
Alaska on Tuesday Will Become Third State with Legal Marijuana - adamnemecek
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/northern-lights-alaska-tuesday-will-become-third-state-legal-marijuana-n311426
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click170
Looking at how much money Colorado is raking in, I honestly think it's just a
matter of time before other states fall in line with legalizing marijuana.
Awkward banking situation be damned.

~~~
imjustsaying
I agree with you that the incentive to tax marijuana is high due to the
revenue potential for power groups within the state.

Others suggest that marijuana should be legalized so that the state can reap
tax revenues, as if the state is a creature whose feeding is a virtue in and
of itself. I find this puzzling, as taxation an entirely independent concept
to legalization. Attaching the two issues together seems unnecessary.

The taxes on plants in the various states seem pretty high, and various
sources tell me that the retail prices are still not much lower than the
previous black market prices. These taxes, especially given how high they are,
seem like they are destined to produce the same problems of prohibition.

~~~
mc32
But vices are usually heavily taxed. (Ok, sure, some of this is medicinal, but
let's be frank) So, i don't see much of an issue with it.

Leveraging taxes makes this appealing to people for whom it might not be.

As for the prices being similar to black market, that may be so, for now, but
there is one thing which should give it an advantage and that's quality
control, aka, branding.

And, as others have pointed out, legalizing it, eliminates the social cost of
prosecuting what were once crimes --that's a big advantage.

~~~
researcher88
Why is this so easily accepted?

In Denver, the weed sales tax is upwards of 21% with a previous 15% excise tax
from cultivator to retail outlet.

In Colorado, it's less than 8% tax on a 6 pack of beer and the great majority
of this is a federal tax.

Weed is demonstrably safer and thus less sinful than alcohol and tobacco. I
dislike how easily the tax argument is received. If you can show a
relationship that adds to healthcare costs then by all means institute sin
taxes, including for soda. But if you are only making a moral judgement about
what not to do, then I think the argument is without merit.

More details-

[http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/22/whatever-happened-to-
treat...](http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/22/whatever-happened-to-treating-
marijuana)

~~~
eigenvector
It's not an argument from first principles about what weed "should" cost. It's
about what people will accept. People are used to weed costing relatively
infinite money (i.e. it can cost you your freedom and no amount of money can
replace that). Therefore, even expensive weed seems cheap by comparison and
feels like a win for consumers.

Likewise, expressways are massively expensive to build and maintain, but we're
used to driving on them for free, so charging even a small toll that doesn't
fully recover the costs feels expensive and is widely resisted.

------
lentil_soup
Sorry if it's a stupid question, but, what happens with all the people in
prison for possession of marijuana? Do they still need to serve their full
sentence, can they be released now that it is legal?

------
xacaxulu
It's all the poor, backward Southern states that really could use the tax
revenue. Alaska, Colorado and Oregon were already economically successful
states before legalization. Hopefully the dominos will start falling and we
can put this 'reefer madness' behind us.

~~~
peteretep

        > backward Southern states that really could use the tax
        > revenue
    

There's a lot of money to be made locking people up too...

~~~
llamataboot
Not really. Locking people up usually costs /quite/ a bit of money.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Comment you replied to was most likely referring to private prisons:

[https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/private-
prisons](https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/private-prisons)

> Private prison companies, however, essentially admit that their business
> model depends on locking up more and more people. For example, in a 2010
> Annual Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Corrections
> Corporation of America (CCA) stated: “The demand for our facilities and
> services could be adversely affected by . . . leniency in conviction or
> parole standards and sentencing practices . . . .” As incarceration rates
> skyrocket, the private prison industry expands at exponential rates, holding
> ever more people in its prisons and jails, and generating massive profits.

~~~
baddox
And it's also true, though perhaps to a less consequential extent, of public
prisons. You still have prison employees and management drawing salaries and
construction companies building public prisons, after all.

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free2rhyme214
Damn Peter Thiel is smart

[http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/08/cannabis-
inv...](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/08/cannabis-investor-
peter-theil-paypal-founder)

