There is no rational argument that says organized crime will continue to be a part of the marijuana market if pot was fully legal. Organized criminal marijuana distribution would be defined out of existence if pot were "fully legal".
If pot production and distribution were legalized, it would be taxed, just as tobacco products are. I happen to know the rough cost of raw materials in a pack of smokes and can assure you that most of the cost - what is it these days, 9, 10$ - in a pack of smokes, is not going to the grower! Being the grandson of a former tobacco farmer and having worked on said farms, I can assure you that the growers of that plant never got rich.
As Stephen has suggested, the black market would remain alive and well. I would still stumble onto SWAT teams in my neighbourhood, and perhaps yours too, laying siege to some drug production facility or another.
As for hypocrisy, I'm all in favour of complete ban on tobacco and marijuana if thats what it takes. Yes, lets treat them both the same. Allowing tobacco is really a farce anyway in this day and age, is it not?
Smoking any substance "using as designed" is not the same as ingesting alcohol. The vast majority of regular drinkers do not end up with debilitating health problems; the vast majority of regular smokers do, eventually.
If our society is to roll out the red social safety net, we should be consistent about it and shut down industries which have a track record such as Tobacco's, and prevent new ones like it from starting up.
And if we aren't prepared to do that, then there has to be a user incentive program designed to encourage "good" behaviour and penalize those who would eat, smoke and snort their lives away, to the detriment of their own health, that of their families, and stop the tax grab to pay for such "sins" from the pocket books of us all. |
