I called it 10 or more years ago re black markets for weed

[BannedFromDU]

Star Member left-of-center2012 (28,468 posts)

$1B in illegal marijuana seized in largest Los Angeles County bust

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The largest illegal marijuana bust in Los Angeles County history — which netted 373,000 plants that would ultimately have been worth $1 billion on the street — eradicated only a fraction of the illicit grows in the Southern California high desert, authorities said Wednesday.

The problem is wide-ranging in the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, officials said, and has grown tremendously during the coronavirus pandemic. Armed cartel members run massive illegal grows, some spanning dozens of greenhouses, that are detrimental to the state’s legal marijuana market.

Multiple law enforcement agencies carried out a 10-day operation in the Antelope Valley last month that resulted in 131 arrests and the seizure of more than 33,000 pounds of harvested marijuana plants.

Yet the undertaking only demolished 205 illegal grows out of the 500 seen by aerial surveillance in the area. Scores more exist in other nearby counties. The cartel members threaten residents and steal millions of gallons of water amid a severe drought, Villanueva said. The growing operations have poisoned streams and groundwater with harmful pesticides and harmed wildlife and plants.

https://www.indianagazette.com/news/1b-in-illegal-pot-seized-in-largest-los-angeles-county-bust/article_080a3a94-134e-5260-9d79-8d73d5e8ce9e.html

Any idiot could have seen this coming, but idiocy is a mere aspiration for a DUmmy


Seriously: we were told by DUmmies FOREVER - FOREVER - that all illegal drug activity, specifically the black market and violence - would completely disappear overnight if we just legalized it and taxed it. It would
tax worldwide bandwidth to post the THOUSANDS of DUmp threads on the matter. NOW, of course, there IS a flourishing black market SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE IT'S LEGAL AND TAXED, JUST LIKE THE DUMMIES DEMANDED ALL ALONG.

Star Member marble falls (41,059 posts)
3. Legalizr it and there won't be any public land grows.

Long coma, marble falls. Long coma.

Star Member Dream Girl (4,495 posts)
4. It's legal here, but there is a market for the illegal stuff because ithey tax the beejezus of it. Just like you wanted them to do, asshole

So the high tax rate 25% is propping up demand for illegal weed. I’m going to look into growing my own but concerned about the water requirements. I have a medical card so taxed at a discounted rate “only” 20%. I know California is raking it in, but really, 25%?

Sorry, ****head, but this is not only what you wanted, but it's what you DEMANDED. Pay the tax like you swore you would and shut the **** up.

Star Member Devil Child (1,966 posts)
5. Stop sin-taxing the hell out of marijuana users plus federal legalization

Would go a long way in taking the incentive out of guerrilla growing.

Sorry, ****head, but this is not only what you wanted, but it's what you DEMANDED. Pay the tax like you swore you would and shut the **** up.

Maybe you idiots should think about how much water it takes to grow your precious weed, and then consider that the tax is to pay for the waste of water.

Jackasses.

[FunkyZero]

Jackasses.

Could be titled: "When The US Government BECOMES The Cartel"
What do these nimrods THINK drives the black market?
Let's see...  average dope head can go pay 100 bucks for legal taxed weed, or buy the same for 25 bucks off his neighbor (I dunno man, I'm guessing how much dope costs). hmm...  you know, dope heads are typically so worried about making sure they don't run afoul with the law and all, I'm sure they will pay more just, well.. because.
The ONLY way this works is if you crash the market for the crap and make it mostly a worthless weed again. Taxing the hell out of it kindof defeats that idea completely.

[Old n Grumpy]

If they can see the illegal grows from the air why not bring in the choppers and napalm them. It would also help eradicate the cartel as well.

Anyone who couldn't see the problem with the high price & taxes to eliminating the black market is a real dumb ass. it's a simple plant that can be grown in a bucket.

[BannedFromDU]

Could be titled: "When The US Government BECOMES The Cartel"
What do these nimrods THINK drives the black market?
Let's see...  average dope head can go pay 100 bucks for legal taxed weed, or buy the same for 25 bucks off his neighbor (I dunno man, I'm guessing how much dope costs). hmm...  you know, dope heads are typically so worried about making sure they don't run afoul with the law and all, I'm sure they will pay more just, well.. because.
The ONLY way this works is if you crash the market for the crap and make it mostly a worthless weed again. Taxing the hell out of it kindof defeats that idea completely.

      We were told that if we only legalized it and taxed it, there would be infinite money for schools, no violence, no black market, and life would be perfect. When they CROWED ABOUT THE LEGALIZATION EFFORTS IN COLORADO, they bragged about the tax receipts it would bring in.

      Sorry, DUmpers - you own this. Smoke your Government Weed, pay your tax, and shut up.

[SVPete]

Star Doper Dream Girl (4,495 posts)
4. It's legal here, but there is a market for the illegal stuff because ithey tax the beejezus of it.

... I have a medical card so taxed at a discounted rate “only” 20%. ...

Being a semi-old dude, I can remember ... the people who said legalizing MJ would magically eliminate the criminal element in distribution, AND it could be taxed.

Whether a 5% or 25% tax, who is stupid enough not to have foreseen people accustomed to a lifestyle of lawbreaking breaking the law so as to avoid the tax?!

Speaking of things foreseeable, Star Doper Dream Girl has a "Medical" (Wink! Wink!) Marijuana card.        

[Karin]

Well, exactly.  And New York just went merrily down that same path, without learning from others first.  First, they dithered FOR YEARS over what regulations and such should exist.  Then they bickered FOR YEARS about all the money angles.  How much to tax, where that windfall should go, etc. 

