What You Think

[chero]

http://news.yahoo.com/uruguay-government-plans-sell-marijuana-registered-users-171338763.html

 

[driftstage5]

After reading that...I dont even know what to think anymore. :crazy:

 

[zanthal]

Sounds pretty reasonable, actually. It seems like a win for law enforcement, too.
Not sure it would work in the USA, though.

 

[hobie1dog]

And since they are allowing each person to grow 8 plants on their property, now people can also use them to make other products out of them too. It will definitely decrease the crime involved since there will be no need for a black market anymore. The American gov will not let that happen anytime soon, they love the Billions they make off of drugs. Our local Sheriffs pulled in 1.3 Million last year in cash they confiscated, and got to keep 35% of it for their own use, as indicated in a newspaper article.
Just Youtube LEAP...prohibition does not work, no different than alcohol.
Think I'll update my Passport for Uraguay ::

 

[grizzly86]

It makes more sense than the USA's "War on Drugs". We all know how well that's been working.
edit: Just wanted to comment that I don't smoke it myself so that doesn't bias my thoughts.

 

[ichbinmuede]

A good plan as far as I'm concerned. I've thought for a long time that the Canadian and American governments (all really) are crazy to keep the stuff illegal when they could be taxing it and making a fortune. Not that I support crazy taxing but so long as it's reasonable (unlike Canadian tobacco taxes) it's fine in my book so long as the government is worth supporting.
There's not really much that's hugely bad about it and all the perceived problems associated with it are largely because of it being illegal. Legalizing it and promoting the same kind attitude associated with alcohol (drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, et cetera) would really clear most of it up.
But I've gone on too long about this already. I'm pretty confident that it's only a matter of time before this is true. I'm sure that a good many police will be happy about it what with not having to bust anymore kids on a taco run.

 

[schmitzbitz]

Well said, ichbinmuede; you have summarized my thoughts perfectly.

 

[markw4mms]

Well said, ichbinmuede; you have summarized my thoughts perfectly.

+1! :clap:

 

[cortezattic]

I'm pretty much on board with the sentiments expressed here, but I have some reservations. Any emergency room worker or health care professional or insurance investigator, etc. will tell you that the health care costs, property damage, and social misery caused by alcohol abuse tops any other substance. I wonder if decriminalized pot would be as big a problem (and expense) -- or maybe reduce the toll taken by booze.

The idea is to remove profits from drug dealers and divert users from harder drugs.

There are no laws against marijuana use itself in Uruguay.

This seems to imply that drug dealers still make a profit even where pot is decriminalized, so secondary crimes like burglary, theft, and drug turf wars are probably still a problem, so the government wants to control the price.

 

[reichenbach]

People are lazy. So if people can buy ready-made 'joints' without having to 1.) grow it and/or 2.) sneak around, I think they will. However, there will still be huge profits to be made on a black market by enterprising individuals because anything bought on a black market has no tax on it to hike the price (we all know that here), there are less middle-man types which also increases costs, and there is ZERO paperwork which is one of the hallmarks of government venture. Plus once government gets involved, this so-called 'ready made' cash crop will plummet in value because of the sudden regulation with the USDA, FDA, EPA, the ATF will get an M added to it's acronym, and so on and so on. I don't think the USA government, if it wanted to, would have the wherewithal to corner the pot market.
I don't enjoy marijuana but I think responsible adults should be able to enjoy what they like, so I also have no horse in this race outside of advocating for freedom of choice in recreation but I thought I should bring up a few issues I've heard pointed out.