Quote:
Originally Posted by Rifleman
Does anyone grow their own tobacco, distill their own gin... yes i'm sure there are a few but most people just pay the high (and getting higher) tax and go about their business. With cannabis, the black market and DIY people are sooo adept that a 20 - 200% tax on something you can literally grow in a flower pot in your kitchen, will not be tolerated. The product itself is $1.00 an ounce. Production, packaging, distribution may raise that to 5 - 10... if you are going to tax the crap out of it... people will (continue) to grow it themselves at zero tax...
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Maybe, but I'd suggest a different analogy. iTunes rules the music industry, and a combination of it and Netflix are on their way to rule the movie industry, even though the cost of both services is significantly above what people can get the same product for, if they choose to break some laws to get it (free, by downloading the same content a million different ways). Even with that competitive price of zero, those paid businesses are making huge dollars by providing a product that is high quality, easy, and trusted. They didn't win by being as cheap as Napster, they won by having a damn good product that was good enough for people to choose to pay for instead of getting it for free.
If there ever were a time where it was just as easy to go to the corner store and buy high quality mj for a price that is 20% above what can be had at the black market today, I'd posit that the vast majority would slowly but surely migrate over to that distribution channel. This isn't purely academic; it would be interesting to get the thoughts of those who are competing with the legit sources in Colorado and Washington right now.