Missive

So, we had our grand 'mid term election' last night and the results are rolling in and, quite naturally, I'm reading the results and noticed something about California attempting to legalize marijuana.



There are quite a few benefits to this, which I'm sure one could find extolled on other sites, however that's not what I intend to write about. The proposition lost, and quite badly from all accounts, and it's fairly amusing to me that people are surprised by this. I must say that I am not.

My lack of surprise isn't because of any moral standpoint. My personal feelings are, do as thou wilt just keep the fuck out of my house. All of you. No, my lack of surprise is because of the small numbers of people who would be in favor of this measure, and that is recreational marijuana users. Those are the only ones who would be in favor of legalization.

Why would no one else? Well, lets go down the list, shall we? We'll start with the ones who are currently taking the blame 'older conservative voters'. Of course they don't want it legalized and their stance is entirely based upon the moral context that was fed from the old voodoo pharmacology beliefs. So quite naturally, they assume that would this be legalized then it would be the end of the world. So you have that group right out.

How about those that have a stake in marijuana? Growers, shippers, sellers. If marijuana became legal, then their profits would drop to near zero as growing it is not that difficult at all. So now everyone has the potential to access it themselves with little effort and now the people who grow it aren't in demand, therefore there is no need to pay people to get it from the grower to the distributor, and there is no one buying it because they already have access to it and they have it cheaper than it used to be. Oops, there goes another group that might say 'yes'. Sorry kids.

Next we take the newly minted kids, the ones who just turned 18 and now have the ability to vote. Oh, but the proposed law says they have to wait until their 21 and, if you remember anything at all about being 18, then 21 is forever away so, fuck it. They aren't going to be in favor of it since they don't get to benefit immediately. Guess what? There goes another group.

And we're just getting started but already the issue is a non-starter across almost all demographics. Given this, how can anyone really be surprised that the proposition failed?

Really it's just the facts, those on the production side enjoy the illegality because it increases cost as they are able to maintain a monopoly on the supply, one that they are unwilling to give up. Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you are the creator of a product. You aren't the only creator but even with several of you in the market, the item is still a rarity, but one that has a steady demand. Now the government comes along and says anyone and everyone can have your product. Demand for yours drops, your income suffers, and soon you're out of business. This is what the producers were facing so quite naturally they were going to vote it down.

I'm not saying there's no benefits, and I'm not saying there's a moral obligation to keep it legal. It's a business matter as much as a moral issue. The government as a whole gets quite a boatload of cash to fight the 'drug war' as well. The government employs citizens too. Guess what? It's legal, there's nothing to fight any more and all those people are out of a job. Yep, if you're counting that's another group that's going to vote no.

The only real way you're going to manage to get it legalized is to educate people on a mass scale about the benefits as well as the possible pitfalls. Be completely honest about the positives and negatives. Transparency means trust in most cases. You need to outnumber those groups who are going to vote no, and that you can be assured are going to do so.

Until you do that, it's a lost cause.