9 ms·

Statistically, and in my experience, drug dealing is not a violent crime. They're not going to start knocking over convenience stores. Some of them might scrape

by sethrin 13y ago

Statistically, and in my experience, drug dealing is not a violent crime. They're not going to start knocking over convenience stores. Some of them might scrape together enough capital to start a retail store. Prices and profits are going to take a long time to fall, so most of them will just keep doing what they're doing, except with a little less risk, and they'll be able to keep their cash in a bank, and theoretically pay taxes on it. If things reach the point where it's not really profitable any more, then those people will have to get a real job. The idea that they will turn to some other criminal pursuit...yeesh. It's like you've never even met any dealers. Imagine that tomorrow, the government made your job illegal. Would you be like, "Well, that does it. I guess I'd better start brushing up on my raping, murdering, and insider trading," or would you maybe not go all-out breaking whatever laws you could? It may shock you to realize that because the hypothetical dealer is breaking the law in one respect, he is best served by not breaking the law in any other respect, in order to not draw attention to himself. Lastly, we don't have to speculate what will happen, there are countries which have decriminalized drug use -- US states too. Marijuana has been decriminalized in Alaska for almost 40 years, although no one seems to know this. The sky has stubbornly refused to fall.

jiggy2011 13y ago
Perhaps there is the odd hippie selling homegrown ganja out of his greenhouse who has never been in a fight in his life, but drug gangs control a massive amount of the trade from production to distribution and are certainly happy to use violence if required. Violence may not be required however in cases where everyone is already scared witless of them. Drug crime and other crime go hand in hand. If you legalize drugs completely , then serious businesses run by people with MBAs , Venture capital, marketing teams, legal departments etc come into the game. Rather than street level violence, battles are not fought in patent courts and with government lobbying. Those who are currently dealing drugs don't know how to play this game and will lose. They can't go and get a straight job because they have no provable work history, probably a criminal record and few contacts outside of the "underworld". They also have become accustomed to a lifestyle of nice cars and (possibly multiple) high maintenance girlfriends, so McDonalds isn't going to cut it. So they will look for other lucrative opportunities where the MBAs don't want to compete with them (because it is illegal).
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  - jiggy2011 13y ago
    The skills required to run a legal drugs business are almost entirely different to those required to run an illegal drugs business. If you run "the happy weed co", violent uneducated thugs are the last people you want doing your customer service. If this were the case , former drug dealers would be being offered jobs as pharma reps.
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      - jiggy2011 13y ago
        True, some are nerdy high school drop outs or illegal immigrants.
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    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > The skills required to run a legal drugs business are almost entirely different to those required to run an illegal drugs business. Which, incidentally, doesn't stop at the lower-level employees but goes the whole way to the top, and is one reason it is quite likely that the "newly legal mary jane barons" won't be the same as the pre-legalization illegal barons, they'll be existing ag/pharma megacorps, who are set up to do what a legal business in the field will need to do (including already being plugged in with the applicable regulatory bodies.)
- sethrin 13y ago
  "Perhaps there is the odd hippie selling homegrown ganja out of his greenhouse who has never been in a fight in his life..." You don't know what you're talking about. "Drug crime and other crime go hand in hand." [Citation Needed] "Those who are currently dealing drugs don't know how to play this game and will lose." And then get a real job. "They can't go and get a straight job because they have no provable work history, probably a criminal record and few contacts outside of the "underworld". They also have become accustomed to a lifestyle of nice cars and (possibly multiple) high maintenance girlfriends, so McDonalds isn't going to cut it." You have no idea what you're talking about. The margins are not that high. Your image of drug dealers applies to an extremely small minority. You must only know what these people are like from TV.

by sethrin 13y ago

jiggy2011 13y ago

Perhaps there is the odd hippie selling homegrown ganja out of his greenhouse who has never been in a fight in his life, but drug gangs control a massive amount of the trade from production to distribution and are certainly happy to use violence if required. Violence may not be required however in cases where everyone is already scared witless of them. Drug crime and other crime go hand in hand. If you legalize drugs completely , then serious businesses run by people with MBAs , Venture capital, marketing teams, legal departments etc come into the game. Rather than street level violence, battles are not fought in patent courts and with government lobbying. Those who are currently dealing drugs don't know how to play this game and will lose. They can't go and get a straight job because they have no provable work history, probably a criminal record and few contacts outside of the "underworld". They also have become accustomed to a lifestyle of nice cars and (possibly multiple) high maintenance girlfriends, so McDonalds isn't going to cut it. So they will look for other lucrative opportunities where the MBAs don't want to compete with them (because it is illegal).

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- jiggy2011 13y ago
  The skills required to run a legal drugs business are almost entirely different to those required to run an illegal drugs business. If you run "the happy weed co", violent uneducated thugs are the last people you want doing your customer service. If this were the case , former drug dealers would be being offered jobs as pharma reps.
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    - jiggy2011 13y ago
      True, some are nerdy high school drop outs or illegal immigrants.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > The skills required to run a legal drugs business are almost entirely different to those required to run an illegal drugs business. Which, incidentally, doesn't stop at the lower-level employees but goes the whole way to the top, and is one reason it is quite likely that the "newly legal mary jane barons" won't be the same as the pre-legalization illegal barons, they'll be existing ag/pharma megacorps, who are set up to do what a legal business in the field will need to do (including already being plugged in with the applicable regulatory bodies.)
sethrin 13y ago
"Perhaps there is the odd hippie selling homegrown ganja out of his greenhouse who has never been in a fight in his life..." You don't know what you're talking about. "Drug crime and other crime go hand in hand." [Citation Needed] "Those who are currently dealing drugs don't know how to play this game and will lose." And then get a real job. "They can't go and get a straight job because they have no provable work history, probably a criminal record and few contacts outside of the "underworld". They also have become accustomed to a lifestyle of nice cars and (possibly multiple) high maintenance girlfriends, so McDonalds isn't going to cut it." You have no idea what you're talking about. The margins are not that high. Your image of drug dealers applies to an extremely small minority. You must only know what these people are like from TV.