Originally Posted by TheWolf

I don't understand the logic of this "tax revenue" stream..

It's like offshore jobs. Some people do grow in the US although illegal etc but most are farm workers in mexico etc. Working for peanuts. Cost to grow, very minimal. Cost to transport expensive. Once "legalized" in california, expect to see these costs go down leading to cheap "street" weed and "expensive" legal weed.

Now take the california new legal grower. Ok once legislation gets into this, the money will be extracted in bucket trucks. The grower will need a license, inspections, tax forms, impact fees, fines, etc. The dispenser will definitely need some kind of license, inspection, and monumental fine for selling underage. Just like how cops send kids into bars with fake id's trying to buy booze. they'll send kids into dispensers with fake perscriptions, fake id's etc. The fines will be huge. According to the article the license for a dispenser will be about 30k a year. That's about what a bar pays for it's booze license.

Once it's legal then they'll need a standardized container with a tax stamp on it. This will be the goto for money just like packs of cigarettes are. So back to our economics lesson. How is a legal grower who pays workers comp, and atleast cali minimum wage, property taxes, state income tax, federal income tax, impact fees, manage all of these forms, with penalties etc. Navigate all the legal issues. This all takes a substantial investment with significant overhead. This guy is going to compete with weed grown in mexico and smuggled in???

The dispenser is going to pay all these taxes and fee's etc etc run a store selling "legal" weed and compete with the local weed dealer on your corner?? One needs 500k in revenue to survive, the other needs 30k. I can't imagine paying workers comp on a store that sells weed. Eventually people will just rob these stores blind over and over and over and over. Take the product and sell it on the street. It's not traceable.

Sorry but the weed grower was outsourced a long time ago. I think you'll see more illegally imported weed brought in and sold as legal. The revenue is just vapor ware. It won't fix the budget issue. It will make people "feel good" about it though.

DUI? how do you test for it? Currently the only method of testing if you're under the influence of weed while driving is via a blood test. THC measured in nanograms in the blood. It's not a cheap test. So other than the sobriety road side test, you're kinda up shits creek. Can these tests be piggy backed on the legality of the DUI submission statement on your license? I'm no lawyer.

Personally I think all this will do is stoke the drug war because now state revenues will be lost by every punk kid peddling weed on the street. It won't be possession with intent to distribute any more but "tax evasion". Uncle sam has some serious tax laws regarding their cut which include things like carte blanche to annex all your shit. I can see some preppy kid loosing his car and house over selling 3 joints to his friends. Keep in mind, tax rules are not innocent until proven guilty, They're opposite. The gov't says if you sold x number of joints to undercover officer, they lost out of X dollars of revenue because they think that you "could have sold $X in product". Now it's your job to prove you didn't sell that much weed financially or pay the penalty. Study when the taxation and regulation of alcohol came into be and see how aggressive the gov't was about their revenue. How many citizens lives were ruined over family traditions. How big manufacturers bank rolled detectives to find local brewers and turn them in.

I'm all for weed legalization but you must register with the county, it must be grown outside, and no more than a 4'x4' space. Then people can learn to farm, get their hands dirty, enjoy something they cared for, and get outside in the sun instead of sitting in front of the TV.