(semi) legal weed driving drug dealers out of business

[BabylonHoruv]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126806429

Looks like the medical marijuana laws and stopping the raiding of clinics by the Obama administration has driven weed prices so low that many growers can no longer sell at any sort of profit at all.  Exactly the sort of thing that those pushing for drug legalization have said would happen.  The writer seems to be mourning the poor growers that are being pushed out of business.

[Shibboleet The Annihilator]

I AM SHOCKED!

I am lying.

[Brotep]

Exactly the sort of thing that those pushing for drug legalization have said would happen.

The same thought crossed my mind listening to the article, which IIRC makes no mention of this.

The writer seems to be mourning the poor growers that are being pushed out of business.

This is reminding me of the automatic sentiment I'm sure I had at one point, that "corporations = bad" and "mom 'n pop shops = good". That a large group of people banded together can kick the crap out of smaller groups or individuals is nothing new. I wonder if one of the major reasons for it is that it defies our imaginings of a fair society in which anyone, regardless of sociopolitical status, may raise themselves up by their own bootstraps and succeed at anything if they only work hard enough. Such as growing marijuana.

[East Coast Hustle]

Or it may be that the writer understands that there are some areas of the country where marijuana profits are all that's keeping the local economy afloat.

[GIGGLES]

THING IS, SOME ILLEGAL DRUG DEALERS BUY THEIR PRODUCT FOR BRUTALLY VIOLENT MAFIA GROUPS THAT HARM SOCIETY WHEREAS THE LEGAL GROWERS ARE NONVIOLENT AND BENEFIT SOCIETY.

I MEAN: LOL FUKKEN WEED IS TITS MAN!

[East Coast Hustle]

I don't know too many brutally violent mafia groups that are selling high-quality pot. MS-13 has some operations in national and state parks in CA, but most of that is destined to be commercial-grade pot that will be sold in places where it's not competing with the good local harvest.

Also, I don't know that I think that MS-13 is harmful to society. That would be like saying that taking a piss on a pile of feces is ruining the pile of feces by getting piss on it.

[BabylonHoruv]

Or it may be that the writer understands that there are some areas of the country where marijuana profits are all that's keeping the local economy afloat.

Yeah, I can definitely see that part of it.  Pretty fucked up though when the only thing keeping an economy afloat is prohibition and the violation of it.