The Grass is Greener in California!

[3113]

A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there. An eighth-ounce of organic marijuana buds for treating his seasonal allergies? Check. An eighth of a different pot strain for insomnia? Check. THC-infused lozenges and tea bags? Check and check, with a free herb-laced cookie thrown in as a thank-you gift.

It's a $102 credit card transaction carried out with the practiced efficiency of a home-delivered pizza — and with just about as much legal scrutiny. More and more, having premium pot delivered to your door in California is not a crime. It is a legitimate business. Marijuana has transformed California. Since the state became the first to legalize the drug for medicinal use, the weed the federal government puts in the same category as heroin and cocaine has become a major economic force.

No longer relegated to the underground, pot in California these days props up local economies, mints millionaires and feeds a thriving industry of startups designed to grow, market and distribute the drug....Stores that sell high-tech marijuana growing equipment. Pot clubs that pay rent and hire workers. Marijuana themed magazines and food products. Chains of for-profit clinics with doctors who specialize in medical marijuana recommendations....the sheer scale of the overall pot economy has some lawmakers pushing for broader legalization as a way to shore up the finances of a state that has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. The state's top tax collector estimates that taxing pot like liquor could bring in more than $1.3 billion annually.

On Tuesday, Oakland will consider a measure to tax the city's four marijuana dispensaries, which the controller projects will ring up $17.5 million in sales in 2010. The city faces an $83 million budget shortfall, and expects the marijuana tax to raise $300,000. Advocates point out that making pot legal would create millions if not billions of dollars more in indirect sales — the ingredients used to make edible pot products, advertising, tourism and smoking paraphernalia.

Full article here. I'm off to listen to some Raggae and Grateful Dead....

 

[Safe_Bet]

I'm waiting to make brownies...

Oooops, there's the door bell...

Later, gotta go bake!

GOD, I love California!!!!!!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Well, Nevada's economy is based on gambling and some think that's immoral so why can't we add another product to our position as the Entertainment Capital of the World? Y'gotta love it!

 

[TE999]

It's about time governments legalized pot and taxed it. How this will be received by the Non-Smoking contingent should be interesting.

 

[DesertPirate]

Wow man, that's a cool idea. Pass another brownie Suzy.

I quit smoking years ago.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

"Back in the day" I figured that the stuff would get legalized sooner or later but I never figured it would take this long. Unfortunately, all it ever did was make me sleepy and I'm already a world-class competition sleeper in the sprint events. I can be asleep almost anywhere, anytime, within two minutes.

 

[3113]

It's about time governments legalized pot and taxed it. How this will be received by the Non-Smoking contingent should be interesting.

I suspect there might be a few places opening up for smokers (as there are cigar bars), however, more likely we'll see special bakeries and such. Just add a pinch of herb into the Jumba Juice smoothie or the Pink Berry yoghurt

 

[TE999]

I suspect there might be a few places opening up for smokers (as there are cigar bars), however, more likely we'll see special bakeries and such. Just add a pinch of herb into the Jumba Juice smoothie or the Pink Berry yoghurt

Now that's a great idea! We can start a franchise: Ganja King or McDoobie's.

 

[R. Richard]

I used to live in the Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach areas of San Diego. Believe me, nothing will change in those areas, except the government will now collect taxes.

A person could get a contact high just walking down the steets in certain areas of OB. [Of course, the person could never be sure of getting the GOOD STUFF by that method.]

 

[JackLuis]

I heard that they were talking about how "only" a $50 an oz tax would generate $13 Billion in revenue. But that would take amending/removing the Federal law and I don't think they will do that.

If pot became legal, we would see a lot more 'Green shiners" growing it and that would make recovering the tax at the source difficult. The Govt would be hard pressed to tax 20% of all production.

If the tax were lower the Green Shiners might be displaced in the market place by the Tobacco Co's who would shift their corporate farms to Weed, and could compete in product quality, presentation, marketing etc. They would also be in a position to process the raw Weed into ready rolled or Canna Butter or other non smoking products and achieve market predominance.

but where ever two hippies congregate, one of them will have at least one joint.

 

[3113]

If the tax were lower the Green Shiners might be displaced in the market place by the Tobacco Co's who would shift their corporate farms to Weed, and could compete in product quality, presentation, marketing etc.

