Rand report BS for anti Marijuana Crusade

The more I see the MSM (main stream media) spin the Rand report, the more angry I become. First every news agency in the country is pushing marijuana prices will drop to $38 an ounce. This is fairly ridiculous as many growers will not drop their price that low. That price does not allow for name branding and the connoisseur value of the famous highly esteemed Cali buds. One very large fault with the prediction of cheap marijuana is the fact the report gives no time line for how long this prediction of $38 an ounce pot will take, leaving MSM spinning it as it would happen instantaneously.

The next prediction is a huge increase in the use of Marijuana, I feel that there will be some more folks trying it. But this might be a good thing as many people may choose to spend their drug and booze money on marijuana. And crime will go down with the price drops, cartels and their street gangs will no longer have the high price on marijuana, so it will no longer be their most profitable item. But street crime in general will go down as marijuana prices fall, people will be able to afford it whether for recreational use, or those that would like to use it for medical use. There is no excuse for medical marijuana users having to pay black market prices for a medicinal herb, its insanity to think bud should cost $300-$500 an ounce!

Next the report goes into a hypothesis on tax evasion where RAND shows that raising tobacco taxes and the overall price of ciggarettes created a black market to evade paying the tax. Well first off the report states prices will fall on marijuana, so even with the new tax it should be cheaper than todays prices. People will be happy to buy it and pay the tax. As for growers they will slowly fade out of the picture with a few exceptions. There are always going to be a few gardeners out there that want to know what goes into their food or smoke, but look how few people have vegetable gardens even now when food prices are so high. How often do you meet someone that is growing their own tobacco to evade taxes and save money?

One recent article goes as far as predicting $1.50 joints by misuse of the Rand data. Lets take a quick look at this presumption. If marijuana dropped to $38 an ounce you would have to add the $50 an ounce tax, now were at $88 an ounce. Now I have never heard of retailers not making a profit so were up to at least $100 and then sales and other local taxes push it up into the $125 to $150 price range. A decent joint weighs 1/2 to 3/4 a gram so how can anyone come up with $1.50 a joint, maybe they roll New York City penners! (extremely small joints).



Lead author Beau Kilmer, the other co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, said the cost of prime California pot -- currently valued at $300 to $450 per ounce -- could fall to as little as $38 an ounce if legalized in California. He said that could mean "$1.50 a joint for high-quality marijuana."
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I'm afraid the Rand report is just FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) to help MSM fend off the November vote for legalization, sad but true.

Taxation not Prohibition!