how did legal marijuana go down in your state

Apr 20, 18 10:50

Post #1 of 22 (2345 views)

We have had expanded medical marijuana in Canada now for at least a year. The legal stuff is provided at great cost to patients so much so that the true believers and already users pretty much have stayed with their cheaper illegal providers. There has been a stampede to dominate this space by large well financed growers.

Supposedly this summer we get legal weed for all. Looks like the big players will use the medical marijuana experience to leap frog into the all user market. Meanwhile the gov't has made the permitting process, security requirements so high (no pun intended) that it favors the big money interests. I don't know why people would buy expensive legal weed vs just keep with their current cheaper illegal providers.

The question is will gov't vigourously go after the illegal providers and users now that they threaten their revenue pipeline (the tax money). I think that would be pretty ironic considering one of the big arguments was to make it legal was we needed to de-criminalize because it was not at all productive to make people criminals for using marijuana. The other thing is that in the last few years gov't pretty much has given up going after small producers.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 11:02

Post #2 of 22 (2331 views)

We had a vote in California. It's still too recent to tell how it's shaking out, though plenty of dispensaries (if that's even the term anymore) have sprouted up (even in strip malls).

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 11:14

Post #3 of 22 (2321 views)

len wrote:

The question is will gov't vigourously go after the illegal providers and users now that they threaten their revenue pipeline (the tax money).

People still get arrested for selling home-distilled spirits or cigarettes purchased on an Indian reservation. No reason for enforcement other than maintaining revenue. You're talking about a $1.5B industry which raised about $250M in tax revenue last year, in Colorado alone. If legalization weren't all about money initially, it surely is now.

It's Friday, so I'll leave this quote here: "Playin' with my money is like playin' with my emotions." That goes double for the tax man.

Last edited by: gotsand: Apr 20, 18 11:17

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [Crank] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 11:16

Post #4 of 22 (2319 views)

Colorado legalized recreational weed two years ago. Within my life circle I noticed quite a few recreational shops open, as well as vape shops, which I assume are just modern day head shops. The medical dispensaries were already quite numerous, now it seems there is a pot shop (of some variety) in every neighborhood, kind of like Starbucks or McDonalds.

I don't partake, haven't even looked inside our local recreational or vape shops. If I couldn't see their signs from the road I wouldn't even know they're there. Seems pretty low-key in my area. Although today is 4/20 day, so the local news will be filled with the worst of the users making asses of themselves on TV just because they can.

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 11:57

Post #5 of 22 (2282 views)

The people voted in medical a few years ago in MA. The state blocked it. I don't know if any dispensaries actually opened.

The people voted in recreational starting 1/1 this year. Individual towns are blocking retail stores.

Only change is now you can smell cannabis in more areas. The T always has smelled anyway.

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 12:07

Post #6 of 22 (2272 views)

Why not just grow your own and cut out the middle man?

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [gotsand] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 12:07

Post #7 of 22 (2272 views)

Almost all my patients who are still smoking are getting them from the nearby Indian reservation and nobody is doing anything about that. Not much of an economy of illegal spirts here though. Don't know if that is because alcohol is cheap enough that it isn't worth the bother. I agree with your legalization is now all about money sentiment.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 12:15

Post #8 of 22 (2262 views)

len wrote:

Almost all my patients who are still smoking are getting them from the nearby Indian reservation and nobody is doing anything about that. Not much of an economy of illegal spirts here though. Don't know if that is because alcohol is cheap enough that it isn't worth the bother. I agree with your legalization is now all about money sentiment.

Cheap booze in Ontario is the "brew by U" type places. I get most of my wine and beer that way. For the one time or so a year that I might still smoke some weed, I know a guy who grows a couple of plants on his property for personal consumption. He'll give me a free joint if I ask for one. Can't see anything changing for me at least.

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 16:28

Post #9 of 22 (2208 views)

Here in WA dispensaries are doing great business.
Sure it’s cheaper to buy from the black market or grow your own but not everybody wants to go about things illegally. There a lot of people coming back to weed after many years of none. These “new comers” don’t necessarily have connections.
I don’t know if LE is chasing down illegal operations or not. I haven’t seen any press.

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 17:34

Post #10 of 22 (2191 views)

IIRC, in Maine medical marijuana was passed by referendum several years ago, then last year or maybe year before, recreational was legalized by referendum. Allows for sale and pot bars (I think first in country to legalize this). Govt. then passed a moratorium to give them a year to figure things out, then I think they extended it, so we are in the second year and still no sales/bars. I think a lot of it is our Trump wannabe governor is against it.

You can grow your own and possess it and use it. Lots of towns have passed laws banning dispensaries.

