The case for a domestic marijuana industry

[perfecxionX 10+ year member]

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/

The only way to stop drug gangs is to end their monopoly on production.
By Aaron Houston

Violence in Mexico is getting worse by the day. There are reports of beheadings, killings in the several thousands, and an environment of fear that makes it impossible for Mexican officials to do their work. The country's very stability may be threatened.

It's time to put an end to U.S. policies that subsidize these murderous drug gangs. The first step, as a growing chorus of voices is arguing, is to end the quixotic policy of prohibition, a proven failure. But the United States can do even better; by empowering a domestic marijuana industry, the United States would squeeze Mexican cartels' profits, cutting off the financial lifeline that sustains organized narcocrime.

According to U.S. and Mexican officials, some 60 percent of the profits that fuel Mexican narcotrafficking come from just one drug: marijuana. Although such estimates are inherently imprecise, there is no doubt that marijuana is the cash cow that makes these gangs the powerful, dangerous force they are -- both in Mexico and in the 230 U.S. cities where cartels are thought to operate. The chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Mexico and Central America Section recently told the New York Times that marijuana is the "king crop" for Mexican cartels, because it "consistently sustains its marketability and profitability."

Last November, the U.S. Joint Forces Command warned in its "Joint Operating Environment" report that Mexico "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse" due to drug cartel violence. Some critics saw the report as unduly dire, but at a minimum, as outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden warned, drug cartels "threaten ... the well-being of the Mexican people and the Mexican state." A further increase in instability would constitute a national security and humanitarian crisis on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. For now, there is no end in sight to the worsening violence and no adequate plan to address it.

This appalling situation is not just happenstance. It is the direct result of prohibitionist U.S. policies.

Like it or not, marijuana is a massive industry. One hundred million Americans admit to government survey-takers that they've used it, with nearly 15 million acknowledging use in the past month. That's a huge market -- exceeding the number of Americans who will buy a new car or truck this year, or who bought one last year. Estimates based on U.S. government figures have pegged marijuana as the No. 1 cash crop in the United States, with a value exceeding corn and wheat combined.

Current U.S. policies are based on the fantasy that Americans can somehow make this massive industry go away. But prohibition hasn't stopped marijuana use. Although marijuana use hits peaks and troughs over time, overall consumption of the drug in the United States has risen roughly 4,000 percent rise since the first national ban took effect in 1937. In other words, for 72 years, the U.S. government has in effect granted criminals, including those brutal Mexican gangs, a monopoly on production, distribution, and profits.

The solution is already apparent: Make marijuana a legal, regulated product like alcohol and tobacco are. After all, there's a reason these gangs aren't smuggling wine grapes. When you have a legal, regulated market for a product, the underground market disappears. Indeed, the United States already has an illustrative example from its own history. During the 13 dark years of alcohol prohibition, drinking didn't stop, but gangsters such as Al Capone got rich. When Prohibition ended, the bootleggers -- and the orgy of violence that accompanied them -- went away. By taking marijuana out of the criminal underground and regulating it, Americans can cut the lifeline that gives Mexican drug gangs their power.

There are benefits for the United States, too. For the first time, regulators would have a level of control over marijuana production and distribution, both of which are impossible under today's system. Over time, the domestic marijuana industry would start to look like California's wine business: a responsible industry that adds to the state's prestige, tourism, and tax coffers, rather than a source of violence and instability.

Critics have already started to object, claiming that such a move would set off a surge of marijuana use. But in the Netherlands -- where adults have been permitted to possess and purchase small amounts of marijuana from regulated businesses since the mid-1970s -- the rate of marijuana use is less than half that of the United States, according to a recent World Health Organization study. More importantly, the percentage of teens trying marijuana by age 15 in the Netherlands is roughly one third the U.S. rate. Indeed, a 2001 National Research Council report commissioned by the White House found "little apparent relationship" between criminal penalties for drug use and the prevalence or frequency of use.

Most everyone can agree on one thing: The situation today is intolerable. Three former presidents of Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil have recently joined the call for the decriminalization of marijuana in its largest market, the United States. Mainstream commentators, editorial boards, and members of U.S. Congress have begun to join in. The momentum has shifted, and a solution is at the world's fingertips.

What's needed is the political courage to grasp it.

i know there are threads like this here on a weekly basis, but i thought this opinion article had some useful facts that supporters of decriminalization could arm themselves with.

Click to read more...

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/popcorn.gif.32dd9e22fd77e77bc3c907062768fcd2.gif

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

Aaron Houston is the head of the MPP, I believe, so this "op-ed" is not particularly surprising.

The wave of drug related gang violence is what will end up legalizing cannabis, in the same way that ending the alcoholic prohibition put an end to (or a damper in) a lot of the organized crime decades ago.

Due to violence in Vancouver, we're having the same conversation up here. There were 8 shootings in a period of 10 days (which is well above normal) and the government wanted to look tough, so they are instituting mandatory minimums for certain drug offenses and gang-related crime.

Of course, increasing penalties does NOTHING because the gangs aren't afraid of going to jail, and more often than not they can get away with what they do; reactionary penalties, by their very nature, cannot stop something from happening. What we need to do is take their cash crop out of their hands.

