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> Here in Oz the banning of disposable nicotine vapes has led to an increase in organised crime activity. That organized crime already existed and this is just

> Here in Oz the banning of disposable nicotine vapes has led to an increase in organised crime activity. That organized crime already existed and this is just one of a dozen or so income streams for them. Hard drugs, human trafficking, and money laundering are probably orders of magnitude more profitable. Also: people get murdered all the time, despite it being illegal. Clearly the law isn't working, so let's make murder legal! /s Oh, and legalizing weed didn't do jack shit about dealers selling weed; the dealers are much cheaper, provide better service, and often better product (well, except the illicit stuff is likely to have much higher pesticide content.)

Duwensatzaj 2y ago
> Oh, and legalizing weed didn't do jack shit about dealers selling weed This isn’t universal. Oregon estimates roughly 80% of marijuana purchases are through legal sources nowadays. The real issue the state sees now is apparently illegal grow farms to supply other states that haven’t legalized or where the taxes are too high. Source: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/14/oregon-marijuana-legalization-black-market-enforcement-527012 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/14/oregon-mar...
- Spivak 2y ago
  People really don't want to believe that "just make it legal" actually works for some reason. There's primary and secondary industry in organized crime and cutting off the primary starves the secondary. A drug policy that makes it so that nobody who does party drugs has contact with a dealer breaks the entire supply chain because there's no outside money coming in.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    "just make it legal" has unintended consequences. The cartels, faced with the loss of income from illegally selling now-legal weed didn't starve. they didn't go "oh, hey, I guess we should stop being criminals". No, they pivoted to heroin which turned into dealing fentanyl with disastrous results for the US. We'll keep losing the war on drugs until we start fighting it with community assistance programs and jobs and houses and doctors and therapists.
trissylegs 2y ago
Also just other types of tabacco. Either untaxed loose leaf or cheap cigarettes from overseas.

Duwensatzaj 2y ago

> Oh, and legalizing weed didn't do jack shit about dealers selling weed This isn’t universal. Oregon estimates roughly 80% of marijuana purchases are through legal sources nowadays. The real issue the state sees now is apparently illegal grow farms to supply other states that haven’t legalized or where the taxes are too high. Source: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/14/oregon-marijuana-legalization-black-market-enforcement-527012 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/14/oregon-mar...

Spivak 2y ago
People really don't want to believe that "just make it legal" actually works for some reason. There's primary and secondary industry in organized crime and cutting off the primary starves the secondary. A drug policy that makes it so that nobody who does party drugs has contact with a dealer breaks the entire supply chain because there's no outside money coming in.
- fragmede 2y ago
  "just make it legal" has unintended consequences. The cartels, faced with the loss of income from illegally selling now-legal weed didn't starve. they didn't go "oh, hey, I guess we should stop being criminals". No, they pivoted to heroin which turned into dealing fentanyl with disastrous results for the US. We'll keep losing the war on drugs until we start fighting it with community assistance programs and jobs and houses and doctors and therapists.

trissylegs 2y ago

Also just other types of tabacco. Either untaxed loose leaf or cheap cigarettes from overseas.