5 ms·

It might be true they don't work but do we really want the likes of Big Heroin, Big Cocaine and Big Marijuana like we have Big Tobacco? That would be a disaster

It might be true they don't work but do we really want the likes of Big Heroin, Big Cocaine and Big Marijuana like we have Big Tobacco? That would be a disaster. I think it would have to be totally government run to avoid that extreme danger. I wouldn't even want it to be possible for the government to get any tax revenue from it. Perhaps all the profits could go to an addiction prevention charity. Probably politically impossible though.

kaeluka 12y ago
What's wrong about state run/controlled? Just like you control pharmacies.
- a3n 12y ago
  Some states, like Washington, control liquor. It may have changed since I left, but you had to buy liquor in a state-run store from a state employee.
  - delecti 12y ago
    I don't know when you left, but it has changed since. Liquor taxes are still quite high though.
privong 12y ago
> It might be true they don't work but do we really want the likes of Big Heroin, Big Cocaine and Big Marijuana like we have Big Tobacco? That would certainly be better than what we have now. Big Tobacco does not kill people in turf wars over who gets to sell where, so I think Big Heroin would be an improvement over cartels and gangs. Maybe it is not the perfect solution, but Big Cocaine is likely going to be better than warring black market factions. An issue with the government running it or taxing it like crazy is that behavior can still support a black market due to artificially high prices. There's a black market for cigarettes in NYC[0], driven by the high taxes. The government running things is not a silver bullet. [0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/cigarette-smuggling-new-york-_n_5041823.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/cigarette-smuggling...
- knowaveragejoe 12y ago
  But, by the same token, do we want Big Heroin/Cocaine/Marijuana pumping money into marketing efforts that pull all the right levers with vulnerable demographics?
  - MarkMc 12y ago
    No, we don't, but laws can be very effective at destroying such marketing efforts. When I was a kid I saw cigarette advertising on billboards and at cricket matches. Now you can't even see a cigarette brand logo on a cigarette packet.
sferoze 12y ago
You might not have to worry about "Big Marijuana", as it seems much easier to grow your own Marijuana then it is to make your own cigarettes. There would be so much competition between big and small companies who are selling it. The following article was written in 2011 but I still think it makes an interesting point about the business of growing and selling marijuana vs tobacco. "Why is marijuana banned and cigarettes legal? There are two reasons. They are the same two reasons why marijuana will never be legalized. Money and horticulture. Approximately 20% of the population smokes, just over 40 million adults. That is tens of millions of dollars a day in local, state, and federal taxes. The government has a captured cash cow in cigarette smokers. People cannot just grow tobacco and manufacture their own cigarettes. Tobacco is a land, labor, and time intensive crop. After it is harvested it must be cured, aged, and dried in a specific manner. It would take a good sized plot of land, a lot of work, and about a year and a half for you to produce a few cartons of cigarettes. You need more than one plot of land as tobacco depletes soil and the crop must be rotated, or you must invest in expensive fertilizer and nutrient mixes. You cannot easily or economically grow tobacco to make cigarettes for personal consumption. Marijuana, on the other hand, can be cultivated anyplace. You can grow enough in pots to continually supply you and your friends. If you have enough space you can turn it into a cash crop. All you need are seeds or plantings, and in a short time you can fly higher than a kite. Anyone, anyplace can grow marijuana. And they do. The government cannot control, regulate, or easily tax pot. This is why marijuana will never be legalized. There is no way to make it a commercially viable and profitable product and no way to effectively tax it." Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/middle-class-guy/2011/oct/8/cigarettes-versus-marijuana/#ixzz3Hp9T5TTy http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/middle-c... Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
- maxerickson 12y ago
  The tobacco taxes aren't that huge a source of revenue: http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-tobacco-tax-revenue-percentage-total-state-local-tax-revenue http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-tobacco-tax-revenue... Significant, but not huge. Federal seems to be around 0.6% (the way I rounded, should be somewhere close to but lower than that).

kaeluka 12y ago

What's wrong about state run/controlled? Just like you control pharmacies.

a3n 12y ago
Some states, like Washington, control liquor. It may have changed since I left, but you had to buy liquor in a state-run store from a state employee.
- delecti 12y ago
  I don't know when you left, but it has changed since. Liquor taxes are still quite high though.

privong 12y ago

> It might be true they don't work but do we really want the likes of Big Heroin, Big Cocaine and Big Marijuana like we have Big Tobacco? That would certainly be better than what we have now. Big Tobacco does not kill people in turf wars over who gets to sell where, so I think Big Heroin would be an improvement over cartels and gangs. Maybe it is not the perfect solution, but Big Cocaine is likely going to be better than warring black market factions. An issue with the government running it or taxing it like crazy is that behavior can still support a black market due to artificially high prices. There's a black market for cigarettes in NYC[0], driven by the high taxes. The government running things is not a silver bullet. [0] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/cigarette-smuggling-new-york-_n_5041823.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/cigarette-smuggling...

knowaveragejoe 12y ago
But, by the same token, do we want Big Heroin/Cocaine/Marijuana pumping money into marketing efforts that pull all the right levers with vulnerable demographics?
- MarkMc 12y ago
  No, we don't, but laws can be very effective at destroying such marketing efforts. When I was a kid I saw cigarette advertising on billboards and at cricket matches. Now you can't even see a cigarette brand logo on a cigarette packet.

sferoze 12y ago

You might not have to worry about "Big Marijuana", as it seems much easier to grow your own Marijuana then it is to make your own cigarettes. There would be so much competition between big and small companies who are selling it. The following article was written in 2011 but I still think it makes an interesting point about the business of growing and selling marijuana vs tobacco. "Why is marijuana banned and cigarettes legal? There are two reasons. They are the same two reasons why marijuana will never be legalized. Money and horticulture. Approximately 20% of the population smokes, just over 40 million adults. That is tens of millions of dollars a day in local, state, and federal taxes. The government has a captured cash cow in cigarette smokers. People cannot just grow tobacco and manufacture their own cigarettes. Tobacco is a land, labor, and time intensive crop. After it is harvested it must be cured, aged, and dried in a specific manner. It would take a good sized plot of land, a lot of work, and about a year and a half for you to produce a few cartons of cigarettes. You need more than one plot of land as tobacco depletes soil and the crop must be rotated, or you must invest in expensive fertilizer and nutrient mixes. You cannot easily or economically grow tobacco to make cigarettes for personal consumption. Marijuana, on the other hand, can be cultivated anyplace. You can grow enough in pots to continually supply you and your friends. If you have enough space you can turn it into a cash crop. All you need are seeds or plantings, and in a short time you can fly higher than a kite. Anyone, anyplace can grow marijuana. And they do. The government cannot control, regulate, or easily tax pot. This is why marijuana will never be legalized. There is no way to make it a commercially viable and profitable product and no way to effectively tax it." Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/middle-class-guy/2011/oct/8/cigarettes-versus-marijuana/#ixzz3Hp9T5TTy http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/middle-c... Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter

maxerickson 12y ago
The tobacco taxes aren't that huge a source of revenue: http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-tobacco-tax-revenue-percentage-total-state-local-tax-revenue http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-tobacco-tax-revenue... Significant, but not huge. Federal seems to be around 0.6% (the way I rounded, should be somewhere close to but lower than that).