Now the big problem is that no one can be honest about this. I can't recall his name off the top of my head, but a former drug czar (head of the ONDCP) came out a week or so ago and said that he doesn't care about whether an adult wants to smoke pot or not, he only waned to keep it away from children. Of course, this is AFTER he's left a position where he could do anything about it, after he's arrested a million US citizens for non-violent drug crimes, and after he played a big role in stopping the decriminalization movement here in Canada by playing politics with our government. The good news is that the people have not stopped the movement, and so it is resurfacing on a national level.

The question for me is what will Obama do? He's maintained that the War on Drugs was a failure and that his policies will be science based. Well if that's the case, it's about time to stop discriminating drugs and treat them all as public health problems (which they are) and not criminal problems.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

I saw that he (Obama) did change policy on needle exchanges, though, which is a step in the right direction.

 

[billjones42 10+ year member]

I still believe that legalization is a long way off for one reason: it can be grown anywhere and the government would have no way to tax the homegrown, only the mass marketed stuff. So it would only slightly cut the black market sales of weed because homegrowers would be able to sell cheaper than licensed sellers cuz they aren't paying taxes on it.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

I still believe that legalization is a long way off for one reason: it can be grown anywhere and the government would have no way to tax the homegrown, only the mass marketed stuff. So it would only slightly cut the black market sales of weed because homegrowers would be able to sell cheaper than licensed sellers cuz they aren't paying taxes on it.

The black market is the problem, so let's do whatever is necessary to get rid of any dangerous section of it we can.

People can grow almost anything, but they choose to buy it from a store because of convenience and quality control.

Besides, the government could permit people to grow their own plants for personal use, but they'd have to get seeds from somewhere: the regulated cannabis market.

No matter how you look at things, legalization is the better and more intelligent alternative.

 

[bones22 5,000+ posts]

with all the things marijuana can be used for other than smoking the feds should consider making it legal.

 

[Andrew_as 10+ year member]

that was a good read... I also agree that i would do home grown if i could buy them great seeds from the gov!

 

[perfecxionX 10+ year member]

I still believe that legalization is a long way off for one reason: it can be grown anywhere and the government would have no way to tax the homegrown, only the mass marketed stuff. So it would only slightly cut the black market sales of weed because homegrowers would be able to sell cheaper than licensed sellers cuz they aren't paying taxes on it.

Even with significant taxes Im not sure that homegrown sellers would be able to compete with corporations that can grow on such massive scales and have access to the technology that they do. Imagine how much easier it would be to go to the gas station and get a pack of marijuana cigarettes as opposed to growing and rolling your own.

And like devildriver said, that only addresses a small part of the money issue. This country spends billions at the federal and state level policing, prosecuting, and imprisoning people for marijuana use. We are in situation where murderers and rapists are being released from prison early to make room for glaucoma patients. I dont smoke, but it seems to me that its time to prioritize.

 

[mazzasec 5,000+ posts]

What sucks is Mexico has alot of mj but its all the shitty brick stuff that no one but other mexicans wnat!

 

[perfecxionX 10+ year member]

The question for me is what will Obama do? He's maintained that the War on Drugs was a failure and that his policies will be science based. Well if that's the case, it's about time to stop discriminating drugs and treat them all as public health problems (which they are) and not criminal problems.

I actually suspect he might support decriminalization, but its just not a politically feasible side to support at this time. As the author of the article said, "whats needed is the political courage."

What i worry is that its going to take a major crisis (like the collapse of the Mexican Govt) to get the country really talking about the problem.

 

[gqjeff 10+ year member]

I still believe that legalization is a long way off for one reason: it can be grown anywhere and the government would have no way to tax the homegrown, only the mass marketed stuff. So it would only slightly cut the black market sales of weed because homegrowers would be able to sell cheaper than licensed sellers cuz they aren't paying taxes on it.

Why would I buy homegrown plus take a chance of being arrested when I can buy the best hydro avail legally from the gov? There are good hydro homegrowns do not get me wrong but head to Canada or Amsterdam and smoke there homegrown.. Diff league.

JMPO

 

[wu36ca 10+ year member]

Why would I buy homegrown plus take a chance of being arrested when I can buy the best hydro avail legally from the gov? There are good hydro homegrowns do not get me wrong but head to Canada or Amsterdam and smoke there homegrown.. Diff league.

JMPO

From what I hear its a pain to do and quality is never up to snuff. Although I guess there might be some people who would do it for fun. Kind of like home beer brewing kits.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

From what I hear its a pain to do and quality is never up to snuff. Although I guess there might be some people who would do it for fun. Kind of like home beer brewing kits.

Quality cannabis can be (and probably is) grown in every country on the planet. The three strongest regions seem to be British Columbia (here in Canada), California, and the Netherlands, but that is simply a quantity and competition game. The demand for high quality cannabis at low prices is highest in those areas, and they're also the most lax on use, so it goes hand in hand.

Growing your own cannabis can be a positive experience. Some strains are challenging, but for the most part it's like growing any plant: give it the sunlight schedule it requires, keep it fed, and keep the bugs/fungus off.

 

[mazdakid 5,000+ posts]

its actually not that hard, and the quality can be just as good or better. growing your own would save you alot of money if you smoke alot, instead of buying it for probably $50+ an eighth from a store.