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California launches legal sale of cannabis for recreational use
California will launch the world's largest regulated commercial market for recreational marijuana on Monday, as dozens of newly licensed stores catering to adults who enjoy the drug for its psychoactive effects open for business up and down the state.
It becomes the sixth U.S. state, and by far the most populous, venturing beyond legalized medical marijuana to permit the sale of cannabis products of all types to customers at least 21 years old.
Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada were the first to introduce recreational pot sales on a state-regulated, licensed and taxed basis. Massachusetts and Maine are on track to follow suit later this year.
With California and its 39.5 million residents officially joining the pack, more than one-in-five Americans now live in states where recreational marijuana is legal for purchase, even though cannabis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. law.
The marijuana market in California alone, which boasts the world's sixth-largest economy, is valued by most experts at several billion dollars annually and is expected to generate at least a $1 billion a year in tax revenue.
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(Score: 4, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday January 02 2018, @06:02AM (6 children)
The most proper study of all is ongoing.
As now the entire west coast has legalized recreational use. So far, it has been a net positive for society.
In fact, the reality here is it has dispelled the stereotype of the 'doper.' The people of the stereotype simply are not the people visiting the pot shops. Here, the pot is as cheap, and in many cases far cheaper than the street, with edibles, waxes, etc and the clientele is rarely the down and out doper variety, but instead it's grandma, that shop owner down the street, the apartment manager, the professional in suit and tie and your neighbor.
It's caused the near complete death of the black market locally.
It is highly regulated and the state makes a killing in taxes as the shops proliferate. Hell, you can't drive ten blocks without running into a weed store. The are nearly as ubiquitous here as the espresso stands that are on nearly every corner.
As we were the first to implement the law (by about a week ahead of CO as I recall) this marks six years. Society failed to collapse, we got a large influx of jobs, taxes, economic growth, and no real negatives. It has even better support now than before, as people began to realize just who turned out to be tokers, and the stereotypes melted away.
What better study than real life?
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 02 2018, @06:25AM (1 child)
That doesn't have a lot of bearing on long-term health effects. There are plenty of studies still being done on alcohol, tobacco, coffee, etc. The data for cannabis is lacking due to government restrictions, or tainted due to reefer madness and getting grant money based on saying what certain feds wanted to hear (I know that some researchers, like Donald Tashkin, have flipped and supported cannabis in recent years).
But it's clear that no matter what the health effects are (they won't be as bad as alcohol or tobacco), it should be decriminalized federally, and it also makes good sense to legalize and tax it (leading to economic benefits, reduction in crime, less money to the cartels, etc.).
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(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday January 02 2018, @06:34AM
FWIW, I have known people who basically couldn't safely use marijuana. So far I've known one and met two briefly. I have no idea how many users I've met. It seems that there is the marijuana equivalent of the alcoholic, though I'm sure the mechanism is different. And I'm *guessing* that the proportion is smaller. None of the three were violent, but all were either extremely unreliable or, the one I knew, abstainers.
This is such a small sample that it almost doesn't even count as anecdotal, but with no real studies I don't know of any better data.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 02 2018, @06:57AM (3 children)
Can we also mention the loss of revenue to criminal gangs? Jeez, it would be worth legalizing just to deprive violent criminals their source of revenue and reduce the expense of law enforcement / incarceration. Anything else, whatever, is icing on the cake.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 02 2018, @07:03AM (2 children)
It's also a loss of revenue for law enforcement gangs who use asset forfeiture to take money, drugs, and possessions away from criminals as well as ordinary citizens.
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(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday January 02 2018, @01:50PM (1 child)
They can still take the money and the assets. You have to prove you weren't buying drugs to even have a chance of getting any back. Good luck proving a negative.
Personally, I can't see how that doesn't violate the fourth amendment, but then I am not a lawyer.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 02 2018, @04:13PM
It does violate the Fourth. But while you might have rights against unlawful seizure of property, apparently, your property doesn't have those rights too. /sarc