Comments

1
The State of Washington has levied a $12.00 per gram tax on recreational marijuana. That's as much as the street price, and equal to the retail price in dispensaries without the tax. By effectively doubling the price to consumers, this assures the continuation of the black market. Furthermore, the preconditions for becoming either a producer, processor, or retailer are so stringent, that only those with deep pockets will be able to qualify. It would seem as though the handlers of politicians might already be in the business, and will be continuing both above board and under the table.

If it's truly going to be legal in Orygun, then the tax needs to be nominal, and business opportunities need to be accessible to all. Anybody ought to be able to grow up to one hundred plants, indoors, and permitted to sell to licensed processors.
2
Did they get rid of all the bullshit about George Washington and James Madison lighting up?
3
An ever-shrinking Minority of prohibitionists wish to continue to demonize Marijuana, blindly blame Marijuana for all of societies ills, and continue wasting Billions upon Billions of our tax dollars chasing around and locking people up for choosing to consume a substance far safer than alcohol. Why? Why? Why?

The Majority of Americans want Marijuana Legalized Nationwide.

Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that's approaching MUCH SOONER than prohibitionists think, and there is NOTHING they can do to stop it!

Legalize Nationwide!
4
The so-called, "War on Drugs," is not about eliminating illegal drugs. It's about eliminating the competition. Gary Webb, the investigative journalist who won a Pulitzer prize for writing a series of articles for the San Jose Mercury News, in 1996, only exposed the tip of the iceberg. That and the fact that THC has been made weapons grade, as despite the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights, government always infringes upon the Right to bear arms.

http://www.drugs-forum.com/chemistry/chemistry/thc/index.html

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-Explosion/dp/1888363932

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_contra
5
Wow, man, you got me thinking in a million different directions, here. Are you saying that Marijuana can be made so potent that it actually can be used as a weapon, and since that it's a weapon, that everybody has the Right to possess it? I can't imagine why I would want to share such good stuff with an enemy or why he wouldn't like it, but if the government plans to put THC in agricultural exports to Russia, then call me comrade, I'm on my way to Moscow.
6
I find myself agreeing with OTP for once. I read that the retail price of marijuana in WA is estimated to be $13-17 a gram. If what he/ she is saying about $12 of that being state tax then this bullshit will never work out and is pretty much designed to fail. For starters people can't afford to produce high quality marijuana for $1 a gram. $5 a gram is roughly the sale price of bulk quality herb right now considering dispensaries are taking most of the profit by increasing sale prices by 100-200%. $5 a gram is pretty close to rock bottom when considering the overhead required to produce quality product.

Only rich people can afford to pay $13-17 a gram for marijuana. The black market is guaranteed to exist where prices for the retail end user have hovered around $10 a gram for quality product for the last 2.5 decades. I heard a radio program on which WA state's head legal consultant stated that aggressive enforcement of the new marijuana regulations were going to be key to stamping out the black market. I would not be surprised if a significant portion of the tax derived from sales is earmarked to go to law enforcement coffers to combat the "illegal black market". This has a strong potential to subvert the supposed impetus for legalization in the first place which was to relieve the strain from the overburdened "justice" system.

This whole thing sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. I still don't understand how they are going to enforce expanded DUI testing when THC metabolites have such a long half life and also reside in fat cells. A regular user of marijuana can piss dirty for 30 days or longer while people with a higher body fat experience spikes in THC levels if exercise or a change of diet causes them to burn dirty fat for up to 90 days. Blood tests are even more likely to find residual levels. What is it going to be? If you get pulled over and the cop decides he has probable cause you will be forced to submit to a blood test and get in trouble for something you may have done a month or longer in the past or they will take your license for 90 days and act like you got a DUI anyway?

I don't see this legalization being a boon to anybody other than the large corporate businesses who will be able to profit from slight margins on their massive operations, the states that are going to rake in tax money by the truckload, and the cops that are going to have increased powers and resources to arrest people. The users of marijuana and the craftspeople who produce small amounts of high quality connoisseur grade marijuana seem to be coming up short with the way these programs are designed. I was hoping it would be more like craft beer but the system certainly isn't structured that way.
7
All of the people who apply for licenses in Washington State, have to undergo an extensive back ground check. If any applicants are currently cultivating and/or selling, then the pigs will be sniffing around to find out. If any of these cowboys get busted, then they can just forget about getting licensed. If they aren't currently in the business, then who the hell is going to get into the business, without experience? The big winners are the big organized crime syndicates that are already smuggling and growing in big warehouses along with the sleazy politicians whom they control.
8
The applicants need to lay low for awhile, until they get the growahead.
9
Anyone who applies and gets rejected, will then be permanently red flagged and subsequently under constant surveillance. This is just a big sting operation. Everybody ought to be growing their own, anyway. Don't sell, but freely share. Force the price down to zero.
10
It ought to be legalized - no strings attached. Just grow it, smoke it, pack it around, and sell it. No permit applications, no licensing fees, no tax. At least it ought to be tolerated like in Holland and Spain.
11
If Marijuana and concentrates are to be sold in coffee shops as in Amsterdamn, then the profits are already taxed as income. In states with a sales tax, then that's additional. There is sufficient benefit to public coffers and the economy as a whole, without licensing fees and special tax.