~~~
3beard
I'm wondering how many people in favor of legalization would actually like to
see a pot shop in their own street. From my own experience in the Netherlands,
these kinds of shops attract a sort of crowd that you would much rather avoid.

~~~
soylentcola
I dunno. We have a nice neighborhood pub on our street and it's great. I can
stop in for a bite or a few beers and once in a while, yep...I have a few more
with my neighbors/friends and we get a bit tipsy and are glad to be able to
walk a block to get home instead of taking a cab.

There are also some other bars in town that "attract a sort of crowd that (I)
would much rather avoid". So that's basically what I do. I don't hang out at
bars that attract a bunch of tough guys looking to pick fights or pick up
drunk women.

That still doesn't mean I think bars should be illegal or that people (even
drunks and alcoholics) should be thrown in jail for whatever issues they have
with drug (alcohol) abuse.

All other arguments about the relative benefits of alcohol or cannabis or
anything else aside, that's what it comes down to for me. I just don't think
the possession and consumption of anything should be enough to land you in
prison. As with alcohol you must be held accountable for your actions whether
sober or under the influence. And if you accidentally cause damage to person
or property while under the influence, you can be held liable due to your own
negligence in not managing your behavior properly.

But the idea that your diet can be considered "criminal" is frankly ridiculous
to me. Either it's a relatively harmless vice where you occasionally engage in
an activity with potential health risks in exchange for altering your
mood/perception or you're self-medicating and habituated to something and
could use help with withdrawal and with addressing the issues that led you to
use intoxication as an escape or a coping mechanism.

Neither scenario is something I'd consider worth of criminal punishment.
Crimes at their most basic should be situations where one person infringes the
rights of another, not situations where one person makes potentially unhealthy
decisions.

------
andrewstuart
I don't take drugs but I believe everything except meth should be free,
totally legal, and freely available to registered addicts. All those
"terrible" drugs like heroin now look like the good old days compared to meth.

People are driven to meth because they can't get high on whatever their drug
of choice is because the cops and customs have cracked down so hard that drugs
aren't available. The most effective way to keep people away from meth is let
em get high safely and for free on whatever their poison is.

So much community money and time wasted on criminalisation, court systems,
policing and incarceration of people who just want to get high. Getting high
seems a silly thing to me to want to do but why do we make drug users
criminals for it?

The war on drugs pours gargantuan quantities in to criminal organisations -
the only solution to that is make drugs legal and free which would immediately
dissolve many criminal endeavours.

The war on drugs has created the meth epidemic. Only ending the war on heroin,
coke, lsd, ectasy and pot can now fight the worst of all drugs - meth.

~~~
xtrumanx
Is your argument heroin is the lesser of two evils when compared to meth and
thus should be legalized to at least get people off meth into something less
evil like heroin?

Sorry for the run-on-sentence but if that's your argument it sounds absurd.

There was a documentary on Sky TV[0] of of a heroin addict who recorded his
final two years of life. I urge to watch it if you haven't a clear idea of
what life can be like for a drug addict. On a number of occasions one could
see he sincerely hated the drug but couldn't control his addiction. He jumped
out the window of his house during one attempt at going cold turkey and broke
his foot since he was locked in the house and wanted to get some heroin. His
veins collapsed due to all the injections of heroin over the years. He
ultimately died of brain haemorrhage due to withdrawal symptoms in a detox
facility.

