The downside(s) of legal marijuana?

When and if marijuana is made legal, won't it be controlled by pharmeceutical companies and pharmacies? Won't this bring about a crazy increase in price like all other drugs? Tell me what you guys think.

I haven't ever been busted, and my pot is moderately priced. If someone is smart enough not to get caught, I can see why they'd not mind marijuana being illegal. It works good enough for me.

But, again, lets hear what you have to say!

 

thats the most unfounded fear you could have about legalizing marijuana. do pharmaceutical manufacturers or druggists control tobacco? of course not. you'll never see pfizer cigarettes on any pharmacy's shelves. and tobacco is something that not anyone could just grow in their closet or back yard in quantities sufficient for personal consumption, especially considering the fact that on top of learning how to grow tobacco the people would still have to learn about different lengthy, tedious and specialized curing methods used to prepare tobacco for consumption.

you don't see pharmacies selling booze, either.

marijauna would be impossible to tie down and get controlled by any companies whatsoever, unless they happened to mass produce joints or really good pot - and then it would still be entirely optional to buy from them or not. after all, marijuana is (relatively) easily produced by anyone who sets their mind to it, and growing it is the hard part, not preparing it. the actual product that you desire can contain seeds (not if its real quality, of course) but either way the seeds are very easily obtainable and very easily produced for the homegrower - even when it's illegal. if it were legal, it would be all the greater incentive for people to grow it themselves, and all the more incentive for specialized grow shops to pop up and for headshops to start carrying quality seeds instead of no seeds.

commercially produced pot (if it were allowed if pot were legalized - it may not be) would definitely be an option, but theres simply no way that it would control all the marijuana supply in the country.

 

yeah, i had a pretty similar attitude when i was 16. its luck and chance as much as being "smart" that you haven't gotten caught, and when you're 45 and have smoked your entire life without the tiniest close call or bust, THEN maybe you can start talking about how you're "smart enough" to not get busted. i'd guess you've been smoking at most around 2 or 3 years, unless you were a rather frighteningly young kid when you started smoking. it seems people are getting younger and younger, i suppose.

i think you'll be singing a different tune after you've had a few close calls or you get busted through no blatant fault of your own, or even just when you're 18 and have to start taking real responsibility for it if you get cought breaking the law.

 

wow.

that was probably the harshest thing ive heard all day.

i was only trying to stimulate conversation, but i guess some people cant tell a point from an editorial

 

and all i was doing was furthering the conversation.

i suppose i just can't fathom the idea of a smoker who supports keeping marijuana illegal, especially when there is not a single good thing they could get out of it (unless you're under 18, because if it's illegal anyhow no dealer's going to card you)

i'm not that much older than you man, but it just seemed like there were some very good very strong points that you needed to hear that maybe you haven't considered.

 

Just sounds a bit self centered, not taking into account all the ramifications of it being illegal, including all the folks who 'might not be smart enough' as you say who wind up in prison away from their loved ones. Kids growing up without a mom or dad or both, forced into state custody/mind rape, etc..... But, I guess the bottom-line from where an individual such as yourself would be the cold hard cash? Or would you start screaming 'legalize it' as soon as they slap the cuffs on your ass?

....or maybe you meant it differently?

 

well this case actually is not going to happen.
see if it becomes mass produced then it will be incredibly cheap.
this is because if the price of this marijuana is more expenive that street dealers are willing to sell, then people will of course have the choice between dealer or commerical. but if its cheaper than the street pric,e, and potent enough, then there would be no reason to get weed supplied by commercil companies, and street dealers wouldnt be able to work.

this raises a differnet issue however in that marijuana would be incredibly cheap, and potent

 

Unless the government allows an exemption to grow in your home for personal use, I wouldn't support legalization at all.

Regulation sucks. They'll simply diminish quality like they did with tobacco.

 

See, thats exactly my point. It'll probably be taxed and made shitty if its made legal. Morphine is used as medicine, but you can't just GROW opium poppies in your back yard.

Thanks for clearing that up, nesta. No offense taken after all.

