the price of illegal drugs will go down once they are legalized, become subject to FDA regulations, have numerous taxes and “sin” taxes thrown on them, become subject to the various laws and regulations covering cultivation, processing, shipping, and selling? And, that’s not even taking into account the industry wide practice of having insane markups on drugs.
Of course, the demand will never go away. Alkaloids have been detected in ancient Egyptian bone marrow samples, and “drugs” in General have been used as far back as man has existed for religious, cultural and medicinal purposes. “Drugs” and man go hand-in-hand. Hey, that rhymed.
Im curious to see what the retail price of marijuana is going to be in CO…I would bet its going to be much lower than the street value though! The street price is high because of the illegal status of the product and all the risk involved, when you look at Marijuana as a product in general, it really should be cheaper than tobacco, as its basically a weed, that will grow just about anywhere, and does not take much to cultivate it and package it for retail sale.
Depends on quality. In CA, a 1/8 oz. of good medical grade is $40.