News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Washington voters approve legalized marijuana by smsm42 on Wednesday November 07, 2012 @02:44PM (#4754834)
Government doesn't need to be bribed, voters do. It is pretty much "if you potheads want us to not put you to jail, there should be something in it for us too". Ideally, people should not be paying bribes to be able to do something that harms nobody and is their own private business. However, in the messed up world of American politics, it is what it takes - nobody cares about your freedom, but if you sweeten the deal with some tax dollars, it may be worth considering.

Government is running protection rackets in many areas, but in this particular one it is the voters who take the decision. I never heard an argument about legalize which based on freedom and lack of harm and medicinal uses, etc. alone and was successful. Add tax income to that, and your poll numbers are much better.

Re:Washington voters approve legalized marijuana by r00fus on Wednesday November 07, 2012 @04:49PM (#4755355)
So you're saying there will be no costs in enforcing safe usage of pot? What are the societal costs of (to use alcohol analogy) driving while stoned? What about rehab?

The public, through the government, effectively pays for this, and taxing the activity can alleviate or mitigate those costs.

Re:Washington voters approve legalized marijuana by smsm42 on Wednesday November 07, 2012 @06:54PM (#4755840)
Compared to enormous costs of the War On Drugs, the cost change would be clearly negative. It is much cheaper to ensure pot is not sold to minors, not distributed in schools, etc. - just as is done with alcohol/tobacco now - that to have dedicated police force, court system and prison system prosecuting marijuana users.

Societal costs of DUI would not change much - people that are careless enough to DUI would DUI anyway, and legal pot does not add much to it - whoever needs pot, knows where to get it even illegally, and obviously if he doesn't care about the law while DUI, he wouldn't also care about the law before, while consuming. So while a minor rise in DUI is possible since people that smoked in home because they were afraid to be arrested may now smoke outside and then drive, I think it won't be very significant. Most people know how to be responsible.

Rehab costs would rise since more people which have dependency problem would turn to rehab now that they aren't branded criminals anymore, but I think it is a good thing, and the cost will be completely covered by the reduction of costs in policing, courts and prisons. Especially that marijuana is a relatively lightly-addictive drug, so rehab would not be as costly as for heavier substances.