Pot Farmers Against Pot Legalization or, Life Becomes a Reason.tv Video
As California voters ponder whether to vote for marijuana legalization via a ballot initiative this fall, at least one group is wary of changing the legal status of cannabis: Pot growers who like the current system just fine.
If California legalizes marijuana, [black-market growers] say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state's rugged northern coast.
"The legalization of marijuana will be the single most devastating economic event in the long boom-and-bust history of Northern California," said Anna Hamilton, 62, a Humboldt County radio host and musician who said her involvement with marijuana has mostly been limited to smoking it for the past 40 years.
Legalizing any product will almost certainly reduce its price, even if you factor in a heavy vice or excise tax which will be attached to legal weed. And it will definitely encourage more people to start growing and selling pot, increasing supply and, ceteris paribus, driving down prices. So we can all understand why pot growers might be nervous at the prospect of legalization. And hopefully they can understand why their fears about competition are no more compelling than those of any producer in a free-market economy.
So how is this all like a Reason.tv video? Just watch below.
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Wah, wah. Cry me a river, ya fucking commies.
Rent-seeking: it's not just for legal businesses anymore!
Hey man, this is America. We have a right to protectionism, its like in Article 1 of the bill of amendments or something.
Just like the original tea partiers, who were pissed that a tax on tea was going away, thus threatening their bootlegging operation.
Pot growers are commies? Please explain.
They are commies for rent-seeking. And, if I can extrapolate from damaged justice's reasoning, they are probably hard-core leftists anyway, loving the oppression of the state as long as they benefit from it. I know plenty of leftist twits who can't see that the problem is the state itself, not the particular band of assholes running it at any particular point.
Could one not say the same things about Conservatard? That they are anti-gment unless it upholds their backward and myopic views of morality?
"Conservatives" who want to use the gov't to uphold their views of morality are not actually conservative. We've just been trained to think of them as such by a media that can only see two sides and an election process that provides us with only two teams to pick from: Repubs and Dems (a/k/a Coke & Pepsi).
True Conservatives recognize that the concentration of power in a central state is the problem, whether it's over regulating markets or legislating morality, when the power flows from the gov't personal liberty suffers.
I assume the fact that they're Californians contributes to dj's verdict, as well.
damaged justice
"ceteris paribus"? Whoa, Nick, don't bogart that joint.
Does anyone else find absolutely friggin' annoying when people use latin in their writings or speech? You couldn't just say "all things being equal"?
Why, no, proud. I don't think using Latin is per se objectionable.
You elitist pig! You're the first one against the wall during the coming revolution. 😉
Ad murum, Oedepus!
ya know, I use that fucking term all the time. Well played, sir! Now excuse me while I go flog myself...ad infinitum.
O tempora! O mores!
O Canada!
Et tu, Pierre?
etc.
Only when they use latin that I don't know. That's annoying.
Anyone else remember the Bloom County where they legalized drugs and the crack dealer was out in front of Bill the Cat's house screaming about restraint of trade and taking away his livelihood? Never thought I would see it in real life.
If and when we ever do legalize drugs, one of the greatest pleasures of it will be telling scumbags like this to fuck off, driving you broke is one of the biggest reasons we are legalizing it.
Which scumbag? The radio host who says she only smokes it?
Of course, the growers should go out of business if they can't compete in a legal market.
Thank you for the Bloom County reference. I've been perusing my Bloom County books recently and it's amazing how well Berke Breathed's humor has held up over the years. Nothing EVER changes!
Heh. I always said that drug mafia benefits from prohibition the most. That's the meme that needs to be forced: against drug prohibition? What, are you a drug lord?
"Thou shalt not type before your first cup of coffee." Shoulda been: FOR drug prohibition? What, are you a drug lord?
Duuuuuuuuuh.
It will still be illegal under federal law, so there will still be a high risk premium associated with growing it and selling it
Sadly yes. But if they ever do legalize it, it will cheaper than coca cola. Marijuana is basically a weed that will grow damn near anywhere.
