Blunt forces: How marijuana is changing America

[Zorro]

Eighteen years ago, California became the first state to decriminalize weed for medicinal purposes. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have since followed. Of course, to openly purchase pot is to pay taxes for pot. Enter the black market sellers, who cater to people who’d rather not — and provide shadowy competition for the regulated industry. The Post’s Tina Griego takes you inside one Colo. man’s business:

“The front door stays closed. The sheer white curtains in the living room window let in light, but nothing else. A basement filtering system vents air scrubbed of the sweet funky smell of the pot growing in the basement. He keeps his grow operation here small. It’s his home. That’s his grandson upstairs watching TV with strict instructions not to open the door if someone knocks. Should the cops inquire, they’d find a frail-looking, middle-age Latino with diabetes and heart problems, talking about his pension and his Medicaid and waving his medical marijuana registry card.”

We know Americans are smoking more marijuana. But how does that affect our health, culture and economy?

1. In Colorado, recreational weed costs twice as much as medical and black market weed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/07/30/blunt-forces-how-marijuana-is-changing-america/

[musiclawyer]

1. None of this is news to anyone paying attention

Past, present future, People like weed for all kinds of reasons: pain relief, sex enhancement, party, relieve boredom, secure concentration, etc Now that sanity is returning to much of the country , the entire west coast, most of the mountain west and southwest and northeast will probably be weed legal in less than a decade. Then it's pretty much game over. The question is who will tax least? That state will be the biggest economic winner as they will exterminate any vestigial black market in their locale. Like fast food and grocery retail--the profit is in volume, not mark up.