Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits • Hacker News Board

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#161

Post by wildmusings » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:10 AM UTC

jqm wrote: post #122

wildmusings wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's how I look at it: it's a trade-off like any other. There are people with unsustainable work practices in every job. It could be long hours, little sleep, performance enhancing drugs, etc. If it makes them deliver better work, they'll get rewarded for it in their career, but they're most certainly suffering consequences elsewhere. Family strain, health problems, emotional drain, loneliness. The temptation is st…

That's an interesting perspective and I hadn't really considered it like that. But I believe there is a reasonable point at which people should not be expected to go beyond because it becomes ultimately too harmful for them (ok... maybe that's not our business) and society which has to deal with the fallout (very much our business). Its why we have labor laws. Laws on how long truck drivers can drive without sleeping…

You have a good point, especially for low skill jobs that people often don't have the luxury of walking away from, because they need the money to pay the rent and put food on the table. I find myself increasingly favoring a basic income (but only along with abolishing the bulk of the regulatory and welfare state), which I think would address the concerns that you raise. No one would be compelled to stay in a job by hunger, only ambition.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#162

Post by Karunamon » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:10 AM UTC

Mz wrote: post #61

pcl wrote: post #5

The cartels, of course, are adapting to the new reality. Seizure data appears to indicate that with marijuana profits tumbling, they're switching over to heroin and meth. This is a really interesting development. There's always been this "gateway drug" argument around pot: once people start with marijuana, they'll move onto the harder stuff. I can imagine that there might be a correlation, but I expect that the causa…

There's always been this "gateway drug" argument around pot I have studied ...bunches of stuff. And I believe a huge factor is the fact that marijuana is illegal , so you cross an important legal threshold when you try it and that can become a slippery slope. I think details like that probably matter more than the substance per se. Addiction is hard to solve in part due to shame and all kinds of social reinforcement.…

And I believe a huge factor is the fact that marijuana is illegal, so you cross an important legal threshold

I've always thought the "gateway drug" nonsense was, in part, due to the realization someone has that they've been blatantly, bald-fadedly lied to about drugs for most of their life. (DARE bangs on about cannabis like it was injecting heroin and PCP with dirty needles!)

And the next thought from there, naturally, is "Okay, now what else were they making up?

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#163

Post by oldsj » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:31 AM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #128

tamana wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would happen to those rankings of meth and heroin were sold at every grocery store? Alcohol takes a lot of blame because it is the most accessible and cheapest drug.

Methamphetamine is sold at grocery stores (Safeway, Target, several others), at least according to a quick search: http://www.goodrx.com/desoxyn?drug-name=desoxyn

Wow its not even masked under a different name, just straight methamphetamine for sale

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#164

Post by mkching » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:41 AM UTC

eru wrote: post #134

eli wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the default is that anyone can be fired for any reason. A company is free to fire an employee who has legally smoked cigarettes too (if they wish).

I thought you could fire in America for `no reason', but not for `any reason'. Ie you can't fire people for being white or female?

There are certain things such as race and gender which are protected classes. It is illegal to discriminate against someone based on these attributes in various ways including employment. [1]

Beyond this, most employment in the US is "at-will", meaning that you can be fired for any reason or no reason. [2]

Some things not explicitly listed as a protected class might still pose problems if its determined that the way in which is it enforced is discriminatory. [3]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment [3] http://navbat.com/can-you-fire-someone-for-being-too-ugly/

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#165

Post by krashidov » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:42 AM UTC

winter_blue wrote: post #62

anon987 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's to hoping people realize and deal with the real gateway drug: Prescription opiates

Opioids are actually much less harmful than other stuff, even alcohol. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, i.e. it literally kills brain cells. On the other hand, everyone's bodies produces opioids naturally. Endorphins are opioids, and the rush you get when you work out at a gym, is you getting mildly high on the natural opioid, endorphin (whose name is short for "endogenous morphine"). Synthetic and natural opioids have the s…

Alcohol does not kill brain cells. This is a common myth.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#166

Post by chei0aiV » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:44 AM UTC

gregpilling wrote: post #149

School-Cotton wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people (at least from the Southwest) know about this; otherwise Donald Trump's desire to "build a wall" would be incoherent.

I am surprised by the number of Tucson, AZ residents (where I live) that think there already is a large wall, all across the USA. You certainly see a large wall in Nogales, AZ/ Nogales SON. It is only there for the TV cameras, since a few miles out of town it is back to dual strand barbed wire cattle fence. Everybody who lives within a few miles either side of the border knows this - people in Tucson 60 miles away ar…

Aren't borders such silly concepts?

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#167

Post by wildmusings » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:46 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #142

chrishynes wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A manufacturer or distributor selling guns "off the books" is already highly illegal. Anyone doing that will incur a fat stack of felonies. Are you unaware of that? Or proposing that we make it even more illegal?

Here are the first two results in a 20 second web search I just did. I don’t have the weeks of free time it would take to make a comprehensive research report on this subject (feel free to do that as an exercise, I’d love to read your final document), but needless to say, the current level of gun registration and tracking in this country is nowhere near as complete as the tracking of e.g. automobiles. The Wikipedia a…

I hope that we never have national gun registration in the US. Just recently, California passed a law allowing the police to confiscate your firearms on the sole basis of a family member's or ex's claim that you're a danger to yourself or someone else. For 21 days, you don't even get a chance to defend yourself. The confiscation and ban of gun ownership can then be extended for one year, without a conviction for a single crime.

You also have politicians all over the country who openly admit that they would ban and confiscate all guns if they could. You have half of the Supreme Court willfully misreading the Second Amendment as giving no rights to people, only to states.

It's easy to see where this is going. Everyone who values their right to keep and bear arms will fight tooth and nail against any national registration proposal.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#168

Post by such_a_casual » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:54 AM UTC

xzel wrote: post #151

such_a_casual wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The true price of weed is like $1/gram.

Depends how its grown. RAND estimated somewhere around "225 per pound for a successful, wellmanaged operation, plus in-kind contribution of labor...". This was done in 2010 and so its a little outdated now but still a great read. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/201...

There's 450 grams in a pound. 225/450 = $0.50/gram.

But that number and mine is nonsense. I was being generous in order not to shock anyone. Look up the price to grow crops like corn, cotton, etc. It's < $500/acre. Per acre. When cannabis is grown like every other crop it becomes dirt cheap. Great cannabis does not need to be grown indoors. Great weed is grown outdoors on the west coast all the time.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#169

Post by alexbecker » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 5:58 AM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #128

tamana wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would happen to those rankings of meth and heroin were sold at every grocery store? Alcohol takes a lot of blame because it is the most accessible and cheapest drug.

Methamphetamine is sold at grocery stores (Safeway, Target, several others), at least according to a quick search: http://www.goodrx.com/desoxyn?drug-name=desoxyn

This is misleading; it's sold at grocery store pharmacies, but only with a prescription. As a Schedule II drug the controls are much tighter than normal drugs, including strict regulations on who can prescribe such drugs and secondary verification for new prescriptions. In NY (and soon more states), they can only be prescribed electronically using approved security measures.

Re: Legal marijuana is taking a bite out of drug cartels' profits

#170

Post by rdtsc » Mon, Mar 07, 2016, 6:15 AM UTC

facetube wrote: post #140

School-Cotton wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people (at least from the Southwest) know about this; otherwise Donald Trump's desire to "build a wall" would be incoherent.

Donald Trump's desire to "build a wall" is incoherent.

His desire is coherent and certainly appeals to millions of Americans.

Whether it is realistic, plausable, beneficial, cost effective, or just plain stupid is another question.