Reply #6: Very similar to Alcohol Prohibition Repeal

[robdogbucky]

The wine industry in Cal is about $52Billion annually.

The estimate for what the cannabis market in Cal would be when decriminalized is $12-18Billion annually.

It is already the largest single cash crop in the state and has been for a couple of decades.

What happened when prohibition was repealed? Did Al Capone's folks suddenly up the violence ante and threaten everyone that was now able to walk down to the corner and buy their favorite beverage? Did they force people to buy their hooch? No. They simply turned to the next available black market, narcotics.

With that outlet suddenly cut off vis-a-vis cannabis as contraband, they (whatever people perceive about the "cartels," I doubt their main revenue is from cannabis) will be forced to concentrate on the coke, heroin, guns, etc., that would be still illegal. I mean as if they already haven't done that. That is a red herring and I don't believe that cannabis is the lynchpin for those groups at the present time. I trust everyone is aware that almost every industrial product has a parallel black market associated with it. Cement, steel, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, even oil. This is not new.

The liberation of pot from being lumped in with actual addictive, harmful substances, to wit, the other Schedule 1 narcotics, will only help society and the economy, not harm them. It will not cause a sudden increase in violence of any kind. On the contrary, there will be such an awakening, such a coming out of the cannabis closet for millions, that this one simple act of honoesty and recognition of the truth of things will go a long way in restoring whatever vestige one harbors for government credibility. Hopefully then some honest, reliable research and testing can take place to reveal all the positive possibilities this ancient plant holds for mankind. That has never been allowed to happen.

There is currently a glut of inventory of cannabis and prices paid by dispensaries are dropping throughout California.

The projection is that Cal could bloom this into a thriving tourism industry based on cannabis availability. The tax revenues alone could revive many an ailing California program, like basic education, where thousands of competent teachers have been laid off due to lack of funds.

The biggest obstacles are apparently psychological. Think of all the low information folks that are conditioned to the government lies that have governed the hyprocritical cannabis policies for the last almost 100 years in the USA. That will be the shock, when B&B owners suddenly have to play host to folks that want to bike, hike, fish, sightsee and eat, with a vaporizer as part of their room baggage. Think of a lifelong migraine sufferer going to their doctor and asking, can cannabis help my headaches and them being told, "Yes, it has been shown the pot can alleviate the suffering of migraines in many patients." Think of it. Just that one thing alone could make the difference between a life of hell and one without such pain for some people.

Don't buy into the propaganda Kool-Aid that is now just starting to roll out in response to the 3, count 'em, 3 current initiatives in California to change the legal status of cannabis. The Tax and Regulate Act of 2010 is the most comprehensive one, and I predict it will succeed.


Just my dos centavos,

robdogbucky