Rules, regulations and arduous compliance measures are an indirect tax on businesses. It would be good if policymakers saw it as such.
SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
111–120 of 247 posts
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#112Wait I was told that when it was legalized there would be no more underground drug market. Seems things aren't as simple as they seem on the surface.
There's still an underground cigarettes market in my country. It helps that we (a EU country) have a land-border with some other non-EU countries, we have very high taxes on cigarettes (compared to our revenues, at least), they don't, it's only natural that money will find a way. The authorities do announce "contraband cigarettes captures" every week or two but I'm pretty sure that's just scratching the surface. They…
There's an underground market in cigarettes in high-tax states of the US also!
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129934...
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Legalization was sold to politicians with the promise of high taxes. We knew that poor users would be priced out of the market, that legal weed would be a privilege enjoyed by the rich Poor users seem to enjoy a lot of legal alcohol. Taxes on that are high too, and it's even easier to make your own alcohol than to make your own weed.
Sure, you can make alcohol yourself. Then you discover some batteries increase the kick. Then you realize a drop of methanol just takes it to insane levels. Then 2 drops kill or blind you.
A high proportion of the booze consumed worldwide is what the bureaucrats call "unrecorded", and poisonings are exceptional.
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's still an underground cigarettes market in my country. It helps that we (a EU country) have a land-border with some other non-EU countries, we have very high taxes on cigarettes (compared to our revenues, at least), they don't, it's only natural that money will find a way. The authorities do announce "contraband cigarettes captures" every week or two but I'm pretty sure that's just scratching the surface. They…
It's not just the taxes. It's how hard it is to sell weed legally. All of the hoops and expenses add up. In Florida, it's like 20 licenses that cost $25M each. We should make it as easy as selling alcohol and then the prices will match.
Is your claim that it costs half a billion dollars to setup to sell weed legally in FL? That defies all order-of-magnitude estimation.
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nobody should consume cannabis daily. Only a sith etc.. You do know there are low THC strains available? And that there are people who self medicate with cannabis for scores of reasons? What exactly are you scared is going to happen to these people? An increased risk of bronchitis? Some people would consider that a great trade for reduction of chronic pain, nausea, or seizures.
> What exactly are you scared is going to happen to these people? From observing people who are smoking multiple times per day (even 4+): An extremely happy-go-lucky attitude, often problems with memory and periodical total idiocy (while being baked of their goddam mind). They also tend to have little enjoyment due to increased tolerance and are mostly addicted (being sober is not comfortable for them).
Sounds like they're smoking high THC strains, and not for medical reasons. Did you miss that part of the comment?
Ss for the dependency, I am aware of no study that shows lingering effects on anything after two weeks off. And it's much easier to break a cannabis dependency than, say, an alcohol dependency or most others.
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nobody should consume cannabis daily. Only a sith etc.. You do know there are low THC strains available? And that there are people who self medicate with cannabis for scores of reasons? What exactly are you scared is going to happen to these people? An increased risk of bronchitis? Some people would consider that a great trade for reduction of chronic pain, nausea, or seizures.
I smoke every day, but I've also come close to dying from it[0] on a number of occasions. There are definitely potential risks, but with that said, I completely agree with your points. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid_hyperemesis_syndro...
Thanks, I actually hadn't heard of that.
Did you try drinking more water?
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> nobody should consume cannabis daily. Only a sith etc.. You do know there are low THC strains available? And that there are people who self medicate with cannabis for scores of reasons? What exactly are you scared is going to happen to these people? An increased risk of bronchitis? Some people would consider that a great trade for reduction of chronic pain, nausea, or seizures.
Medical use notwithstanding, people who use cannabis on a daily basis will probably tend to produce and pursue bad ideas. I've been there when I was younger. That state of mind is like turning the temperature up on the generative function in the mind. Lots of exciting, weird shit reveals itself to your conscious perception. On the other hand, our brains probably evolved to favor adaptive ideation. If that system's fi…
That's a fair and interesting point, worth looking at. I personally think that you're more right than wrong, and that while cannabis is great for idea generation, idea execution is somewhat hampered.
But as has been pointed out, people are dumb. 90% of everything is bad.
Remember when some guy came up with a "juice machine" that just squeezes capri-sun style juice pouches, that you got as a subscription service? And people gave him millions of dollars to build and market the thing? And were surprised when it failed spectacularly?
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nope, fake and tainted weed is a very real problem when it's illegal. I've seen cannabis with plaster mixed in; glass beads, added ketamine, synthetic fibres; anything cheap to increase the perceived effect and weight. And all of those are safer than legal synthetic 'weed'. The THC to CBD ratio is completely impossible to control when in prohibition areas. Dealers select for maximum THC to minimize weight to effect r…
Ketamine is a bit harder to come by than cannabis, and at a dose that anyone would actually feel, it's going to make the weed more expensive. That just doesn't make any sense.
It makes perfect sense if you're an organized gang stealing horse tranquilizer, and adding it to awful quality hash that's been mixed so much with garden waste that it barely works.
It's not seen as much these days, but was literally a nationwide problem in Ireland for well over a decade.
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#119Here in Illinois. Weed became legal at suspiciously the same time that opiates became... 1) more difficult to get due to changes in various regulations. 2) heavily propagandized against. This is obviously an attempt to shift a big revenue stream from the pharmacorps to a new pie. That new pie is divided between the state (licensing fees, taxes) and whoever can get permission to grow and sell (Governor Pritzker and hi…
Good because Opiates are a bit out of control and can be deadly.
Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers
#120In most recreational states, cannabis is taxed heavily at every step in the supply chain, so the highest quality still ends up being very expensive -- upward of $400/oz. The black market has the exact same quality at the wholesale price, typically 40-60% less than retail, with the added bonus of not having the government involved. For a daily or heavy smoker, a ~50% discount is a massive amount of money.
They demonize it for a decade, create a sophisticated black market, and now via pen on paper they want a pound of flesh? Pfff.. let them compete in the open market. What value do they provide? None. They are owed nothing, if anything they need to pay restitution to the thousands who rotted in jail for non violent pocession of a flower.