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SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

thenationaldesk.com

201–210 of 247 posts

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not based on fact? Which facts are those? Certainly not these ones I'm guessing? https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2021/01/long-term-study-r... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...

Indeed surprisingly, cannabis can have bad effects on human. This has been taken I to account in a French case where murder of an old lady was declared not responsible due to its cannabis consumption. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56929040

The handful of French nationals I know regard that case as a grotesque miscarriage of justice emblematic of the double standard by which French and EU laws essentially do not apply to third-world economic migrants.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#202
I had a vacation house up in Calaveras county (in the sierras). After pot was legalized in California, a country referendum question banned growing pot in that largely agricultural county (“You wouldn’t want that stuff growing next to your vineyard!”).

The question, and almost all of its advertising, was funded by illegal growers who didn’t want the competition.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#203
post #24

In 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.

Hate to say it but your dispensary might just be ripping you off.

I’ve searched high and low for good prices and found that even in states like CA (on average much more expensive than e.g. OR) you can find good priced bulk deals on good - not amazing but at least 6-7/10 - product. Definitely on par with the wider market’s prices. Talking about ~$150/oz.

The problem is just most dispensaries don’t want to sell this presumably because

1 it’s low margin

2 Demand for large quantities actually isn’t that high, go into a brick and mortar dispensary and usually you will wait behind someone asking really basic/newbie questions to the budtender. Which is to say, most customers are not hardcore and aren’t buying large quantities. Most customers probably don’t even know how much things “should” cost either, so no need to go super cheap.

3 It basically cannibalizes business from their much higher margin SKUs, like 1/8 oz of 9/10 quality weed.

4 It starts a race to the bottom which isn’t really where you want to be.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#204

Yes and (Adjacently): Dispensaries also need access to basic financial services. Like merchant bank accounts. In my jurisdiction, dispensaries are still cash only. Because of federal law, banks won't touch weed money. (Ironic, given how many have laundered cartel monies.) IIRC, there's been security problems. Like stick-up robberies. Which increases risks and costs (more security). I know people working on weed polic…

I had a business plan to fix this but it was hard to get it funded, even by the heavy investors in the legal pot business, because of fear of the feds. It’s a shame because it broke no banking laws according to my lawyers, but of course the feds can lean on the big funds.

The short answer was to do all the banking in Canadian dollars where it’s entirely legal. Independent of pot, Canadian banking laws are set up for these sorts of arrangements while the US banking system is far more conservative.

Drop me a note if you are interested in giving it a try and I can tell you more.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#205
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to congratulate drugs for winning the war on drugs. The surrendering party should have unconditionally surrendered, but have chosen to fight it to the grave.

Release all prisoners of war and pay reparations? Or just move onto the next authoritarian power grab like it never happened?

As more Americans of all stripes are buying firearms, it looks like a war on guns is next. I wish the bigwigs would learn....

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#206
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't they take payment apps? Also if the illegal competition is that much cheaper, not being more convenient is one more point against them.

I doubt most take payment apps. I'm sure most are savvy enough to know their transactions are being monitored.

Dealers take payment apps. Nobody cares. Dealers and consumers don't care. DA isn't looking for consumers (for now, ideally the clock runs out before a future DA cares). Everyone knows there is a record. The apps don't care, as long as you don't literally say "FOR DRUGS LOLLZ" in the notes section, but apps and actual banks really don't care (about anything) they just want to maintain relationships with other banks and the national government, who care less and less. Try not to be in a circumstance where that kind of data matters to anyone who would respond to someone else's attempts to blackmail or extort you, the less people care the less effective the data is. Almost half of Congress is willing to liberate banks from pretending to care about this and they represent a vast majority of the population, so the flippening is coming.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its more than that. I have a few dispensarys in CA and the experience is shit. The places are loaded with cash because they cant legally accept credit or debit cards. So you have to bring cash or use their ATM and get charged a withdrawal fee. This also means they are targets for robbery so security at these places is crazy with guards, waiting rooms and check points. This meeans you have to wait upwards of 20 minu…

It's wild hearing that in other countries drug dealers still accept cash and meet people in person. Although prices for practically everything are way higher here (10g would cost you about 200$ or more), the convenience of using bitcoin and not having to meet a single soul to make a purchase at any hour of the day still outweighs it for me.

> not having to meet a single soul

Then how do you get your weed? Teleporter?

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#208
post #197

Yes and (Adjacently): Dispensaries also need access to basic financial services. Like merchant bank accounts. In my jurisdiction, dispensaries are still cash only. Because of federal law, banks won't touch weed money. (Ironic, given how many have laundered cartel monies.) IIRC, there's been security problems. Like stick-up robberies. Which increases risks and costs (more security). I know people working on weed polic…

Yeah it's weird, at my dispensary in WA they do have some setup where you can pay with a (debit) card but in addition to a $3 service fee they also for some reason have to round up to the nearest multiple of $5 and give you cash back.

The fees and rounding are because in a roundabout way, they're still just using cash. They just have a portable ATM terminal -- if you check your transactions it will probably show up as an ATM withdrawal. That's also why they also only accept debit cards.

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt most take payment apps. I'm sure most are savvy enough to know their transactions are being monitored.

Dealers take payment apps. Nobody cares. Dealers and consumers don't care. DA isn't looking for consumers (for now, ideally the clock runs out before a future DA cares). Everyone knows there is a record. The apps don't care, as long as you don't literally say "FOR DRUGS LOLLZ" in the notes section, but apps and actual banks really don't care (about anything) they just want to maintain relationships with other banks a…

Let's hope!

Re: SF suspends cannabis tax to help dispensaries compete with drug dealers

#210
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is that the legalization of the weed business was a deliberate choice to shift revenue streams away from black people and toward white people.

Most people who supported it said it was to get away from the deliberate imprisonment of black people who didn’t deserve criminal penalties for casual drug use. So I guess the question is, which is the worse conspiracy?

The USA has a long history of taking any industry in which black people are amassing wealth, power, or status, and stealing or destroying it. You can't maintain an intelligent, hard-working group as an underclass for multiple generations without deliberate action and sabotage each and every time advances are made.

It's nothing new, just the latest installment. See also: music (jazz, rock, rap, techno, motown), Tulsa, civil rights, etc.

Get too big or powerful, and it'll be outlawed, stolen, or you'll simply be killed outright. This is the pattern in the USA.

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