Ugh, to TD. You have my sympathy. Aside from the difficult medical battles you're fighting, Marinol has had some seriously bad effects on friends of mine in their 50s/60s/70s who were prescribed the drug (for various cancers: all beat by "crazy" health-food diets that involve lots of fresh juice and a lot of herbs and Eastern medicine. All of those guys gave up Marinol in favor of the pure green and never looked back. But they had that luxury. N. California and great friends.). But they're all still blowing huge Volcano bags and mostly cancer-free so I'm thankful.
Bit of A (Rough-Draft) Essay on Legalization from a Californian who's Been Around the Grey Market for Years
I'm of 2 minds on legalization. Personally, it promises no improvements b/c I'm lucky enough to live in a place where legal ramifications are light and I've heard OF many long-term farmers with very high standards. But all of this essay (just thoughts actually) ignores that and brings forth some questions suggested by the legalization vote.
My initial feeling on legalization for al of the US is that it will make a positive change because it's commonly remarked that the competitive labor market is thinned out by all of the younger brown men who are jailed after being caught with an 1/8th then violated for smoking weed, found talking to friends from childhood, etc. At any rate, allowing for the many younger folks who exercise self-control after a conviction for a 1/16th or a pipe, MJ convictions are not equally applied and they have serious repercussions for young ppl entering the work market.
Obviously, institutionalized racism has had an easy target. And it would be worse than wrong to vote against a law that might free many young kids from unfairly imposed penalties that keep them from competing for good careers.
But I wonder how this will go down. Young men and women with fewer means and darker skins will benefit . Maybe. I wonder how happy the privatised prison system is with the abolition of infractions (weed possession) that sets them up with their first clients. (I've been reading a lot of Dickens lately. And if you want to get paranoid about the evil and predatory nature of the prison system, start with him then hit Thackeray.)
Further, I know OF plenty of growers who really care about their product. Being adopted by a family of farmers who have been in the game since the 1700s (damned kulaks), around long enough to see all but the most competent or lucky farmers bought out by agribusiness, I just don't know what legalization and gov't control will mean for the livelihoods of many growers who put their soul and capital into their crops.
I fear the invasion of RJReynolds and Philip Morris as their stocks decline under the anti-smoking campaigns (sort of the tail end of Sherman's March. I state it in terms of the political loss of power in the South.) I mean, honestly, is there anyone who doubts that these businesses haven't been involved in the legalization campaign, with infinitely more information and power than their erstwhile opponents (now comrades), for a decade or two.
With the kind of revenue they deal in and the ruin they've been facing, these companies have large plans. And I fear for the quality of weed that will result. I fear for the small batch, high-quality farmer. And I fear for the small business merchant who specializes in small-batch, home-grown, quality product in the face of these giants.
It's more likely that RJR and PM would contract relationships with large agri-business firms (perhaps out of the country, when legalization is being touted as one way for the US to gain jobs, tax revenues and a market for home-grown products. We desperately need this in a country that is in debt to China and has no jobs that aren't bend-over service jobs that require capitalization and trade.)
And, RJR and PM will manage to maintain the existing price point out there while selling inferior product. (While making more off it through mass production and mass distribution.) They may choose to do what the wine industry did in the 60s and 70s in America by selling Gallo or box-wine to make it look as if they'd dropped the price on weed. Sell schwag in pre-rolled j's and market it like Cisco or NightTrain. (That just made me think of the chemicals large tobacco producers would probably be able to add to some of their products. It's been done before...)
Then, I would assume that the likes of RJR and PM would go to the Wal-Marts, etc. and 24/7 mart chains before thinking about how to price their product for small merchants. And no one with any experience can deny that the inclusion of the gov't and big agri-business will ruin the grey market culture of the growers.
The cannabis grey industry right now is providing a lot of jobs for Americans who prefer to work with their hands, who prefer to use their ingenuity to create gadgets or machines that aren't just software or facebook widgets, who prefer to farm but can't because of the economics of farming, and who prefer to do things on a smaller scale which allows people down the chain of command to have some sense of pride and investment in what they do day to day. Exactly what's missing in many parts of the US these days: an artisan market.
I'm more than a little concerned that I haven't seen any plans from gov't or big business as to how they would take advantage of legalization. I (again) fear a lot of hard-working, committed people and small businesses will be forced out of business by conglomerates who can grow mediocre high-end mids/generic low-end dank (with nauseatingly Madison Avenue'd names and the marketing to go with it) and sell it in Wal-marts across the nation. ("OG Smush…Yummy Tummy Strawberry flavor. Now for the young ladies. 21 and older please.")
The thing is, getting back to the injustice of the drug laws that i mentioned in the opening paragraphs, I don't really see any promises or even whispers of potential changes coming from government. My experience suggests that the gov't will legalize to benefit itself (CA residents, remember when they sold us the lottery saying all the proceeds would go to schools? It's been more than 10 years, and schools haven't seen a dime.) And the corporations will make the most of it.
I'm not sure that legalization will begin to rectify the heinous injustice of imprisoning young brown men and women for dime bags and 1/8ths that allow young white college students w/ money to walk free. It seems as if it would de jure, but the private prison industry is a strong one and their lobby is a helluva lot stronger than any lobby of any victims' rights group. All I'm sayin'. I need to see more before I vote yes.
** This was a very long essay, not terribly well-edited, of the ideas I've been kicking around with friends for a while. I'm sure many other BLers have similar concerns. Ab I'd like to hear them.
