California Could Use mar1juana to Help With Economic Issues

I've heard it's a lot of trial and error. I don't believe growing top-notch exotic bud is as easy as you're making it out to be.

 

Just like there are 'a lot of people' who grow their own tobacco, brew their own beer, or distill their own spirits, right?

The vast majority of users want to purchase a known, regulated product, they don't want to take their own time and effort to grow pot. There are certainly some people who would, but the general consumers would simply go to the store and buy theirs.

 

True, but it does take time and effort, commodities that most people are willing to pay for.

There will be some people who grow their own, much like there are some people who still make their own moonshine, but I believe 95% or more would buy it from a distributor.

 

This is what I have heard as well. My friend grew some while he was in college and only did one harvest or wtv. It was too much of a hassle and much easier to buy the high grade stuff. Its not as simple as buying some seeds, throwing it into some soil and watering it everyday. The overhead cost are quite high to grow the good stuff.

 

They were talking about having a $50 per ounce levy, not a tax based on price. Though we don't know for sure, we can at least get decent estimates of how much pot (in ounces) is consumed, so the estimated taxes are probably pretty close.

 

definitely the price would be driven down but there will still the same demand and probably will actually be new smokers who may have always wanted to try pot but did not have access to it. (yes there are people here who have no idea how to get a hold of some pot)

even if lets say the price of pot is driven down to 1/3 of the current industry that is still roughly a 5 billion dollar industry which would generate 90 million in sales tax alone yearly. This would not take into account all the money that would be saved from border patrol, jails etc. Also if we start exporting it to other countries/states and even great revenue stream could be had with new jobs and income taxes.

for the sake of the current state economy i do hope it is legalized, but i do not think it will pass.

 

Exactly. Just about anyone can cultivate average or below average quality mar1juana given the time and effort, but most people would think "why do that when I can just go out and buy something that I KNOW is good?"

 

Moon, I want to know how you know this. The board deserves an answer.

 

I have studied drugs and drug policy for over two decades. I know a wide variety of facts on the subject, have worked directly with addicts and their families informally as they recover from their addiction, have taken scads of classes on subjects ranging from pharmacology to the science of addiction and recovery, and worked for five years in chemical dependency recovery facilities.

 

It's less about quality seeds than the perfect growing environment. You can have the best quality seeds, but if your growing environment sucks, you won't get anything out of it.

Seeds you find in a dimebag off the street can produce great stuff.

 

First a disclaimer....I do not grow it myself, nor do i know anyone that does it anymore. "All my rowdy friends have settled down." It's too much risk for the return these days.

But...back in the day. I saw grow rooms ranging from a closet with reg fluorescent bulbs to whole rooms with halides/hp sodium, CO2 tanks..all the bells & whistles. Never saw a whole house though. But they all grew top shelf bud, the only diff was mainly output...bigger/more buds. It's all about cloning as well. You can take 6 viable seeds and grow forever without ever planting another seed. Just clone the best ones....it's a perpetual thing.

The common thing was the seeds....purchased from overseas seed banks. Those are genetically designed for indoor growth(or whatever suits you). Most people try to grow seeds from a bag they bought. That usually doesn't work well because your growing environment doesn't match the plants genetics. You have no idea of the ideal environment for that particular strain.

I will rephrase, with the right seeds and home depot, and 10 mins a day, anyone can do it. You can get as complicated as you want, spend tons on lights, special fertilizers..etc, but I was always told....keep it simple. And simple has been proven over and over to work.

 

Tobacco is relatively labor intensive, and making your own spirits usually doesn't match in quality of the name brands. mar1juana is a different beast. It grows in all sorts of conditions and climates. Its users appreciate the quality of good plants and consider it an "art" to grow and smoke the best. The best weed available anywhere in the world is still grown by somebody. That kind of growing and quality can almost be replicated 100% by someone else as long as they have access to the same seeds and the process the grower used. It would be hard for someone to replicate the quality of Patron or Johnnie Walker.

I just dont believe legalizing it would actually work in the governments favor as far as taxing it. I just see other people coming in and creating a secondary market.

 

The best beer I have ever tasted was brewed by my father in his house. He also brewed mead out of the honey from the beehives he kept on his property. It was fantastic, but he didn't have the time or equipment to brew all that he wanted to drink and as such, there was always store bought beer (granted exotic stuff from microbreweries) in his refrigerator or pantry.

Your paragraph here illustrates my point. The "artists" are the growers who have a process that produces high quality pot. Most people don't have the time and won't put forth the effort to become the artist, they just want to smoke the product.

Statistics from Holland disagree with you.

 

Or even occasional smokers that don't have access to their supplier. My friends have often had a hard time finding someone to buy from when they get the random desire. It becomes so much of a hassle they just got drunk with me.

 

If all this gets legalized, what will we legalize to make money in the next recession?

 

In San Fran, you could just buy off craigslist. You should move over here.

 

Don't get me wrong andymoon, I wholeheartedly support the legalization. I'm just trying to offer the perspective from the government. Weed is much easier to grow at a high quality for any person, vs growing tobacco and distilling alcohol.

The equipment and commodities required to produce it are readily available at Home Depot, besides the seeds of course.

 

Move up to cocaine to knock out the columbian drug war next. It will kill their revenue.

 

I think the liquor and cigarette lobbies will fight to the death to prevent any kind of legalization.

 

I think it's a good idea.Let's see how it works in California first before try this anywhere else.I think the results will be positive, but we will see if it passes.