White House says it will lift threat to states that have legalized marijuana

[glide]

How would anyone even know about this stuff? I have no idea who is or is not in jail at any given moment, let alone why they are there.

You don’t think arrest and incarceration statistics are available?

 

[Coyote33]

You don’t think arrest and incarceration statistics are available?

I find it hard enough to keep up with work, kids, coaching, housework, yard work, and family. I don't even watch news half the time or read the paper. Who has time to seek out "incarceration statistics", let alone know what to look for or where to look? Whatever floats your boat I guess.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Society isn't going to turn people away at the hospital door if they can't pay for their care.

They can and do, just not for "immediate emergencies".

Just try getting that tumor removed if you can't pay.

 

[glide]

I find it hard enough to keep up with work, kids, coaching, housework, yard work, and family. I don't even watch news half the time or read the paper. Who has time to seek out "incarceration statistics", let alone know what to look for or where to look? Whatever floats your boat I guess.

I’m not suggesting you should or have to. Simply that they exist and are available to back up the assertion.

 

[weekendracer]

How would anyone even know about this stuff? I have no idea who is or is not in jail at any given moment, let alone why they are there.

Personally, I've been on stops where personal use was discovered. The substance was destroyed during the wind test to determine if it was marijuana.

I have never once been there where a person was arrested for under 500 lbs. I'm sure it happens, but in almost 2 decades of law enforcement, I have not witnessed it, unless there was some other infraction involved. I have seen the charge stacked, but it was the lessor of the infractions involved.

Edit:
Pot arrests continue even after legalization

Charges ranged from possession with intent to distribute a Class D substance, a misdemeanor that carries up to two years in prison for a first offense, to a felony trafficking charge that can lead to 2 to 15 years in prison.

This is since it was decriminalized. It's friggin hard to find anything with hard stats due to the flood of articles since legalization. I'll dig a little further to see if I can come up with something to back up my personal experience.

Democrat Corey Booker aims to free those jailed for marijuana offenses
In 2012, about 40,000 inmates in state and federal prisons were serving time for crimes involving marijuana. Roughly half were for marijuana offenses alone and were largely charges for distributing the drug.

This one comes close to disclosing the truth with the 'largely charges for distributing' statement.

 

[mg42doc]

Ex-Speaker John Boehner Joins Marijuana Firm’s Advisory Board

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld also added

The Republican former Speaker of the House has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner’s endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.

Boehner run out of booze?

Looks like Acreage Holdings is hooked up now down in DC...

 

[Len-2A Training]

Ex-Speaker John Boehner Joins Marijuana Firm’s Advisory Board

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld also added

The Republican former Speaker of the House has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a company that cultivates, processes and dispenses cannabis in 11 U.S. states. Boehner’s endorsement, after saying nine years ago he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization, could be considered a watershed event: Marijuana has gone mainstream.

Boehner run out of booze?

Looks like Acreage Holdings is hooked up now down in DC...

All the big names are jumping on board because they all smell "green" ($$$$$). Also since it is an all cash business it probably is somewhat easy to skim income without declaring it for taxes. [I knew a twice convicted embezzler (one Fed sentence and one State) who later ran a restaurant business on one of the islands, great way to skim cash.]

 

[Ringworm]

Why doesn't Congress just change the law? With all the bills being introduced why not this one? This is just gov BS.

Because it will prove the utter uselessness of the DEA. And god forbid any "law agency" go without money. Remember, it's "fur da chil'run"....

 

[HuntMaine]

Why doesn't Congress just change the law? With all the bills being introduced why not this one? This is just gov BS.

