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California weed woes

Tlrmln said:
We don't need massive taxes and government fees for something to be legal.

If it was treated the same as alcohol, and there's no rational reason it shouldn't be, there would be no issues with a black market. When was the last time you had the urge to buy beer in an alleyway from a guy with a neck tattoo, just to save 6% on sales tax and 20 cents per gallon on the state alcohol tax?
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LOL there is an alcohol tax.

In this category, Washington State by far leads the states with an excise tax rate on distilled spirits of $32.52 per gallon. The Evergreen State is followed by Oregon ($21.98), Virginia ($19.93), Alabama ($19.15), and Utah ($15.96). Spirits are taxed the least in Wyoming and New Hampshire. These two control states gain revenue directly from alcohol sales through government-run stores and have set prices low enough that they are comparable to buying spirits without taxes. Missouri taxes are the next lightest at $2.00 a gallon, followed by Colorado ($2.28), Texas ($2.40), and Kansas ($2.50).

you are taxed by the gallon.
 
ludin said:
LOL there is an alcohol tax.

In this category, Washington State by far leads the states with an excise tax rate on distilled spirits of $32.52 per gallon. The Evergreen State is followed by Oregon ($21.98), Virginia ($19.93), Alabama ($19.15), and Utah ($15.96). Spirits are taxed the least in Wyoming and New Hampshire. These two control states gain revenue directly from alcohol sales through government-run stores and have set prices low enough that they are comparable to buying spirits without taxes. Missouri taxes are the next lightest at $2.00 a gallon, followed by Colorado ($2.28), Texas ($2.40), and Kansas ($2.50).

you are taxed by the gallon.
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So I'll ask again, if taxes are causing a black market to exist, where's the black market for alcohol?
 
Tlrmln said:
So I'll ask again, if taxes are causing a black market to exist, where's the black market for alcohol?
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it is called moonshining and it still exists and it is a huge business.
 
Here is an interesting bit of US history:

...More recently, bootleggers in the 1930s, '40s and '50s took to racing cars packed with moonshine through the night to avoid local police. Their mechanical skills developed as they learned to drastically increase the horsepower of their vehicles to outrun the authorities. This created a culture of car lovers in the southern United States that eventually grew into the popular NASCAR racing series. In fact, the winner of the first ever NASCAR race had used the same car to make a bootleg run just a week earlier....
How Moonshine Works | HowStuffWorks
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swing_voter said:
My California friend told me, only idiots buy legal weed. The taxes and other government fees make it so expensive compared to black market weed.

Did you think legalizing weed would turn out this bad? I didn't.




.
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Legalizing outright would.

There was no way the taxes and compliance costs and limits to legal dispensaries would extinguish the black market.

What they created was a corporate takeover of the industry and the government and narrative responses you're seeing are actually anti-competition from those corporate interests. Getting the state to protect their profits.
 
ludin said:
it is called moonshining and it still exists and it is a huge business.
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When's the last time you bought a bottle of 'shine?
 
danielpalos said:
We should be able to buy weed along with alcohol and tobacco.
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That's a good idea. It would remove the expense of opening a weed shop which would lower the price of weed.
 
ludin said:
it is called moonshining and it still exists and it is a huge business.
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What part of the country do you live in? I have never run into anyone selling black market moonshine.
 
Demon said:
What part of the country do you live in? I have never run into anyone selling black market moonshine.
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Never been to Appalachia have you?
Although moonshine distribution is heaviest there if you know where to look you
can find it all over the country.

Cost depends on proof. The hotter the proof the more it costs.
It also depends on the type of moonshine as well.

They come in all sort of flavors.

well they don't really advertise it.
 
Tlrmln said:
When's the last time you bought a bottle of 'shine?
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I don't drink the stuff. Not something to my liking it is a personal taste just like I am not a fan of gin.
 
ludin said:
I don't drink the stuff. Not something to my liking it is a personal taste just like I am not a fan of gin.
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When I was a kid I drank some and some.

I’d drink anything, even the nastiest “Russian” Vodkas, Bum Wines and Malt Liquors.

But gin, no matter how sophisticated was always Never a fan.

In mixed drinks it’s tolerable.
 
ludin said:
Never been to Appalachia have you?
Although moonshine distribution is heaviest there if you know where to look you
can find it all over the country.

Cost depends on proof. The hotter the proof the more it costs.
It also depends on the type of moonshine as well.

They come in all sort of flavors.

well they don't really advertise it.
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Never have been. That's why I asked what part of the country. I've certainly never seen it where I live.
 
Demon said:
Never have been. That's why I asked what part of the country. I've certainly never seen it where I live.
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It is there you just have to know where to go and where to find it.
As a precaution unless you know the person or are getting it from an established source always
test it before you buy it.

The quickest way is to do a burn test. If it burn blue then you are good. If it burns yellow or red stay away from it.
 
danielpalos said:
Better than just wasting money on some form of extra-Constitutional prohibition.
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Ah... one of these "Two wrongs equal a right" kind of thing?
 
ludin said:
It is there you just have to know where to go and where to find it.
As a precaution unless you know the person or are getting it from an established source always
test it before you buy it.

The quickest way is to do a burn test. If it burn blue then you are good. If it burns yellow or red stay away from it.
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Thanks. I don't have any interest in moonshine though. I am just surprised if there is a black market for it!
 
swing_voter said:
My California friend told me, only idiots buy legal weed. The taxes and other government fees make it so expensive compared to black market weed.

Did you think legalizing weed would turn out this bad? I didn't.




.
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Maybe the taxes are too high. You have to take market forces into consideration when pricing.
 
So this thread has been going for almost 2 weeks. Has anyone identified any ACTUAL "weed woes?"
 
Lursa said:
THey were very upfront about taxation when they were campaigning for it. I like how much of the tax $ goes to schools and other things.

I'm not a big user, I like the stores and the very helpful and knowledgeable staff. And the increased likelihood of consistency and safety in the product. And the variety!

I dont like bargain basement wine or liquor, why would I penny pinch on pot?
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It's true they were up front about it, and that's how we knew it was going to go the way it has.

I think the main difference between wine and pot in this case is that with the fancy wine, you are buying something with an pragmatic limit. It's expensive because it's actually rare.

The only reason high quality marijuana costs more than really really nice hydroponic tomatos is that there is crushing taxation artificially inflating the price to black market levels. And then they scratch their heads over why people would want to just go to the black market source and save ~30%.

California is way better at making law than enforcing it. They can't even locate and eliminate the shops that advertise to the public, which are 99% posted on weedmaps.com. A 7yo in Honduras could give them the addresses of 100 locations to shut down every week, but somehow that doesn't happen.

They don't even care enough to grab the low hanging fruit. Why shouldn't I just do whatever I want?

For the record I do go and pay the taxes myself, but only because they do have a more consistent product line-up, which is important for medical users.
 
danielpalos said:
All we need is better solutions at lower cost!
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It's like the old saying: The important things are simple, and the simple things are hard.

The solution here is to reduce taxes to bring the gray market in from the cold and stop incentivizing the public to break the law.

And then actually enforce the law on the stragglers.
 
WillyPete said:
It's like the old saying: The important things are simple, and the simple things are hard.

The solution here is to reduce taxes to bring the gray market in from the cold and stop incentivizing the public to break the law.

And then actually enforce the law on the stragglers.
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I should be able to buy weed anywhere alcohol and tobacco are sold.
 
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