I had a discussion about the legalization of marijuana, and the person reminded me that marijuana is actually rather easy to grow, especially because once you buy a pack of seed, you no longer need to buy any more seeds, making it very hard to tax if legalization of personal growth happened.
So he and I formulated a possible idea specifically for growing: a growers license.
Restrictions on the license would be simple:
a) You do not have to have a reason to get the license. If it's for medical purposes, you note that only to get a discount.
b) The license itself is $10, but you also have to pay to grow a certain amount of plants. We came up $5 for every 5 plants or something like that (for a medical license, it'd be, like, maybe $3 for every 5 plants).
c) You must be at least 18 for the license. (My friend thought that you should have to get parental permission [from 18] until you turn 21, but I'm not so sure about this, especially since some 18-year-olds still declare independence these days, so it would suck if they, no longer being dependent on or living with their parents, still had to get permission to get a growers license.)
This would ensure the ability to tax the growing of marijuana, because what you're paying for the license and the number of plants you can grow would be that tax.
Obviously, there would have to be rules just to ensure societal pressures are met. This is what we came up with:
You suffer consequences for the following:
-Driving while stoned (it's a hell of a lot safer than driving drunk [I have yet to hear about a driving accident caused by marijuana], but it's still a hell of a lot more dangerous than driving sober)
-Missing a significant amount of time of work or school for no obvious reasons (that is, you miss something like two weeks straight and the best excuse you have is a cold)
These are the only two we thought of, really.
There's a 4-strike system:
1st offense: A week's suspension on the license
2nd offense: A month's suspension on the license and a fine
3rd offense: A year's suspension on the license and a larger fine
4th offense: Marijuana is now fully illegal for the offender; being caught with it after this would result in all the same punishments marijuana users deal with now
I should note that major companies could still sell their "marijuana cigarettes", even though, admittedly, being able to grow would cut their business on this.
For me, I'd rather grow my own then purchase hat comes from Big tobacco, so this is something I would not only be interested in, but if this license (or something similar) ever did come out, I would be one of the first to purchase it.
But what do y'all think? Any other offense you could imagine falling under the 4-strike system? Would you purchase the license? Is it too restrictive? Let me know your thoughts.
Tags: growing, license, marijuana
Permalink Reply by Sendero Rojo on May 10, 2011 at 4:43pm
Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on May 10, 2011 at 4:54pm
Permalink Reply by Nathan Hevenstone on May 10, 2011 at 5:25pm I only want to comment on this:
or no one will hire you if use cannabis etc..?
If marijuana is legalized, then just as drug tests don't test for alcohol or tobacco, they also would no longer test for marijuana, which means a company wouldn't [i]know[/i] whether or not you use it. Just don't be stupid and show up to the interview or your job stoned.
Permalink Reply by Sendero Rojo on May 10, 2011 at 5:45pm
Permalink Reply by Nathan Hevenstone on May 10, 2011 at 10:39pm An yet they don't test for alcohol and tobacco, and can't fire you for using either of those.
All the conditions you speak of now were true during alcohol prohibition, as well. We ended that, and it barely took a year for the positive differences to show up. The capitalists will get over it when they realize that legalized pot is a hell of a lot more lucrative than criminalized pot.
Permalink Reply by Sendero Rojo on May 10, 2011 at 11:00pm
Permalink Reply by Nathan Hevenstone on May 10, 2011 at 11:37pm You don't even have to tell them you drink or smoke tobacco! The drugs tests don't test for either, so unless you insist on taking smoke breaks or you somehow manage to bump into your boss's boss's boss's boss's boss (and the previous bosses) at a bar, how, exactly, would they know?
On the flip-side, not matter what you do, a company is going to know whether or not you smoke marijuana. Legalize it, and that's gone. It can't be tested for anymore.
As far as quality alcohol not being easy to produce at home... I never said it was. I'm not even sure where that came from. I have first-hand experience into how hard alcohol can be to produce at home.
As far as the power players, the main difference between the prohibition-era and today is mass communication. They didn't have TV, On Demand, or the internet.
And legalized cannabis would be a hell of a lot more lucrative. Marijuana is the black market's most lucrative product. In the black market, it outsells OTC and prescription drugs. What makes you think it wouldn't do the same when legalized?
ETA:
You're not going to start talking about the New World Order, are you?...
Permalink Reply by Sendero Rojo on May 10, 2011 at 11:49pm
Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on May 10, 2011 at 10:25pm
Permalink Reply by Brandi Hill on January 21, 2012 at 10:22pm Thats bullshit if they had a prescription for anything else that would normally get fired for taking without it then it wouldn't have been a problem.
Permalink Reply by Brandi Hill on January 21, 2012 at 10:15pm I agree that is their problem... but instead of thinking about the money they couldn't make legalizing maybe they could think of the money that they would save not fighting it.... and I would be willing to pay $50 dollars for 5 plants... hell I would be willing to pay $50 a plant every year with a cap on 10 plants a cycle, from seed to fruiting.... which would be at least 2 times a year for an indoor garden... that would be the growers fee... you could also buy a permit to supply for other people, that would require them to by a users license and pay for the growers license with a labor fee. Not everyone would want to hassle with growing, or maybe they wanted better quality then they could grow themselves. I am just saying that the government is not doing it because of religion.
Permalink Reply by Jonny Marko on January 22, 2012 at 1:43pm I'd probably support legalization, but I can't stand the idea of any government having to issue permits or licenses to grow or smoke it. I wouldn't have room to grow my own in my tiny apartment, and the way it works now is super convenient - cash for goods, zero paperwork involved. It's just very unfortunate that right now a lot of the money ends up in the hands of gangs and criminals.
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