Many people think that pot will grow anywhere, but that isn't entirely true. Sure, it is easy to grow pot but high quality pot needs specific conditions to maximize potency. Temperature must be kept low and they need good air circulation for example. Odds are if they legalize it it will be grown in giant greenhouses in the San Joaquin valley like most commercial flower growers.
Probably so. And it would be wildly cheap. They could grow it by the ton. Also, like home brewing of beer, a lot of people would grow their own and engage in their own hydroponics. The quality would go up and the price would drop.
I agree.
The hemp plant is super easy to grow and is a weed in many places. High quality pot takes considerably more effort.
Yay, less $$$ I have to spend!
I read a blurb in the paper where the Mexican government was criticizing all the initiatives in the US for legalizing pot.
Their ostensible excuse was that it would undermine their drug war effort.
Of course the real reason is it would hurt the cash flow of the drug cartels - and therefore cut the bribes that corrupt government officials get from them.
I would be curious to see how much of that is going on in the US. How many drug warriors are on the cartel payroll? None of the big national ones. But it wouldn't surprise me if there were some at the local level. And even the ones at the national level are often police union types who have a vested financial interest in the WOD continuing.
None of the big national ones.
Yeah because no-one at the federal level has ever accepted bribes...wait, what?
We don't even have any sort of steam behind medical legalization in Kentucky. It's like they want to keep the state dirt poor.
Kentucky was also one of the first dry states, right? I can't remember and my google skills are weak this morning.
The dry/wet county ration in 1907 was 87/32. And we were in the first three to ratify that stupid Amendment.
Ha, you found the same NYT article that I did when I was looking for when KY repealed prohibition. I WIN
GOOGLE TWIN! TAG!
In Kentucky, "Baptists & Bootleggers" isn't a quaint metaphor; it's the local government coalition keeping your county dry.
By "they" you mean you and your fellow citizens. It is up to the population to do anything about this kind of thing. If your fellow citizens dont care and therefore remain silent, nothing will change.
I'm thoroughly convinced that our politicians want to keep KY poor so that we can tell everyone how morally upstanding we are. The irony is that we are #2 producer of pot nationwide only behind CA. It's a major part of the economy here but our politicians are actively trying to suppress it.
Same story with gambling. While all of our gambling dollars supports Indiana and Ohio, we actively try to keep it away because it's a sin.
Seriously, when the fuck will people learn that a singular moral mission and politics don't fucking mix?
Harepr's Magazine had an excellent article on a California town that survives on growing pot. The inhabitants fear legalization as much as stronger enforcement. The article was in last year's October's issue; I highly recommend it.
I used "ceteris paribus" because it's one of the few things I remember from college economics. Oh and, btw, FUTUE TE ET IPSUM CABALLUM
Nicely done, The Jacket. I assume that was aimed at Vanneman.
yeah, well PAX VOBISCUM!!
Wait, that was an insult, right?
De gustibus non est disputandum.
TUA MATER TAM ANTIQUIOR UT LINGUAM LATINE LOQUATUR
Take that Nick.
Is that the same as
LIQVORUM IN FRONTUM, POKEUM IN REARUM
?
Also, the video freezes at :20, thank god.
I would have gone with"
Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo,
Alan pathice et cinaede Vanneman.
But that's just me.
VANNEMAN DELENDA EST
FUTUE TE ET IPSUM CABALLUM
I know what the words mean, but I have a hunch that that link is NSFW.
Nah, it's just a bunch of phrases translated into American.
From the link:
The beginning of Catullus 16:
PEDICABO EGO VOS ET IRRUMABO
I will fuck you in the ass, and have you give me some good head.
I think the translator downplayed the vileness here - irrumatio is throatfucking, if I remember right. "I'm gonna buttfuck you and then throatfuck you" has a lot of poetry to it, I must say.
It's not really throat-fucking. They made the distinction between passive sucking (fellatio) and forcefully thrusting (irrumatio).
