tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post3813849492777140929..comments2023-10-31T03:23:29.373-04:00Comments on Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: Medical Marijuana Laws, a Work in ProgressDavid Bratzerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16356249815391506872noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-42424020694144357442009-11-14T12:29:31.347-05:002009-11-14T12:29:31.347-05:00You have a valid point: the markups for medical m...You have a valid point: the markups for medical marijuana are outrageous.<br /><br />On the other hand, I think this occurs because this is not a truly legal market, and anyone who participates as a provider is both theoretically and actually subject to draconian penalties. What's the market price for risking years of imprisonment and seizure of all your assets? Unsurprisingly, it turns out that it's steep.barmayden Annette Rose Blaykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03341339583645469778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-37907654254199190732009-11-10T18:36:50.994-05:002009-11-10T18:36:50.994-05:00Rhayader said...
“People like to smoke pot, pure a...Rhayader said...<br />“People like to smoke pot, pure and simple”<br /><br />I get that, but for now we need to separate recreational marijuana, from medical marijuana. There are people like me who need medical marijuana. The morphine I take helps with my low back pain, but not the shooting electrical pain in my legs and feet, marijuana does.<br /><br />If someone wants to spend $500.00 an ounce for recreational marijuana, that's fine, but this is medical marijuana, not recreational marijuana. I guess that’s the problem, most people don’t see marijuana as real medicine; they see it as a way for people to get marijuana.<br /><br /> Matt said... <br />“The abuse of these laws has lead to de-facto legalization in Los Angeles and other California counties”.<br /><br />I agree, and that’s why we need to separate recreational marijuana, from medical marijuana. If someone buys medical marijuana for a low price and sells it on the street, there should be consequences, the same as if someone sold morphine. <br /><br />The black market will continue after marijuana is legal, the same as it does with many legal drugs. I take morphine for pain, it’s legal, and yet the street price is as much as $20 a pill, as a patient I pay .20 cents a pill. <br /><br />Legalization and taxation would be the best outcome, but we will still have a black market, there will always be people willing to sell to kids. So the black market will never go away, only change.<br /><br />Rhayader said...<br />“If we want to legitimize medical marijuana, we need to legitimize recreational marijuana”.<br /><br />Why would we need to legitimize recreational marijuana to legitimize medical marijuana? Many drugs are legitimate, without having to legitimize them for recreational use.<br /><br />I think this view is why many people don’t take medical marijuana seriously.Jay Fleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09772390816315581003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-58775555146644312422009-11-09T19:59:50.062-05:002009-11-09T19:59:50.062-05:00I think there is value in the abuse of California ...I think there is value in the abuse of California Medical Marijuana laws. Although your points are entirely valid, the abuse of these laws has lead to de-facto legalization in Los Angeles and other California counties. This has given California, and to a lesser extent the rest of the country, a look at what a legalized marijuana distribution network would look like. Furthermore, the abuse and strain put on the law only serves to highlight the inadequacies of marijuana laws in general. Although this point, to us at least, is belabored beyond recognition, the more restrictive laws (and I consider medicalization restrictive in the abstract) are broken down, the more people will question marijuana laws in general.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14172881950890224190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-6496179266993805062009-11-09T16:16:07.560-05:002009-11-09T16:16:07.560-05:00Jay, your Headline says it all. And in truth the ...Jay, your Headline says it all. And in truth the Medical Marijuana movement really is a means to an end, that being Ending Prohibition.<br />Good Chiropractor's make the amount of money you showed that Doctor's are making on Medical MJ patients. While I don't appreciate that greed has come into this, by everyone involved, it's my belief that it will work its self out.<br /><br />Enjoy your comments Rhayader. The black market WILL continue until Prohibition is ended.Leahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16544337064074095302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-49150363812937196652009-11-09T10:31:17.827-05:002009-11-09T10:31:17.827-05:00Fair enough Steve, but by assuring voters that dis...Fair enough Steve, but by assuring voters that dispensaries are "not-for-profit," we're assuring those same voters that a healthy marijuana black market will continue to thrive in their area. We're not giving the voters a choice between a wild west and sensible regulation. We're giving them a choice between a total wild west (outright prohibition), and a still-chaotic system in which a black market thrives (a strictly regulated medical system).<br /><br />People like to smoke pot, pure and simple. No matter how legitimate certain medicinal uses are, the "intent to help sick people" does not exist in a vacuum. We'll never have a system that gives sick people what they need without funding criminals unless we see one of two developments: a state-run manufacturing and distribution system -- which, again, is in direct violation of federal law -- or legal, taxed, regulated sale of recreational marijuana.<br /><br />I guess my point is that the ball is in the government's court, at both federal and state levels. It's fine to bemoan some of the abuses we're seeing in California, but it's simply proof that people respond to incentives. Without the correct legal framework, those problems will not be going away.Rhayaderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14058323741957679243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-45452242489994775542009-11-09T10:00:42.151-05:002009-11-09T10:00:42.151-05:00@Rhayader: "I don't think [CA's MM in...@Rhayader: "I don't think [CA's MM industry is] an environment dominated by selfish interests".<br /><br />Perhaps not, but the areas continuously highlighted by the news clearly are, and this is a major distraction from the help it's providing to sick people. Voters should be given some level of confidence that their intent to help sick people is not going to turn into what LA has (even though the situation in LA is due to the city council's failure to regulate).Steve Clayhttp://mrclay.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-80713309679952783882009-11-09T09:13:15.192-05:002009-11-09T09:13:15.192-05:00not-for-profit: Good idea. Please also require dis...not-for-profit: Good idea. Please also require dispensaries to recommend the use of vaporizers and other non-smoking methods. Smoking MM, while not proven to lead to cancer, IS proven to lead to drug warriors using it as a weapon to fight MM.Steve Clayhttp://mrclay.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194774682855710383.post-381768290968173342009-11-09T09:10:57.263-05:002009-11-09T09:10:57.263-05:00I'm sure the system in California has its shar...I'm sure the system in California has its share of people who are strictly in it to make a buck, but I don't think it's an environment dominated by selfish interests. Instead of exposing greed and criminality, I think California's dispensaries have exposed exactly how much demand there is for marijuana. Like Jay said, as long as the black market drives the price upwards of $20 per gram, the money is going to follow the marijuana no matter who is doing the selling.<br /><br />That's why I don't think this is a problem that could be "solved" by somehow guaranteeing that dispensaries are non-profit. The Arizona law discussed above sounds like it will simply drive home growers away from selling to dispensaries, and toward more conventional illegal sales. There's simply no way to remove the profit incentives when recreational use is outlawed. If we want to legitimize medical marijuana, we need to legitimize recreational marijuana. Otherwise, no amount of medical marijuana regulation -- short of a state-run supply chain, which would turn state workers into federal drug criminals -- will be able to "remove the profits that drive illegal grow operations."Rhayaderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14058323741957679243noreply@blogger.com