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But it was used as a selling point. "Make it legal and tax it, win win!" "Once you do that the cartels lose!" Seems like another lie, cartels can now launder

But it was used as a selling point. "Make it legal and tax it, win win!" "Once you do that the cartels lose!" Seems like another lie, cartels can now launder product and expand reach. I say all this as someone who does not care what people inhale or ingest. But look at it from the point of view of the teetotalers and bureaucracy. It looks like a fucking mess and now we are being told that we should do the same for heroin to reduce fentenal deaths... I don't have a solution but I am not sure more of the same is gonna help at all.

ghaff 7y ago
>But it was used as a selling point. Yes. That's pretty much what I said. A lot of those using it as a selling point didn't actually care that much about the benefits to the state of a new taxation stream. That said, I'm willing to believe that a lot of people assumed that people were willing to pay a lot more to go with a vetted legal source (or would only go with a vetted legal source) than has, in fact turned out to be the case. There's at least some evidence I've read that suggests legalization hasn't led to a lot of increased use. If that's the case, it's reasonable to assume a lot of users already knew how to acquire pot in the black market and don't see a lot of reason to start spending more to go legal.
- themaninthedark 7y ago
  Sorry, I somehow misread what you were saying. That is interesting if legalization has not increased use by much, I would have thought there would be an increase. Any trend on underage use? Kids no longer think it's cool due to parents? I hope that the effort for federal legalization succeeds but I think there are people looking at this and seeing that the negatives are not being negated but instead amplified.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    There's conflicting data out there and it's a relatively short time since a lot of states legalized. Uncoolness has been suggested with medical marijuana possibly even further accentuating a shift. I guess, to the degree that usage hasn't gone up all that much, one can imagine a number of explanations. Regular users already had their sources. Sure, there are older, probably wealthier, people who don't mind a sometimes smoke or edible but also weren't willing to risk buying it illegally. But I imagine this group are mostly pretty light users.

ghaff 7y ago

>But it was used as a selling point. Yes. That's pretty much what I said. A lot of those using it as a selling point didn't actually care that much about the benefits to the state of a new taxation stream. That said, I'm willing to believe that a lot of people assumed that people were willing to pay a lot more to go with a vetted legal source (or would only go with a vetted legal source) than has, in fact turned out to be the case. There's at least some evidence I've read that suggests legalization hasn't led to a lot of increased use. If that's the case, it's reasonable to assume a lot of users already knew how to acquire pot in the black market and don't see a lot of reason to start spending more to go legal.

themaninthedark 7y ago
Sorry, I somehow misread what you were saying. That is interesting if legalization has not increased use by much, I would have thought there would be an increase. Any trend on underage use? Kids no longer think it's cool due to parents? I hope that the effort for federal legalization succeeds but I think there are people looking at this and seeing that the negatives are not being negated but instead amplified.
- ghaff 7y ago
  There's conflicting data out there and it's a relatively short time since a lot of states legalized. Uncoolness has been suggested with medical marijuana possibly even further accentuating a shift. I guess, to the degree that usage hasn't gone up all that much, one can imagine a number of explanations. Regular users already had their sources. Sure, there are older, probably wealthier, people who don't mind a sometimes smoke or edible but also weren't willing to risk buying it illegally. But I imagine this group are mostly pretty light users.