 

actually, you CAN grow opium poppies in your yard, and many, many people do. you can buy seed packets even in garden and grocery stores. its just that almost no one uses them for opium anyway, so no one cares. plus its the type of poppy whose seed is used in food, and the pods are often used in crafts such as flower arangements and dried floral wreaths and such. so it stands to reason there's a good number of poppy FARMS in the usa, as well. but thats sort of beside the point.

no matter what the regulations, there's no possible WAY for you to stop people from growing at home, the marijuana seeds are just way too easy to obtain. so even if its illegal to grow your own, people still would be able to easily, and it would be far less likely to be cought anyway, because behaviors like blatant pot smoking wouldn't necessarily draw attention. besides, just because the standard cigarettes at the gas station suck doesn't mean there aren't specialty tobacco stores and ordering services and such, theres still the option of higher quality if you want to pay more, just like it already is with marijuana. i would imagine even though most commercial pot WILL be low quality mids most likely, there would still be a big enough demand for high quality pot that it would also be available if you want to go out of your way to get it.

 

it doesnt take much to be smart. in my book, drug smarts is a fair combination of experience, book smarts, and street smarts. if one can keep from arousing any suspicion, then i dont see what they have to fear from it being illegal.

and yes, i usually dont have a lot of money on hand (like a lot of people i know), so bigger prices would be a thorn in our collective sides

 

the poppy seeds you see in plant stores are sterilized to not produce any opium. and i suppose you could grow them if you really were determined, but my point is that even though it's used for medicine, it's still a controlled substance

 

the seeds in the grocery are sometimes roasted to prevent germination, however mccormick's (one of the largest spice companies in the us) brand poppy seeds have often been grown out to full, mature plants. despite claims on behalf of the company, i've heard tell they aren't quite as low alkaloid as they're said to be bred to be. they are still Papaver somniferum, and still produce usable opium. of course, you're more likely to get good opium from strains such as hens and chicks, gigantheum, etc. and these are the varieties most often used by folks who want to actually harvest the flowers once they're grown, yet many of these varieties are still grown widely as ornamental garden plants, so you can easily get away with it. things that don't produce usable opium are more along the lines of things like oriental poppies, etc. that are not of the species Papaver somniferum, and things called poppies which aren't poppies at all, such as the california poppy.

but at garden stores (and even some all-purpose stores such as meijers or walmart) you can buy Papaver somniferum seeds in packets alongside begonia, tomato, and morning glory seeds. morning glory seeds are a whole nother story as well, of course....

 

i see

interesting

 

Like nesta was saying, pot is really easy to grow and it requires no curing process, if you don't want to buy the theoretically higher priced manufactured joints; then just grow your own.

And about the popies, opium producing flowers grow all over my area and you can buy seeds at the local Wal-mart

 

If it's the prices your worried about, if it were legal, you could grow your own, or make enough money to buy it.
Marijuana (and other drugs) being illegal, is hypocritical(sp) to "free country". Yet they could find it in their hearts to re-legalize liquor, How is it any different?

 

i dont think weed would be controlled by pharmeceutical companies anyway because, unlike other medications, herbal meds and plants cannot be copywrited. so, one company could not controle the market which would cause compitition between companys and drive the price lower and lower. there would not be much money in weed as a pharmeceutical.

 

wow. you guys were totally right. it would more likely be sold in boxes like tea. i just hope they dont start taxing the shit out of it even more than alcohol and cigarettes are. Tax class J my fookin eye

this makes so much more sense now. good talk, everyone. thats a wrap!

 

i post thisexact post all the time cept just about gov control not drug companeys. i think it would be good for people who have a hard time finding pot or good pot. but for people who have a good dealer i dont think it would be too great. the new decrim law is good enough for me

 

i know its an entirely different country and all, but haven't you guys seen pictures of some of the pot that comes out of holland? i mean, the only reason it's that good is because the dutch legalized it (well, sort of) and people had much more incentive to invest a lot of time and effort into experimenting with it and learning how to grow great pot. i really believe a similar thing would happen in america, because everyone wants good pot anyway