This is a good step. How long till Chomskyâs hegemonists muck it up?
Interesting to see how this is going to affect their tourism. Assuming their entire Government doesnât turn up in a ditch somewhere for bucking âinternationalâ accord over (failed) drugs policy.
You need to be a citizen of Uruguay to partake of the legalized cannabis, also you need to sign up for a government list which should keep many people away from the legalized system, plus the limits are comically small, so dont expect the black market to go away soon.
You seem to believe this is an attempt to destroy the black market, for that you are mistaken.
BUT, if you read the article, the grow-clubs definitely allow the ability to transcend the amounts purchasable monthly through the government.
There was a hilariously petulant quote from the relevant functionary at the UNâs Commission on Narcotic Drugs, huffily noting that Uraguayâs actions were wholly out of compliance with the terms of The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, to which it is a party.
No word on whether anybody in the Uruguayan government sent him a reply to the effect of âThe UN wonât get off its ass for a few hundred thousand dead civilians, so what are you going to do about it?â
Being able to buy over a pound of legal weed every year is a âcomically smallâ limit?
Not mentioned in the article is the price. Theyâve set the maximum price for weed at $1/g. Making weed not only legal, but effectively free. Very difficult for criminals to compete against pricing like that.
Sure, a black market will arise to supply weed to tourists. But with $1/g weed available to all residents, thereâs no way big crime can make much money, since the average Uruguayan can buy it for $1 and sell it to tourists for $5, who will still be getting a hell of a deal compared to the price of weed at home.
You can also grow six plants, which seems like a reasonable quantity for most people (depending on whether youâre doing fancy cultivation to maximize yield/quality or just sticking them out in the garden next to the tomatoes.)
$1 a gram in Uruguay is not âeffectively freeâ - itâs apparently only about 30% under the local black market price.
Presumably illegal operators are charging as much as they can get, which comes out to a retail price of $1.50 or so a gram. If that wasnât enough to make a profit including compensation for the risk of being in a illegal line of work, theyâd quit and do something else.
I donât know about anyone else, but Iâd prefer legal and regulated weed even at a fairly significant markup over illegal stuff, for the peace of mind of avoiding the legal risk (however minimized by my privileged skin colour), and buying a product thatâs quality controlled with respect to strength, pesticide application, adulteration, safe working conditions, labour standards, etc. etc.
Not saying youâre wrong; Iâve never been to Uruguay. But $1.50/g ($42/oz) seems very low. Is the an accurate price?
If so, this worries me⌠if the legal price isnât significantly less than the illegal price, the illegal market might survive. And if that happens, this experiment will be held up as a failure.
Here in central Ontario, Canada, $200 to $250/oz is common; I figure the illegal market could be completely eliminated by at legal price of $50 to $100/oz, which leaves lots of room for profit at every step AND significant taxation.
According to these guys, high-quality weed currently averages $164/oz, or roughly $5.75/g.
Yep, it is. people in chemo, with chronic pain, or gastrointestinal illness can get way past that easily.
If the grow clubs have the same harvest limits as indiviuvals there wont be enough legal supply, to cover the legally purchasable limit.
Itâs not a major problem if the illegal market âsurvivesâ so long as there isnât enough profit in it to support the horrific levels of violence that have become a hallmark of the industry. There is still a modest market for illegal moonshine in the U.S., but the people who traffic in it are no longer machine-gunning each other to death in alleyways on a regular basis.
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