California is proposing to legalize the sale of marijuana. The reason for this is California is broke. They see a golden opportunity to start taxing marijuana sales. Oh boy do they want to tax it. The proposal is to charge retailers $50.00 per ounce to sell it and then tax consumers on top of that. I guess you'll know your weed will cost at least $50 because the retailers will pass that along to you. I'm sure the sales tax will be high since the cigarette tax is so high. It will probably be the same or higher. My bet is it will be higher.
Do I think legalizing marijuana is a good idea? No I don't and not for reasons you might think. My problem with it is the government only wants it legal so they can tax it. They have fought the war on drugs for soooo many years and now they're broke so that goes out the window. Woo hoo! More tax money!
In my opinion if it is made legal at such high tax rates it will only make the black market that much more appealing. Plus, the government is always concerned with legal things making poor people poorer. Things like lotteries, cigarettes, liquor. What do they think a marijuana tax will do to that poor pothead who wants to legally buy some weed? Will it make him that much richer? Oh no, maybe he'll save his money, stop smoking and become a better person thanks to the government. Fat chance! How many people quit smoking cigarettes because of the taxes and the overall cost? Not many.
So I say to the government, keep your greedy fingers off of marijuana. Let the "entrepreneurs" handle the weed tax free.
I agree that that it should not be legalized for the same reasons that you do, plus one more. Lately, while people have been debating this I've heard several say that it's no worse than drinking. If you're comparing the "quality of the buzz" that may be true. But there is one big difference. I can drink a beer or two and not get drunk. I can down a shot of whiskey and not get drunk. I doubt I could smoke a fatty and not get stoned.
ReplyDeleteThe bad part is, I wouldn't really have too much of a problem with it if a person wanted get stoned in the privacy of their own home. I just don't want to drive around with stoned people on the road.
I would bet my right arm we already drive around with stoners.
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