That’s the only way this matters. If the Fed law is on the books, no matter if they decide not to enforce it, you as a firearm owner take a risk any time you fill out a Fed form or purchase at a shop. Not only that if you are Fed employee with the DOE or DOD etc or do work for these organizations as a contractor, you also will be in trouble should you decide to partake and smoking a blunt. Congress is lazy and the corporate lobbies now for the Marijuana Industry actually like the restriction, drives up $$$&

 

[Mesatchornug]

That’s the only way this matters. If the Fed law is on the books, no matter if they decide not to enforce it, you as a firearm owner take a risk any time you fill out a Fed form or purchase at a shop. Not only that if you are Fed employee with the DOE or DOD etc or do work for these organizations as a contractor, you also will be in trouble should you decide to partake and smoking a blunt. Congress is lazy and the corporate lobbies now for the Marijuana Industry actually like the restriction, drives up $$$&

Or the president can tell his AG to have the DOJ re/de-schedule marijuana. Because what's on the schedule is under executive control.

But then he'd have to take responsibility for it.

 

[drgrant]

Ahh, but you are forgetting that there is always a stick that comes with the carrot. Gov never just "gives" the people anything.

The problem is if the taxation is too high (and the feds f***ed this up, because they could have been the first to tax, leaving less money for the state) the black market will still maintain, which sort of defeats the purpose. If you have a legalized product that has a gigantic tax on it, people are still going to smuggle it. Look at cigarettes as an example of this.

-Mike

 

[drgrant]

Most sin taxes can be avoided by skipping retail:
-tobacco = grow your own
-alcohol = brew your own
-gas = walk, bike, public transport, EV

Marijuana will certainly be grown at home to avoid taxes, unless the market prefers the specifically engineered stuff.

On the whole? Doubtful. It's a pain in the ass to deal with that. The transactional cost and recovery of starting and the wasted space, electricity, etc, is
annoying and most casual users are unlikely to bother. Although if the taxation gets too FR, I can see a cottage industry coming out where heavier users that
do grow their own end up slipping product out on the side to friends, etc, for a few bucks.

-Mike

 

[HuntMaine]

It’s all about $$ same reason they don’t allow you to legally distill your own spirits.

 

[Roof gunner]

I think all these pot shops are a fad. I have not been to one but Ive herd the shops sell it at almost twice the cost as the street pharmacist ! .who wants to pay twice as much ?? Oh wait , the pot shops stuff has been federally inspected and blah blah blah. I think in time it’s going to flop.

 

[drumenigma]

I think all these pot shops are a fad. I have not been to one but Ive herd the shops sell it at almost twice the cost as the street pharmacist ! .who wants to pay twice as much ?? Oh wait , the pot shops stuff has been federally inspected and blah blah blah. I think in time it’s going to flop.

High pricing is probably only in the short term. States like Colorado have ended up with surplus product and are selling it for rock bottom prices. I also doubt it is going to be a "fad". Did liquor stores end up being a fad after prohibition?

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I would rather tax a consumption of a vice then my income. I'm all for shifting that burden...

The fairest tax is one someone else pays.

 

[FalArAk]

If Trump decriminalized pot,even the media couldn't spin it as something negative. I'm sure the politicians who pander to religious groups will pitch a fit,but the majority of the population doesn't give a damn what bible thumpers think about pot needles.

Won't win him re-election,but he might break even with the votes he lost with his anti-gun stance.

 

[FalArAk]

Ya,he pretty much lost trust with his core voter lol

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Most sin taxes can be avoided by skipping retail:
-tobacco = grow your own
-alcohol = brew your own
-gas = walk, bike, public transport, EV

Brewing is fine for alcohol, but home distillation is not allowed so you may have revenuers busting your still if they find it.

As to "walk" .... my mother in law tried that. She had me assemble a Red Flier wagon so she could walk to the grocery store 2 miles away to teach Exxon et. al. a lesson. I pointed out that she was saving less than $1 in gas per trip, and she never did get around to pulling that wagon up and down hills at age 80+.

 

[SpaceCritter]

Brewing is fine for alcohol, but home distillation is not allowed so you may have revenuers busting your still if they find it.

Technically, even making applejack is illegal as it is "fractional crystallization"

 

[Roof gunner]

High pricing is probably only in the short term. States like Colorado have ended up with surplus product and are selling it for rock bottom prices. I also doubt it is going to be a "fad". Did liquor stores end up being a fad after prohibition?

Good points !