And to complicate matters, irrumatio did not automatically imply oral thrusting, it could be intercural (thighs) or between the feet. Basically, any forceful thrusting of the penis on a partner's body that wasn't the vagina, anus, or hands.
Not that forceful thrusting is not a part of throat-fucking, but I don't think it was to imply the suppression of the gag reflex so the penis could enter the upper larynx.
Thighfucking was all the rage in classical times. Dialogs, drawing circles, and thighfucking. What a civilization.
Be that as it may, Catullus is clearly saying that, after he gets done fucking your ass, he's going to fuck your mouth (or thighs, or arches, or the space between your ears and head, etc.). If he wanted you to give him good head, he would have used fellatio.
One translation I saw used "face-fuck," which I think works well.
I wonder how many slaves had their noses removed so that their nasal cavities would be accessible.
You've never really lived until you've let a load loose into a sinus cavity. Zyrtec that, bitch.
Jesus Sugar Free, did you work in a Roman brothel in a past life? That is a lot of nuanced information about Latin sex acts. I don't know whether to be impressed or scared.
Librarian, John. I look stuff up for a living. The disturbing parts stick.
paging Steve Smith
How stupid. Real Latin curses are only known to a few of us who have traveled back in time to participate in Caligularian orgies just like in the Bob Guccione movie, so stop pretending, Nick.
You built the headmower, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU??
If only all H&R trolls had just one neck.
Self-interested established producers don't want competition?
*makes surprised face*
No it should not be legal. It is illegal, immoral and unhealthy.
It is against international law to legalize any intoxicant.
It is addictive.
Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug on the basis that is has "a high potential for abuse.
It has "no accepted medical use."
It is a narcotic, like as heroin.
Marijuana is a drug for hippies and losers. We don't want people to become hippies and losers, imposing criminal sanctions for marijuana possession functions as a form of communal "tough love."
the status quo, for nearly a century, has been a federal ban on marijuana, it is the way it is, get used to it.
Advocates for marijuana legalization rarely present an appealing case.
To hear some advocates of marijuana legalization say it, the drug cures diseases while it promotes creativity, open-mindedness, moral progression, and a closer relationship with God and/or the cosmos. That is incredibly foolish, a marijuana user is, again, that of a loser who risks arrest and imprisonment so that he or she can artificially invoke an endorphin release.
...so that he or she can artificially invoke an endorphin release.
I gather your mommy told you not to "touch yourself."
"It is against international law to legalize any intoxicant."
So is alcohol not an intoxicant or is pretty much every country outside of the Islamic world violating international law?
Sadly, the arguments against marijuana legalization are so bad, this post may actually not be trolling.
C- if trolling, A++ with a gold star if serious.
What do you mean we, white man? If people want to become hippies and losers, that is their own business.
Wow you are stupid! Get educated about the topic or shut the f@#k up. Before the turn of the 19th century it was the primary fuel source in America. The petroleum companies, through deception and lies, tricked the government into passing a law making it illegal and not until some time after the law was passed did they realize that "marijuana" was another name for HEMP.
People like you opening their yaps to spew uneducated hearsay and BS should be illegal!
1900's. I meant to say 20th century
You're using "it's illegal" as one of the reasons we shouldn't legalize it? Have YOU been hitting the bong?
Legalizing weed will devastate the illegal weed producers? I didn't know! I'm so sorry! By all means, then, keep it illegal.
If federal cannabis prohibition were ended, I bet we would end up with post alcohol prohibition styled restrictions, especially at the state level. Can't grow your own (can't brew your own), can't transport across state lines, three tier system, licensed dealers only, excise tax, THC limits (alcohol content limits), limited product form (brownies are marketed to children!), etc. The black market won't go away.
you forgot wet/dry counties.
No it should not be legal. It is illegal, immoral and unhealthy.
It is against international law to legalize any intoxicant.
I've changed my mind. Legalize it, just to offend this jackass.
It is against international law to legalize any intoxicant.