From what I understand, tobacco companies have long had names for marijuana cigarettes ready and waiting just in case it became legal. They've been raring to go with such cigarettes--marketing and packaging--for over 40 years.

It pays to be prepared.

I'm also wondering if we can get the non-narcotic hemp farms going. If it's non-medicinal, we probably kick-start the CA economy simply by producing weed for paper and fabrics without worrying about federal laws. Might not be as lucrative, but it'd be a beginning.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It makes the best rope there is.

 

[JackLuis]

It makes the best rope there is.

Compared to Cotton and Corn it needs less water, could be a good thing if we can reduce the need for water through crop variation.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And it's renewable. All the rope these days is made from petroleum.

 

[3113]

It makes the best rope there is.

I never understood in the old Dragnet show (saw them as a kid) when they would say, "Marijuana smells like burning rope..." And they'd burn some, and then the teachers who were learning from the cops how to recognize when kids were smoking the stuff would gasp and say, "I just smelled that from the girl's restroom!"

Then I found out that rope in those days (as in times past) was made from hemp and suddenly it was, well, duh, of course it's gonna smell like burning rope if that's the case!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I never understood in the old Dragnet show (saw them as a kid) when they would say, "Marijuana smells like burning rope..." And they'd burn some, and then the teachers who were learning from the cops how to recognize when kids were smoking the stuff would gasp and say, "I just smelled that from the girl's restroom!"

Then I found out that rope in those days (as in times past) was made from hemp and suddenly it was, well, duh, of course it's gonna smell like burning rope if that's the case!

It's such fun. You can tie fancy knotwork, splice, do all kinds of things. With nylon, you can't do that.

 

[3113]

It's such fun. You can tie fancy knotwork, splice, do all kinds of things. With nylon, you can't do that.

And, evidently, you can burn it for that delicious hemp smell

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And, evidently, you can burn it for that delicious hemp smell

What's really entertaining is that if you put alfalfa leaf tea in a pipe and light it, it smells just like grade A pot. We used to do that in Germany just to annoy the MP's.

 

[Elianna]

Having waaay too much experience with pot lately, I don't think it smells like burning rope. Personally it makes my eyes water. I can't describe how pungent it is to me.

I can smell pot and cigarettes from a mile away it seems.

 

[CWatson]

Hold on. Is this my California we're talking about? The state I live in?

The one that's having water concerns, with farmers getting sub-standard rations because we have to not kill all the little fishies somewhere farther upstate? The one that's having budget concerns, and our Governator (despite his emphasis on fiscal creativity) being unable to handle it?

...Is anyone else seeing how all this could dovetail? 'cuz, supposedly, they've got way smarter people than me over in Sacramento.

(Me, I see drugs the same way I see sex. Ignorance-only education functions on the assumption that you can close Pandora's box. Such an assumption is willful ignorance at its worst. So teach the kids about sex. And, in the case of drugs, regulate them and tax them. There will still be an underground market; there always is; but at least you can guarantee that some idiotic sixteen-year-old isn't going to kill herself snorting a line full of drain cleaner.)

 

[trysail]

...the Tobacco Co's who would shift their corporate farms to Weed...

I've got news for you: there are no "Tobacco Co's" with "corporate farms." Leaf tobacco is grown by individual farmers— always was, always will be. The tobacco companies buy their leaf tobacco directly from farmers or from merchant leaf companies ( the largest are Universal Corporation and Souza Cruz ).

Tobacco is grown worldwide.
http://www.souzacruz.com.br/oneweb/...C12571F50072CFBA?opendocument&SID=&DTC=&TMP=1
http://www.universalcorp.com/Reports/ReportFrameset.asp?ID=31250&Menu=Tob
http://www.universalcorp.com/Reports/SelectReport.asp?ID=931&Menu=Tob

The largest exporters are Brazil and the United States. China grows an enormous amount of "tobacco" but it is considered to be very poor quality and most of the crop is consumed internally. Zimbabwe was a leading tobacco grower until the lunatic Mugabe utterly destroyed the country's economy with his insane socialized/racist/expropriation policies. American leaf tobacco has always been highly prized and sold for premium prices ( now, of course, the government of the United States has destroyed the industry along with all its well-paying rural, agricultural jobs ).