After all that, the weed-smokers just continue to call up their old guy. 

[Texacon]

I love it when DUmmies get bit in the ass by taxes.  I thought all taxes were good taxes?  According to everything I read over there taxes, especially really high ones, are a good thing.

Not to mention, I thought these people hated evil corporations polluting the waterways, and using all the resources.  I guess it's ok if their precious dope is getting grown. 

 

KC

[BannedFromDU]

I love it when DUmmies get bit in the ass by taxes.  I thought all taxes were good taxes?  According to everything I read over there taxes, especially really high ones, are a good thing.

Not to mention, I thought these people hated evil corporations polluting the waterways, and using all the resources.  I guess it's ok if their precious dope is getting grown. 

 

KC

      The real problem is that it isn't cool anymore. When you go to a dispensary, you see soccer moms and other ordinary looking people buying gummies and stuff. Not nearly the same user experience they had in the 70's, when they went to buy a lid from some dude who had stacks of old Hustlers and High Times on his coffee table.  They don't want to buy dope when they have to park next to a minivan - they want to buy from TominTib.   

[freedumb2003b]

Could be titled: "When The US Government BECOMES The Cartel"
What do these nimrods THINK drives the black market?
Let's see...  average dope head can go pay 100 bucks for legal taxed weed, or buy the same for 25 bucks off his neighbor (I dunno man, I'm guessing how much dope costs). hmm...  you know, dope heads are typically so worried about making sure they don't run afoul with the law and all, I'm sure they will pay more just, well.. because.
The ONLY way this works is if you crash the market for the crap and make it mostly a worthless weed again. Taxing the hell out of it kindof defeats that idea completely.

What is funny is that now the State is going to put every hobnailed boot on the ground to try to crush these operations.  I mean back when they were just killing, maiming, hurting, extorting, filling the jails - that was just fine. But now these operations are INTERFERING WITH REVENUE!  That must be stopped at all cost!

[freedumb2003b]

      The real problem is that it isn't cool anymore. When you go to a dispensary, you see soccer moms and other ordinary looking people buying gummies and stuff. Not nearly the same user experience they had in the 70's, when they went to buy a lid from some dude who had stacks of old Hustlers and High Times on his coffee table.  They don't want to buy dope when they have to park next to a minivan - they want to buy from TominTib.

Can you imagine the stories that would accompany such a purchase?  "Yeah, Tim Leary was a best friend of mine - we used to get high all the time with Morrison and Janice.  Spent all my time in Topanga Canyon out by the pool with them.  Clothing optional and the chicks DUG me, baby!"

[BannedFromDU]

Can you imagine the stories that would accompany such a purchase?  "Yeah, Tim Leary was a best friend of mine - we used to get high all the time with Morrison and Janice.  Spent all my time in Topanga Canyon out by the pool with them.  Clothing optional and the chicks DUG me, baby!"

     I wonder what happened to old HollisInSonoma. Maybe he went back into service on Seal Team Tom.

[67 Rover]

So much for paying a fair share I guess.

[CollectivismMustDie]

Can you imagine the stories that would accompany such a purchase?  "Yeah, Tim Leary was a best friend of mine - we used to get high all the time with Morrison and Janice.  Spent all my time in Topanga Canyon out by the pool with them.  Clothing optional and the chicks DUG me, baby!"

That sounds like a stans son bouncy.

[Patriot Guard Rider]

I love it when DUmmies get bit in the ass by taxes.  I thought all taxes were good taxes?  According to everything I read over there taxes, especially really high ones, are a good thing.

Not to mention, I thought these people hated evil corporations polluting the waterways, and using all the resources.  I guess it's ok if their precious dope is getting grown. 

 

KC

DUmmies love high taxes when it's corporations that are hit (not realizing they pay the tax in the form of higher prices for products/services from those same corporations.)

But when it's a direct hit on THEIR pocketbook, they balk. Just like always, they love high taxes if someone else is paying them.

[freedumb2003b]

That sounds like a stans son bouncy.

That was minor compared to the body of TiTs lies.  For example he claimed he shot a rifle (or shotgun?) at Dick Cheney from 5 feet away and no one did anything (implication being he was such a badass the SS was afraid of him).  Or something like that -- Frank or one of the other oldsters may recall better.

He lived on stolen valor.

I wish I could recall all the whoppers he told.  I will credit him for a great imagination, like that kid in the classic cartoon.  They were not usually bouncies, just self-aggrandizing that were funny for the seriousness he put behind them.  Even the DUmmies would call him on them and he would get really mean and angry.

Very entertaining and the pinnacle of the truism: all lefties lie.  All the time.  Even when they don't have to.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

They owe Arthur Laffer an apology.

Not only is all that illegal pot lost revenue, it's also a law enforcement expense.

[Old n Grumpy]

Well, exactly.  And New York just went merrily down that same path, without learning from others first.  First, they dithered FOR YEARS over what regulations and such should exist.  Then they bickered FOR YEARS about all the money angles.  How much to tax, where that windfall should go, etc. 

After all that, the weed-smokers just continue to call up their old guy.

Just like when they raised the tax on cigarettes, the black market boomed and you had people on the street selling single smokes. then a black guy died.

[USA4ME]

It would be nice if the left would learn from their stupid mistakes, but they don’t. This will be no different. They’ll just double down.

.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

It would be nice if the left would learn from their stupid mistakes, but they don’t. This will be no different. They’ll just double down.

.

"In order to deal with the loss of tax revenue from illegal pot growers seeking to avoid the 25-percent state tax, we will be raising the tax to 50-percent."