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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had the same thought but I doubt he's as big of a player as he makes himself out to be.
Fair point. I expect the people making serious bank aren't the kind to grant an interview to a journalist at The Atlantic .
> In many circles, drugs are nearly as easy to find as liquor. I can't figure out if this is a mistake, deception (liquor is not a drug, it just contains one), or implying that "drugs" means "illegal drugs".
See, this is why I'm not sure I like computer people anymore - overly pedantic, not advancing the conversation. I call that 'smart-stupid' -- so smart, yet dumb at the same time.
> In many circles, drugs are nearly as easy to find as liquor. I can't figure out if this is a mistake, deception (liquor is not a drug, it just contains one), or implying that "drugs" means "illegal drugs".
It's funny that they didn't interview any actual neighborhood-dealers. The people sitting on the corner slinging dope have a much more dangerous job than people with clientele who are discreet and wealthy. I suppose it's because they're perceived as so dangerous that reporters never talk to them. But ask a corner man his life story and he'll tell you about serving time, getting shot, and paying off cops to stay alive…
The people sitting on the corner slinging dope is itself an image, and may not be reflected in reality anymore. Especially with police wise to that kind of behavior, surely it makes sense to be able to blend in?
"If you get jammed up, you can become a convicted felon and that damns you to do it for the rest of your life, because you won’t get anything but a $7.50 an hour job—if that. You give somebody a felony record for life, what did you accomplish? You’ve just created a lower-class idiot that has to commit more crimes to survive.” That's the problem right there. We can spend tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars incarcer…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We might even get there soon. For pot, sure. For cocaine? I seriously doubt it.
As someone whose sister just died of a heroin overdose, I hope that we will get to the point that all drugs are legal. My sister died alone in a locked bedroom because of the shame and stigma associated with her addiction and related mental illness. I have no doubt that if there was a safe place she could go to use pharmaceutical grade heroin with clean needles that she would be alive today.
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"No sales to minors" If law enforcement cannot stop drug sale en masse, how do you propose that sale to minors will be prevented? The analogy with cigarettes and alcohol is not very apt: a lot of chain stores sell these (although some are pulling out: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-... ). It's clear that such outlets will not be open to drugs like heroin or MDMA.
When I was a kid, it was much easier to get illegal drugs than alcohol. I assumed this was because one of them was only available to those over 21.
But essentially, it seems there are very few weed dealers left, other than two types: pot-heads who sell to a circle of friends to subsidise their own smoking, or people who sell harder drugs (in my experiences: cocaine) and have a bit of weed on the side but don't focus on it.
Cocaine on the other hand... I've had friends who sell it (not in a "I became friends with a dealer" way, but just people who I found out deal unrelated to how I knew them), and there is a lot of money to be made there, even selling fairly small quantities. It's been a few months since I've had a conversation on this topic, but afaik it's still the case, even with people who sell to a few dozen people, mostly small quantities, can make a hell of a living from it.
All that said, it's possible my knowledge is from a fairly affluent middle class angle (hell, the last person I met who randomly turned out to be a coke dealer was somebody who held a decent job in the PC hardware industry, though he's stopped dealing now).
Would love to know more about the economies involved (for example I've heard rough numbers of cost for cocaine from its origin in South America to UK consumers, but not in huge detail), but it's very hard to find out this sort of information without being directly involved yourself.
See, I've always wanted someone like this, but never found it. I've always found people that sell one thing only (cannabis), or maybe a couple, but not the "drug supermarket". I mean, it makes sense as the article points out, if you're going to take on a big risk you might as well not do it halfway. I probably travel in the wrong circles, to put it lightly.
Start hanging out at bars and clubs.
Colorado, maybe. Since the retail operations are not open for business yet in WA, we still don't know if retail is going to be cheaper. That's the part that worries me. I look at the tax structure (25% on each of the three players involved: grower, processor, retailer) and wonder how they're going to keep it under $100/quarter ounce.
It's happened already in WA: tax the hell out of something and then wonder why revenues dropped. A few years back WA jacked up the tobacco tax a ridiculous amount (I think a pack of smokes was like $8). Shortly after, the state complained that revenues took a dive. Duh, ya think? They raised taxes so much it was now practical to either order via the Internet (KY has smokes for $3, IIRC) or drive out of your way to the American Indian reservation.
If a quarter ounce of legal weed comes out to $150 because of taxes, this grand experiment isn't going to end well. (If someone has some hard math on what the consumer-level price might be, I'd love to be corrected on this.)