
1. Will the black market still thrive and be criminalized–is this being legalized for wealthy white men?
- Cannabis is still illegal in other states, so the black market won’t be going anywhere fast. With the sales taxes and taxes supporting costs for the regulatory framework, purchasing cannabis will be cheaper on the black market locally as well. People still make moonshine all these years after alcohol prohibition ended, and growing pot safe for consumption is much easier than making alcohol. Even in CNN’s documentary series High Profits, black market dealers steal much of the retail sales for the legal cannabis stores right out of the stores own line of customers.
“From our perspective, legalization is supposed to be about keeping us out of jail — it’s supposed to be about protecting our families,” Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the marijuana trade group California Growers Association, told ATTN:. “But if the in-state marketplace is captured by a small number of very large growers, there won’t be much choice other than to continue to engage in criminal behavior. While all the marijuana millionaires get rich, all of the existing cannabis households will continue to be treated as criminals for just making a living.” http://www.attn.com/stories/12051/why-some-stoners-oppose-marijuana-legalization [Read More…]