Pretty strong local agriculture movement here but the state gave the contracts to a few out of state big businesses that will be the only ones allowed to grow it for commercial sale in the state (unless things have changed recently).

Don't know why you wouldn't just regulate it like alcohol, we have a ton of local breweries. Why not let locals have a go at it and see if they can compete with big grow operations?

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 20, 18 17:45

Post #11 of 22 (2181 views)

len wrote:

We have had expanded medical marijuana in Canada now for at least a year. The legal stuff is provided at great cost to patients so much so that the true believers and already users pretty much have stayed with their cheaper illegal providers. There has been a stampede to dominate this space by large well financed growers.

Supposedly this summer we get legal weed for all. Looks like the big players will use the medical marijuana experience to leap frog into the all user market. Meanwhile the gov't has made the permitting process, security requirements so high (no pun intended) that it favors the big money interests. I don't know why people would buy expensive legal weed vs just keep with their current cheaper illegal providers.

The question is will gov't vigourously go after the illegal providers and users now that they threaten their revenue pipeline (the tax money). I think that would be pretty ironic considering one of the big arguments was to make it legal was we needed to de-criminalize because it was not at all productive to make people criminals for using marijuana. The other thing is that in the last few years gov't pretty much has given up going after small producers.

Could not agree more, I'll grow my own. In fact that is the most idiotic thing about this whole thing, the Government wants to severely crack down on illegal sales yet it will be legal to grow your own, so how are they going to prove in court that the weed I just "gave" to a friend was in fact bought? The whole thing has the potential to be a huge embarrassment.

Last edited by: 50+: Apr 20, 18 17:51

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

SallyShortyPnts

Apr 21, 18 11:54

Post #12 of 22 (2090 views)

Here in Sin City (Las Vegas), it has hardly caused a ripple in the local milieu. Just one more thing that happens in Vegas and stays here, I guess...

DFL > DNF > DNS

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 21, 18 13:35

Post #13 of 22 (2067 views)

WI state gov't is ultra-conservative republican all the way down - and not too bright - so no marijuana traction here

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]

Apr 22, 18 5:45

Post #14 of 22 (2008 views)

That would seem to make the most sense to me.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 22, 18 8:20

Post #15 of 22 (1979 views)

Like anything, once those guys start mass producing it the cost will come down and people will get through the storefronts due to convenience. People make beer, have stills, have vegetable gardens or grow weed. There is a fair amount of work in doing it that way. There will always be some but the vast majority will go the convenient route.

----
Don't hold back

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [iO4] [ In reply to ]

Apr 22, 18 9:17

Post #16 of 22 (1968 views)

We'll know weed has gone mainstream when Amazon starts home delivery.

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 22, 18 10:27

Post #17 of 22 (1963 views)

Got a glimpse last week of the brave new world in CA. Two thirty-somethings (still young enough to pull of the backwards hat look) standing in the parking lot of the local golf course smoking a post-game doobie, oblivious to the old geezers walking by. Maybe they were pre-gaming it, I don't know.

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [SallyShortyPnts] [ In reply to ]

Apr 22, 18 11:48

Post #18 of 22 (1954 views)

SallyShortyPnts wrote:

Here in Sin City (Las Vegas), it has hardly caused a ripple in the local milieu. Just one more thing that happens in Vegas and stays here, I guess...

NV did it right--limited # of dispensaries, heavily regulated & taxed. And the dispensary/grow operations are killing it. A friend owns/majority partner in 3: $100k per day, per store, in sales + his grow operation @ 35%++ pre-tax margins. And the state is raking it in.

____________
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." John Rogers

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

Apr 23, 18 3:47

Post #19 of 22 (1880 views)

len wrote:

That would seem to make the most sense to me.

For a drug that is almost certainly relatively benign as compared to alcohol, they are acting like it's heroin that's being legalized.

Post deleted by windschatten [ In reply to ]

Apr 25, 18 0:53

Post #20 of 22 (1779 views)

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [windschatten] [ In reply to ]

Apr 25, 18 3:14

Post #21 of 22 (1771 views)

windschatten wrote:

Is that like:
You almost certainly got a relatively benign cancer, no need to worry.

That's a pretty apt analogy. You don't want cancer but there are cancers that you can live a normal life span with.

Re: how did legal marijuana go down in your state [len] [ In reply to ]

May 3, 18 4:04

Post #22 of 22 (1644 views)

Legislature just over rode the governor's veto of the latest bill to get the legalized weed thing going forward "clearing the way", at least according to the headline in the paper.

Our Partners

transition-DOT-area-AT-slowtwitch-DOT-com

Advertise with us

©1999-2024 Slowtwitch, Inc., and Slowtwitch.com
Reproduction of material from any Slowtwitch.com page
without written permission is strictly prohibited.