Smirnoff will be surprised to hear this.
"It is against international law to legalize any intoxicant."
Like America should give a shit what other countries think. Fuck the UN and the EU.
When my father was a Midshipman (early 1930s) he dated a girl from Baltimore whose father had owned a speakeasy. The family had been prosperous but when my father met her the family was in somewhat straitened circumstances. Still gentile but poor just a year or two after repeal.
Oops, genteel not gentile.
Whole different meaning there.
Amazing the embarassing things you can find if you reread your own posts.
Free market competition, does not scare me. In fact I welcome it, even now with perverse market, my product brings double, not because I grow it in a ditch somewhere, but because i use the highest quality strains, take time to painstakingly PH balance my water and soil. Perfectly fertilize and even sing to my plants. All this amounts my product demanding double the market price in every market I have participated in. Bring on the "ditch grown" crap, especially if it means lowering my operating overhead. Plus NOT one gay man or hardcore gangster (the two groups i have identified as willing to pay for premium pot) would be caught dead smoking your cheapass dirtweed. Bring on the competition it benefits the largest group of people: the consumers. If it runs anyone out of business, they deserve to go under because the only reason they can compete is because of prohibition.
fuck those fucking douche bags. you really care about making a profit from growing illegal drugs? grow fucking coca or opium and make some real profit, theres no comparable movement for recreational legalization of those. I mean if you really cared about growing cannabis you would WANT legalization so that you can conduct your business without the threat of your freedom being taken away. having people like this get out of the cannabis business is one of the POSITIVE things about legalization. who the fuck wants to buy their weed from someone who wants to keep ripping you off?
"grow fucking coca or opium"
Hey, I tried, but Boston does not provide ideal weather for growing opium poppies. I settled for scattering seeds in the planters in front of the local DEA office.
I've seen both grow in PA which isn't that much different in temperature. obviously with coca you would either need to have them in big pots that could be moved outside during the summer or grow them in a greenhouse year round.
opium poppies will and do grow outdoors in all US states and territories. it used to be a commercially grown crop in MA as well as most of the northeast states.
keep practicing your botanical skills and you will be rewarded.
in fact according to the USDA and the state of Massachusetts, Papaver somniferum are documented to grow wild in Essex, Bamstable, and Nantucket counties, but its more likely that they grow throughout the entire state.
*Barnstable
That was about marijuana...I guess I was staring at the blonde...
Wouldn't a lower price per unit mean an increase in units consumed, thereby offsetting any change in revenues?
thank you
Just say No to the War on Weed.
Forbes|3.26.10 @ 3:25PM|#
That was about marijuana...I guess I was staring at the blonde...
Me too.
Wow, these weed growers are no better than the Mexican drug lords that want to keep marijuana legal so that it doesn't hurt their bottom line. Well I say too bad. If you can't find creative ideas to stay in the competition then you're business deserves to fail.
Oops, I meant illegal.
Too bad this couldn't be a North America-wide legalization. Canada could export the good stuff to you.
American cannabis can be just as good if not better than anything produced in Canada. when it comes to outdoor grown cannabis, the US has a better climate and higher levels of UV light for growing really good bud.
Being from Oregon, I sure hope the proposition passes. Then all the Haight Ashbury stoned slackers that drifted up here can go back and leave us alone. We can start logging again. Timberrrr.
Wasn't this on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s?
I have been campaigning for years for legalisation of marijuana... The UK has a very strange system... It is free to sell Cannabis Seeds as 'souvenirs'... However it is illegal to germinate or grow the plant.
On websites such as http://www.magicdragonseeds.com you can find over 900 strains of cannabis seeds that can be delivered to your door. Wouldn't it make more sense to legalize cannabis, tax it and use the proceeds to fuel our economy?
all I can say is I cant wait till its legal/of high quality/and readily available.
I mean, er, awesome thoughts, Liz - I need some time to think about this!
I mean, er, awesome thoughts, Liz - I need some time to think about this!
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