A look inside California's black market for weed shows a huge threat to legal sales

Checkerboard Strangler said:

If it's been legalized then medical cards are meaningless. You need a medical card for places where it is still ILLEGAL EXCEPT FOR "medical use". The only time one needs a medical card in a state where it has been completely legalized is in the case of administering cannabis to minors who have demonstrated a valid medical need such as seizures.

In California, you only need to be 21 years old, PERIOD.

Click to expand...

But that is an example of the kinds of restrictions I was referring too. If they can't get it legally, they will still get it illegally.

If one is an adult at 18 why must they wait until 21? I was an advocate of 18 y.o.'s having all adult rights back when we could be drafted and sent to war way back when. That lasted right up until Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) got the laws changed.

If they were that concerned about "kids" under 21, they should have used that "feeling" to make Congress raise the Draft to 21. I don't believe in "semi-adulthood." It's all or nothing as far as I am concerned.

Checkerboard Strangler said:

Restaurants like that get regulated by the Health Dept.
I don't mind some enforcement power.
It appears that you might have a problem with that.

Click to expand...

Other than arbitrarily raising the cost of living I don't have an issue because I typically pay for better quality service when I do things like go out to eat or shop. The types of restaurants I frequent I wouldn't need to worry if they were kept under surveillance by the health department. I just find it rather ridiculous that so many of those that would cry about rising costs of living and how the less fortunate aren't able to keep up with the rising prices are typically the same people that call for more and more of the same stupid regulations and such that causing the issues in the first place. Every regulation put into place costs tax money to oversee and enforce and higher costs for businesses to be in compliance. I would personally rather have more money in my pocket and cheaper selections while making my own choice if a place is worth me spending my money in rather than having a health department tell me what I likely can tell just by looking around.

Captain Adverse said:

But that is an example of the kinds of restrictions I was referring too. If they can't get it legally, they will still get it illegally.

If one is an adult at 18 why must they wait until 21? I was an advocate of 18 y.o.'s having all adult rights back when we could be drafted and sent to war way back when. That lasted right up until Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) got the laws changed.

If they were that concerned about "kids" under 21, they should have used that "feeling" to make Congress raise the Draft to 21. I don't believe in "semi-adulthood." It's all or nothing as far as I am concerned.

Click to expand...

They draft you at 18 because after training, you are still young enough to believe in your own invincibility. They don’t want you involved in alcohol until you are 21 because you get drunk and do stupid stuff because you think you are invincible. There are two different motives at play here.

Nap said:

Easy way to end the black market is simply get rid of the stupid regulations.

Click to expand...

Or adjust the regulations so that they work, as is essentially the case with alcohol regulations. There is nothing wrong with common sense in regulations.

The legal market needs to take the monopoly away. Remove the stupid limits on the number of dispensaries, heavily subsidize legal farms, and sell it for dirt cheap (at a loss) for a while. At the same time, implement nasty fines for buying or selling on the black market. All of these can then be rolled back partially or in-full once the black market has died off (except the dispensary number limit, that's still stupid).

Captain Adverse said:

But that is an example of the kinds of restrictions I was referring too. If they can't get it legally, they will still get it illegally.

If one is an adult at 18 why must they wait until 21? I was an advocate of 18 y.o.'s having all adult rights back when we could be drafted and sent to war way back when. That lasted right up until Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) got the laws changed.

If they were that concerned about "kids" under 21, they should have used that "feeling" to make Congress raise the Draft to 21. I don't believe in "semi-adulthood." It's all or nothing as far as I am concerned.

Click to expand...

Well said and yet I am still on the fence on the 18 versus 21 question for a variety of reasons which will surely bore you to tears, so I'll demur.
And here's the thing: Some states have obscure loopholes on the matter of minors consuming alcohol.

It boils down to a cute story about my mother. Early trip from Texas (where we still lived then) to see my mother in California.
Mom made a nice authentic Italian dinner for us, looked over at my daughter who was sixteen at the time, and says, "Bree how old are you?"
Bree replied that she was sixteen.

"Would you like some wine?" (Bree nods)
(my Mom) "She's old enough.", to which Bree looks over and says "Mama knows best."
(laughter)

Technically we weren't actually violating the law in California or Texas, because both states actually do allow a minor to consume alcohol on private property in the presence of a parent or other legal guardian.

Yes, we're probably a little bit behind Europe on this, but even parts of Europe always used to divide it into milder forms of alcohol for young people, at least in the past. I don't know if that changed when everyone joined the EU or not.
I'm pretty sure that The Netherlands was one country that had something called "Kid's Beer", but I might be wrong on that.

And by the way, some states still have absurd laws about beer, where you can only serve 3.2% beer unless you have a license to serve "strong beer", which is more tightly restricted, because "Ooooooo, it's 5 percent ABV instead of 3.2."

Nap said:

Other than arbitrarily raising the cost of living I don't have an issue because I typically pay for better quality service when I do things like go out to eat or shop. The types of restaurants I frequent I wouldn't need to worry if they were kept under surveillance by the health department. I just find it rather ridiculous that so many of those that would cry about rising costs of living and how the less fortunate aren't able to keep up with the rising prices are typically the same people that call for more and more of the same stupid regulations and such that causing the issues in the first place. Every regulation put into place costs tax money to oversee and enforce and higher costs for businesses to be in compliance. I would personally rather have more money in my pocket and cheaper selections while making my own choice if a place is worth me spending my money in rather than having a health department tell me what I likely can tell just by looking around.

Click to expand...

Nap, have you ever worked IN the restaurant business?

Nap said:

Easy way to end the black market is simply get rid of the stupid regulations.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, the California legislature is gonna do that, you bet.

chuckiechan said:

Plus the illegal vendors have a whole new group of customers to expose other illegal drugs too.

Click to expand...

Right you are. With legal sales of marijuana in the US picking up the Mexican cartels are turning to narcotics.