Do you support marijuana legalization in California? (Fresno, Sacramento: sale, violent crime)

[Jehjeh]

In addition to the cartels moving in, the black market also continues to thrive:

Underground weed: Colorado

The Failed Promise of Legal Pot - The Atlantic

[TristramShandy]

Originally Posted by Jehjeh

In addition to the cartels moving in, the black market also continues to thrive:

Underground weed: Colorado

The Failed Promise of Legal Pot - The Atlantic

The war on drugs has just made everything worse. Marijuana's potency has tripled since 1970. Nothing has been accomplished by making it illegal.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by Jehjeh

Nope. Legalization in Colorado has only helped the cartels:

Mexican drug cartels are taking full advantage of Colorado's marijuana laws - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com

From the article:

Well, you can launder money doing all kinds of things. You can even launder money through banks. We don't therefore make banks illegal.

As far as growing it in their house, like I said, that should be illegal. I listed some features of legalization that I would have to see in order to vote for such a measure.

[Jehjeh]

Originally Posted by TristramShandy

The war on drugs has just made everything worse. Marijuana's potency has tripled since 1970. Nothing has been accomplished by making it illegal.

Legalization doesn't seem to be having the desired effects, either. Again, the black market still thrives and the cartels use the law to their advantage and increase drug production. People living near grow sites have to deal with the stench constantly. It's become a real quality-of-life issue in Colorado (and according to a few friends and acquaintances, it's an issue in Oregon, too).

[Jehjeh]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Well, you can launder money doing all kinds of things. You can even launder money through banks. We don't therefore make banks illegal.

As far as growing it in their house, like I said, that should be illegal. I listed some features of legalization that I would have to see in order to vote for such a measure.

Just because you can launder money through banks doesn't mean you have to put up with additional money laundering from other sources.

As for growing pot at home, the measure would allow everyone to grow up to 6 plants, so if you don't want people growing it at home, there you go.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by Jehjeh

Just because you can launder money through banks doesn't mean you have to put up with additional money laundering from other sources.

As for growing pot at home, the measure would allow everyone to grow up to 6 plants, so if you don't want people growing it at home, there you go.

Indeed. I'll read it when the ballot comes in the mail in November, and evaluate the version that is there.

I'm not sure if six plants is a big deal. I was thinking of people having a building where they're growing hundreds of plants without a license. I would have to do some more research to determine if six plants at home seems reasonable or not.

How many are medical marijuana users allowed to grow at home?

[Jehjeh]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Indeed. I'll read it when the ballot comes in the mail in November, and evaluate the version that is there.

I'm not sure if six plants is a big deal. I was thinking of people having a building where they're growing hundreds of plants without a license. I would have to do some more research to determine if six plants at home seems reasonable or not.

How many are medical marijuana users allowed to grow at home?

I'm not sure off-hand how many plants medical users can grow, but as for the six recreational plants vs. having hundreds -- you're not really going to be able to tell unless you go inside or unless you get agencies to actively investigate huge electric bills. Smell alone is likely no longer going to be cause for police to check these things out anymore (they could argue that the smell is a subjective thing and not proof that the people in the home were growing hundreds of plants). I don't know how police would be able to find large inside grows unless utility companies monitored for spikes in electricity usage (and with the use of low-energy LED grow lights, that's probably not as easy as it sounds now).

Be careful if you own rental property, too.

Call for Action Investigation: Illegal Pot Grows At Rental Properties

[Jehjeh]

One thing that not a lot of people seem to be addressing -- when cities like Desert Hot Springs talk about creating giant marijuana industries, where the heck is the water going to come from? People made such a stink (sorry, couldn't resist) about almond crops using so much water during the drought, yet pot is highly (sorry again) water intensive.

Water-Guzzling Pot Plants Draining Drought-Wracked California - NBC News

And that story just covers the illegal grows in Northern California. What happens to water usage if you add in legal commercial growing operations up and down the state, especially of the size that places like DHS and Adelanto want to have?

Struggling California desert towns seek tax bonanza with pot farms | The Sacramento Bee

[Tulemutt]

Pretty funny that so far no one has addressed the number 1 issue associated with legalizing pot: stopping the ridiculous cost and poor use of resources in the law enforcement and court and prison system - to say nothing of the devastation to the lives of those non-violent users arrested and prosecuted and sometimes jailed for possession, use and minor grows - all for something that is clearly more benign than other perfectly legal products.

And, btw, you all can find controversial media articles all day long to argue your biases one way or the other. There are as many (or more) citing the benefits realized as those claiming failure of legalization. The mere existence of an article - one way or the other - is not in itself a final revelation, particularly on something as new in our contemporary culture as legalization of pot. This is what the media does for a living, you know? They present provocative and controversial themes to stay relevant and in business. If you as readers are incapable of reviewing a multi-sourced, broadly based collection of data and objectively analyzing it - well, you should really just shut up the incessant and ill-informed chatter you offer as "proof". One way or the other.

[PNW-type-gal]

Lol, I vote that you legalize it - the majority of illegal grows here (Oregon) supply California first then the east coast. (Sure, some illegal weed is sold here as well, but we haven't really got the population base to support it, particularly not with legal grows and homegrown laws.) Legalization there takes the pressure off here and makes growing illegal pot for the east coast only a less attractive thing due to logistics.