The most elegant solution is simple legislation which mandates for law enforcement to make all Marijuana violations, it's "Lowest Priority."
12
Even the legally approved medical purposes are too limited. For instance, insulin resistance has recently been found to be ameliorated in recreational Cannabis users. States haven't caught up to that one yet, and in the mean time, patients are needlessly becoming diabetic.

http://mrsubliminal.tripod.com

The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults
The American Journal of Medicine
-- Murray A. Mittleman, MD, DrPH
Harvard School of Public Health
13
Section 33 lays out the taxes:

(a) $35 per ounce on all marijuana flowers;
(b) $10 per ounce on all marijuana leaves; and
(c) $5 per immature marijuana plant.

Roughly 28 grams to an ounce, by the way.

I've started reading the new proposal and man it's crazy how much better written this thing is than Prop 80.
14
Wow, the amount of liars in these comments is amazing.
15
Washington has imposed a heavy 25% tax on each of the three parts of pot production: producer to processor, processor to retailer and retailer to customer. Regulators say that will put the price of marijuana pretax at an average of $12 a gram.

By Eliza Gray, Oct. 19, 2013
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/10/19/new-laws-chart-course-for-marijuana-legalization/#ixzz2j8agTSiE
16
OTP, the WA price estimates were based on current black market prices. No one knows how far the prices are going to fall in a legal market. The bottom line is that the effective tax rates for consumers in WA will be 27% if the producer and processor are the same entity (allowed under I-502), which is the same rate as WA spirits tax, or 36% if the producer and processor are separate entities -- less than the 41% tax on WA cigarettes.
17
RRTrollkien's analysis above, is correct.

http://www.liq.wa.gov/marijuana/faqs_i-502

Q: Can I hold all three license types?

A: Having all three licenses is not permitted under I-502. A licensee may hold both a producer and a processor license simultaneously. The initiative does not allow a producer to also be a retailer or a processor to also be a retailer.
18
Isn't this article about the proposed Oregon statute? To repeat Aestro, with a copy/paste from the link in the article:

SECTION 33. Tax on marijuana.

(1) A tax is imposed upon the privilege of engaging in business as a marijuana producer at the rate of:
(a) $35 per ounce on all marijuana flowers;
(b) $10 per ounce on all marijuana leaves; and
(c) $5 per immature marijuana plant.

(2) The rates of tax imposed by this section upon marijuana flowers and marijuana leaves apply proportionately to quantities of less than one ounce.
19
I just noticed the update of the link to the measure. If I read this right, the tax is only to be paid by the producer. If that be the case, then that would make grass about ten percent more expensive to buy legally then on the street. I don't see that affecting the black market, at all. Only a free market approach will lower the price and eliminate crime. Again, the Dutch model is the way to go.
20
You seriously don't think most people would gladly pay an extra 10-20% to be able to walk into a store and purchase legally?
21
I think that people would rather buy better shit for less. In California dispensaries, they have a great menu, and show you beautiful samples, but when you pay them the money, they hand you a different, pre-packaged, bag of schwag. Whoever sells the best shit for the lowest price wins. Lots of people will try the State outlets at first, but after they get burned, those stores will be going out of business. Only virgins without connections might not know the difference. If it's the goal of Orygun to get straight people to start turning on, then they better advertise like hell, because otherwise, these stores are doomed to failure. Current users already could give a shit about the law.
22
The best growers won't apply for licenses, because they don't want their applications to be rejected and they don't want to under go per-licensing investigation. They already have infrastructure that they don't want to have to shut down to avoid detection and getting busted before being approved. Also, they don't want to be surveilled for the rest of their lives, after possibly having had their application denied. Some of them may have been busted before, and know that they can't be licensed now, anyway. Only the inexperience entrepreneur will be getting into the business, and they will be perfectly willing to sacrifice quality for quantity. What's needed is deregulation so that Orygun stores can import, same as with booze. Let's get some good Yumbolt up here from the farmers who invented the shit. Of course, even with legal alcohol, you've still got Moonshiners going strong.
23
The breeders of famous high grade strains are already producing as much as they are able to, without sacrificing quality. The underground on the whole, is also producing at maximum capacity. Canada exports all that it grows, and Humboldt County can't even adequately provide for even the Bay Area. The current demand for top shelf product is greater than supply.

The lowest cost, lowest risk solution, is for the individual to obtain a medical marijuana permit. Anyone can legally produce way more than they could possibly consume. Top quality seeds are available for purchase online from many offshore websites. Pain due to soft tissue damage is not visible on X-rays, and is the easiest condition to be diagnosed to warrant physician referral for a medical marijuana permit.

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