I don't use drugs either and when I hear people's arguments about legalizing
marijuana, it makes sense in the context of a society that legalized alcoholic
drinks and cigarettes. But meth and heroin are in a league of their own and I
don't believe your argument makes any sense whatsoever. Lowering the bar from
"the worst of all drugs" to "not as bad but you'll probably get addicted to
it, may lose control of your life and possibly end up with a series of medical
conditions and including death" is not acceptable.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7thZbHTvZIQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7thZbHTvZIQ)

~~~
andrewstuart
My argument is not that heroin gets people off meth, because it doesn't. My
argument is that heroin junkies look for a way to get high when the cops have
halted the heroin supply, so the heroin junkies take meth cause it's cheap and
available and thus they become meth junkies.

In the nightclubs the partying folks want to get high but the cops have killed
the ecstasy supply, so the party crowd try meth cause they want to have fun
and get high, and become meth junkies.

At the universities the students want to smoke pot and listen to (what, Pink
Floyd?) but having a puff is illegal, there's no pot cause it's hard to get
cause it's against the law, but hey this guy has some meth, that'll get us
high, and hey, meth can't really be all that bad can it?

My other argument is that drugs cost money, so how do junkies get money? They
steal it, break into houses, mug people and do hold ups. Cut out the crime,
just give em the drugs for free.

Drugs aren't crime, they're just sad ways for lost people to try to cope.

I'm advocating harm minimisation.

~~~
xtrumanx
You've clarified your argument but doesn't sound like much of a difference.

"Legalize drugs to get people off meth" vs "Legalize drugs or they'll get on
meth"

Kind of sounds like the same thing to me.

Meth is messed up. We seem to agree with that. My point is heroin is also very
messed up. Perhaps to a lesser degree but I do know they both horrible and it
makes little sense to legalize one over the other. Considering how horrific
the effects of prolonged heroin use is I can't see why it should be legalized
while declaring another drug off-limits.

I make no comment on marijuana since I class it differently in my head and I
also make no comment on ecstasy as I virtually know nothing about its effects.

------
datashovel
There are a number of organized efforts in Ohio currently.

[http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/02/current_stat...](http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/02/current_status_of_ohios_mariju_1.html)

------
BigChiefSmokem
I'm so over all this legalization news, it's inevitable at this point and this
nascent industry is about to blow up big.

Time to start putting in your bets.... [http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/06/of-
course-he-does/](http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/06/of-course-he-does/)

------
thisandthat
Really, what are these people trying to gain from legalizing Marijuana?

~~~
brasky
Maybe they are tired of going to jail for no good reason?

~~~
thisandthat
Well, if it is Marijuana now, then what's next in line? I'm afraid to see the
day when some people will start demanding the legalization of other harmful
drugs, pulling "the science says" card out and rationalizing the possible
usefulness of certain drugs that really should be out of everyone's hands...

~~~
pstuart
Portugal has done just that and it's worked just fine:
[http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/evaluating-
drug-d...](http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/evaluating-drug-
decriminalization-in-portugal-12-years-later-a-891060.html)

You clearly are uninformed on the history of prohibition.

~~~
tzs
Portugal did NOT legalize drugs. They changed personal use and possession of
less than a 10 days personal supply so that these were no longer criminal
offenses. They become administrative offenses.

Producing, distributing, and selling remain criminal offenses.

~~~
pstuart
In too much of an indignant hurry in my reply. Yes, it was decriminalization
not legalization. But the point stands that reducing impediments to drug use
isn't going to cause civilization to crumble.

Anybody who brings up the issue of the damage done to society by drug use has
to then take into account the damage done by drug prohibition. It's clear (to
many) that the latter is far more harmful.

------
3beard
Pot smokers make a big deal of legalization but seriously, have legality
issues ever prevented anyone from acquiring the stuff? I think many people are
focusing on legalization because they want to avoid the real question, namely
what is your personal relationship with this potent narcotic. Are you in
charge of it, or is it in charge of you?

~~~
soylentcola
Ignoring the whole "potent narcotic" thing for a second (since it's not really
either), I personally don't ingest cannabis but I have in the past and frankly
it's like alcohol in that you can have a little (and feel a bit relaxed) or a
lot (and feel really intoxicated). Either way, I'm focused on
decriminalization because the concept of throwing someone in prison for their
diet is abhorrent to me.

