The news is saturated with stories of United States lawmakers who are racking their brains on how they can monetize marijuana. If the legislators can't or won't see the moral problems of the prohibition of marijuana, they should be thinking of the money their citizens could make and/or save by letting marijuana be free.
Problem: How to Monetize MJ and Crush the Black Market:
How many previously out of work citizens of your state could start successful home businesses with indoor growing of special marijuana strains? Even if farmers get in on the act, making marijuana's price drop dramatically, at least your state's citizens who choose to grow their own marijuana are saving the hundreds of dollars a month they had previously been paying to black market, non tax paying drug dealers. AND your state's farmers have a new cash crop to produce. I also believe that there will always be a market for specialty strains and "new" cup winning strains... etc. Bottom line is, until marijuana is "all the way free", the black market will continue to be the biggest winner. A Free Market will set all of us free.
Problem: How to Tax MJ and Control the Quality:
The state can tax marijuana coming and going with state sponsored marijuana inspection houses. These houses would be where the private growers sell their marijuana. The houses would inspect, classify and organize the marijuana. Then the privately owned dispensaries will buy their marijuana to sell from these marijuana inspection houses. This allows for the marijuana sold at dispensaries to be taxed and controlled.
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama00.htm
ReplyDeletecan i ask WHY cannabis should be the ONLY medicine that will be taxed???
ReplyDeleteI understand what your saying Mike. Its a compromise, but I only think it should be taxed if its bought and sold. Anything you grow and use on your own should obviously be as tax free as possible.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Mike Graham:
ReplyDelete1. The vast majority of a commercialized marijuana is not and would not be "medicine." One could claim that alcohol (a "pain-killing medicine") is a taxed "medicine."
2. Including taxes in the equation is one of the most realistic ways to "grease the skids" on the path to legalizing and monetizing mj.