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One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

latimes.com

71–80 of 170 posts

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#71

For perspective Colorado has 549 retail establishments and 574 medical establishments (although many overlap) while having ~3/20 the population of California. While obviously Colorado has had retail cannabis since 2012/13, both states have areas strongly for and strongly against legalization. Considering that the cities that do allow rec cannabis include Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego, the number o…

Both Colorado and California had significant commercial medical cannabis industries for years and years before going recreational. Why is that not often brought up in reporting? It’s already been close enough to recreational in California for years - anyone who wanted to smoke could get a card for 100 bucks and start shopping at dispensaries, or grow their own. I wouldn’t expect any major changes from recreational in…

California's neighbors to the north both have 1500+ establishments. Oregon isn't exactly big, but due to massive overproduction and no sales tax prices in Oregon are approaching sister crops like hop.

Wtf is going on in California.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#72
post #49

Maybe this article overstated things and someone will clear it up in the comments but that was painful to read. I live in Vancouver and weed's been officially legal throughout the Canada for several weeks now. It's still relatively new but nothing noticeable has changed aside from fewer people discussing such a frivilous and previously mishandled issue. It's not perfect but far, far, far better than strict prohibitio…

Some people don't want a shop next to them. The stench is horrid, and the kind of people that loiter around them are the last people you want near your house. Legalizing a stupid and shitty practice because society doesn't want to enforce it doesn't make it any less stupid or shitty.

How is this objectively terrible comment not flagged? Yet my response which used the same language and style was flagged in five minutes?

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#73
> Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes

I can't say I'm surprised. As someone who grew up on the Oregon border of California on i5, locals here complain about California's influence on the local economy and politics. (E.g. buying expensive land, driving taxes up)

However in Oregon, I believe our problem is with oversaturation of the market. From what I understand (not rehearsed in the subject), we literally have to give the stuff away because there's so much. For anyone who knows/cares, it's not unheard of for places to sell quality marijuana for as low as $48/ounce, which is very cheap.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#74
post #73

> Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes I can't say I'm surprised. As someone who grew up on the Oregon border of California on i5, locals here complain about California's influence on the local economy and politics. (E.g. buying expensive land, driving taxes up) However in Oregon, I believe our problem is with oversaturation of the market. From what I understand (not rehea…

For comparison, you can easily pay $500/oz on the east coast.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#75
post #73

> Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes I can't say I'm surprised. As someone who grew up on the Oregon border of California on i5, locals here complain about California's influence on the local economy and politics. (E.g. buying expensive land, driving taxes up) However in Oregon, I believe our problem is with oversaturation of the market. From what I understand (not rehea…

> it's not unheard of for places to sell quality marijuana for as low as $48/ounce, which is very cheap

When I look at other dried herbs on amazon, they're much cheaper. E.g. thyme is about $10 for 12 ounces, oregano is $13 for 5 ounces.

Weed obviously has higher taxes, more regulation and I presume a smaller market (most people consume culinary herbs as part of their diet, not everybody consumes weed). But I'd expect the price to come down once the regulations disappear.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#76
post #73

> Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes I can't say I'm surprised. As someone who grew up on the Oregon border of California on i5, locals here complain about California's influence on the local economy and politics. (E.g. buying expensive land, driving taxes up) However in Oregon, I believe our problem is with oversaturation of the market. From what I understand (not rehea…

Washington state took a careful evaluation before putting rules in place. They decided to target a certain percentage of the black market, both in price and distribution. Two years in, the supply is ample for the legal market, businesses are profiting and the state is making money.

The fear was was that nobody would pay for a more expensive product if you could get it cheaper, but customers like the idea of buying a product with a consistent price and quality.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#77
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm personally fine with local control, and despite the negative tone of this article, it all sounds pretty normal to me. I live in SF, where there are a variety of shops. The ones I walk by all seem clean, orderly, and well run. Certainly more so than some liquor stores I can think of. So I'm happy to have them as neighbors. That said, I understand why other cities would have been more reluctant to license. Not ever…

Another way to have the same principle is to have the state lay some very basic ground rules or none at all (just a normal store), and allow localities to create restrictions as they see fit. This is how almost everything else is done.

That is actually the status quo.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#78
post #27
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm personally fine with local control, and despite the negative tone of this article, it all sounds pretty normal to me. I live in SF, where there are a variety of shops. The ones I walk by all seem clean, orderly, and well run. Certainly more so than some liquor stores I can think of. So I'm happy to have them as neighbors. That said, I understand why other cities would have been more reluctant to license. Not ever…

[IANAL] if my city and all the others around prohibit such stores it is de-facto equivalent to Prohibition in that area while the state level amendment granted that right to all the people in the state, and no local government has the power to exclude it own particular local area from the amendment. The same principle as with for example right to vote with no voting place in N (for sufficiently large N) miles radius.

Yeah ultimately you're being stripped of your state given rights by a locality run by cronies where it takes millions jus to win a seat on the local board of supervisors. Even though we do have ballot initiatives, a non-democratic, corrupt local process can ultimately strip you basically of all your rights. This also impacts criminalizing poverty by local governments where basically being low income and being there is a crime.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#79

My personal issue with how legal pot has played out is I have no interest in becoming a patron of these lifestyle shops for a variety of reasons. I also don't want my ID to be scanned for buying something still federally illegal. If I could occasionally buy marijuana products at the grocery store as part of my normal shopping, no different than my occasional purchase of whiskey or wine, then I would have at least bou…

In Washington you have to show ID to prove you’re over 21, but nothing is scanned.

Re: One year into legal pot sales California doesn’t have expected bustling industry

#80

Turns out that buying from your local dealer is cheaper than going to someone who had to jump through regulatory hoops. who knew?

You mean the local dealer who doesn’t have any at the moment, doesn’t answer his phone, can’t get the good shit like he had last time and this batch costs more but weighs less?

Like 7-11, you’re paying for convenience and being able to get the exact same potent batch for the same price every time.

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