The results of legalizing marijuana are good

[jlw]

Originally published at: The results of legalizing marijuana are good | Boing Boing

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[gracchus]

Stories like this must create quite a conundrum for conservatives, with their worship of the Almighty Dollar coming into conflict with their desire to lock up young PoC.

[Papasan]

The results of legalizing marijuana are good

Dude! I knew that!

[generic_name]

Dude, don’t forget the main benefit. . .

[Improbus]

I was going to make a cogent comment, then I got high.

[Shuck]

I’m curious as to the impact on usage. From what I’ve read, legalization reduces underage use, but I wonder about the general population. My assumption would be that it wouldn’t much increase the number of users - it was easy enough to get before, if you were so inclined, so it’s not like there was a huge untapped market.

“it had no effect on trends in traffic fatalities in both Colorado and Washington”
Doesn’t surprise me, because of my above assumption. I also recollect reading some research that suggested that people high on cannabis were better drivers than those impaired by alcohol - they were just as impaired, but alcohol made people reckless and cannabis made people cautious, so, perversely, a drunk person’s driving would be improved by then smoking cannabis. I’m curious if there have been changes as to how police are dealing with DUIs now - not that it wasn’t an issue before, but now it needs to be more rigorously codified, I’d imagine. (You can’t just nab someone for having smoked.)

@gracchus

conflict with their desire to lock up young PoC

Cops in particular must be super-pissed about this - after all, “I smelled marijuana” has traditionally been the bullshit excuse for cops to do whatever they wanted with PoC. It was the perfect excuse because they could use it in any circumstance and it didn’t require a shred of evidence. Now they have to come up with something else that people might actually be able to check…

[Miles_Rinehart]

Thanks for the Brujeria plug! I love that band! Matando Gueros!

[knoxblox]

@Shuck

I’m curious as to the impact on usage.

I think the pandemic is probably going to skew results. I know I’m using more than usual because I don’t have anywhere to be right now.

[FloridaManJefe]

Roger that!

[cannibalpeas]

@jlw

Across the country, there are about 321,000 jobs in the legal marijuana industry. That’s more than the mining industry.

Colorado usually collects more than $20 million a month. In 2020, the state collected a total of $387 million. The California government collects more than $50 million a month

[milliefink]

@Shuck

Now they have to come up with something else that people might actually be able to check…

Meh, “You look black” has looong been an excuse, even though it no longer gets said out loud.

[GratuitousFish]

@Shuck

My assumption would be that it wouldn’t much increase the number of users - it was easy enough to get before, if you were so inclined, so it’s not like there was a huge untapped market.

I don’t have any hard numbers, but I think usage would be up with people who probably enjoying smoking, but didn’t have a connection or know where to get one. It’s never been hard to get if you know where to look (like you said), but I know a few people who felt weird asking people if they knew how to get pot, especially folks who live in smaller communities. Those folks now smoke regularly because getting it is easier.

[marence]

Anecdotal evidence from a medical marijuana state - many many more boomers that smoked in their youth but lost touch with ways to buy as they aged are thrilled to be able buy legally. Most of them don’t smoke, or vape, as smoking isn’t allowed in Ohio, but boy do they like their gummies and candies!

[milliefink]

Best occasional sleep med I’ve found. Fun too!

[Shuck]

@knoxblox

I think the pandemic is probably going to skew results.

Yeah, I’d expect existing consumers to consumer more (like drinkers are drinking more), but I suspect there aren’t a lot of people who previously weren’t already users starting up now.

@GratuitousFish

I think usage would be up with people who probably enjoying smoking, but didn’t have a connection or know where to get one

Seems likely, I’d imagine that usage is up for some people - though for a lot of people, other practical matters probably were more likely to limit how much they consumed more than availability to begin with.

@marence

many many more boomers that smoked in their youth but lost touch with ways to buy as they aged are thrilled to be able buy legally

I can imagine that’s the demographic that’s increased use the most. Though given the ages involved, I suspect the pot was substituting for other, quasi-legal drugs, too. (E.g. painkillers, anti-anxiety drugs, etc.)

@milliefink

“You look black” has looong been an excuse, even though it no longer gets said out loud.

But, in the last 50 years or so, “I smelled cannabis” was the translation of that into something with legal weight. Now they need to translate it into something else, probably a variety of excuses for various situations. I can’t imagine that people actually believed cops when they said they smelled cannabis (when nothing was found on the suspects), everyone knew what it was really about, but no one could really challenge it.

[knoxblox]

Thinking of the situation in Mexico, my friend here says Mexico should be about 6 months away from legalization. Time to get cracking if you’re a Mexican business person who is looking for a good investment.

[Jean-Luc-Turbo]

I can say that in my town of Los Ángeles, CA., the clientele shift from us ahead of the bell curve pre-recreational medical cannabis users to the current post recreational legalization environment has been quite fun to watch. It’s like watching a social evolution in real time (this took me what feels like 3 hours to write and still can’t tell if I’m making sense…).

(I don’t normally bat for the indica team is the contributing factor I felt I should highlight.)