Ohio Could Legalize Marijuana

Skanky Vamp

Sniffin' the Slayer
Joined
Aug 12, 2008
Messages
26,460
Black Thorn
The head of the coalition to get it legalized said: "We're just trying to get Ohio in line with neighbors like Michigan and Illinois." maybe he should put down the bong and pick up an almanac and he'll see that Illinois isn't a neighbor.
 
Maybe he should join us in Canada. The nearest cannabis shop is about a quarter mile away from me. Even small towns have competing shops. Huntsville Ontario is a small town in the Muskoka (cottage country) area and you can find a place in town where you are no more than a quarter mile from four different cannabis stores.
 
Once your neighboring states (or one state away) have legalized it, probably all you're doing is losing good tax revenue and increasing the risk of people driving (home) while buzzed.
 
If it's illegal to possess even if you by it legally, then it's still better to go to the local dealer...though one thing I did like about practical legalization of pot in California is that it put bad dealers out of business (now if all the bad faith managers and suits of legal professions could also be put out of business...but then I'd fear the economy would collapse!).


But it's easy for me to fall back into my thinking of growing up in rural Texas where there were patchworks of wet and dry states (most dry counties, that is where sales of alcohol were extremely restrictive if not outright prohibited, though it was legal to be in possession of, at least in your own property, not counting guzzling a beer as you drive past a cop, or worse, throw it out your window so the beer can or whiskey bottle bounces off the cop car's windshield, always good for a laugh as long as you're not in the vehicle of the offender).

Ah, the memories, but that is neither here nor there. It did add to the number of drunk drivers that wouldn't have been on the road otherwise, and even hitchhikers were a danger as well as in danger who were going to get alcohol. (In the last 20 years, most dry counties have since gone wet, that is more or less normalized with the rest of the US.) It made things worse instead of better.

And I say that as someone who has no special love for beer or intoxicants of any kind (though I see the War on Some Drugs as a cure worse than the disease, and on top of that makes drug and alcohol abuse worse in habit and consequences, and wish instead that such was generally treated more as a medical rather than legal issue, and admire the Portuguese policies, all I'll say on that which is to show my stance is more nuanced than most would assume over a few snippets of what I share, particularly in this Age of Cancel/Destroy).

So at a gut level I see Stake Fodder's point (and I'm certain it applies at time), there is a difference between neighboring small counties where it's legal to own alcohol in both even if one can only sell in one, than in a much larger state, especially if the state that doesn't sell also prohibits ownership.

Still, I hope Ohio legalizes (actually, I prefer decriminalization to legalization--and would also put most alcohol under the decriminalized than legal category as well, but if forced to choose between full legalization and War on Some Drugs, then I choose legalization without my usual hesitation), and that in this case people are right that where Ohio goes, the rest of the nation follows (even without knowing it).
 
I can see if it were a neighboring state where you don't have far to just jump across the state lines, but I have a hard time imagining someone making a minimum 400 mile/6 hour road trip just to buy legalized weed. Maybe I'm wrong.
I dunno, seems like a classic road-trip movie activity to indulge in a little toking. You wouldn't just be buying weed, but having wacky adventures!😀

Oh so you're a fan of the edibles. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all.
I can only speak for myself, but I would never ruin a delicious brownie by putting weed in it.
 
America may finally be beginning to learn the lessons of Prohibition. The only thing you accomplish by banning something is to increase its value. And this increased value funds the rise of crime families and cartels. Canada is now getting tax money from the sale of marijuana like @Stake fodder said. There may still be some illicit dealers around but why deal with them when you can make a legal purchase? The bad guys realize they won't get much of a profit margin if people can buy at a fixed and reasonable price and they will go elsewhere.
 
There may still be some illicit dealers around but why deal with them when you can make a legal purchase?
Prices. Because dispensaries aren't really "reasonable" prices with taxes, et al. For instance, Illinois: $520 an ounce vs $150. Who would you rather buy from?
 
Prices. Because dispensaries aren't really "reasonable" prices with taxes, et al. For instance, Illinois: $520 an ounce vs $150. Who would you rather buy from?

Nowhere near as much here. The commercial stores are competitive with illicit sources and the quality is better.
 
Nowhere near as much here. The commercial stores are competitive with illicit sources and the quality is better.
Prolly because your government doesn't see it as an opportunity to tax the living hell out of it. Granted, it varies from state to state as well as what type you are getting, but a 25% sales tax is pretty common and then, more or less, forcing the store to buy from only one or two suppliers sets up almost monopolistic pricing. Recreational marijuana is often 100 percent more expensive than the identical medical marijuana. Why is that? Because it's also price gouging at the retail level. Everyone wants their cut.

If you had a dealer before it was legal, odds are they are still your dealer now. Most people that wouldn't buy weed before for the fear of dealers/police/etc are now viewing this as an opportunity to purchase it without having to worry. And the cost of it doesn't bother them because of the type of clientele they usually attract.

The only thing that will get the prices down if there is actually competition. But unless/until you have a dozen different places you can visit in town, the one or two shops can continue to charge whatever they want.
 
Last edited:
Those folk who were to vote on if to make marijuana legal (the first time ) had to smoke a joint, so they knew what they were voting on. Unfortunately there then followed a two hour debate on if they had done the vote or not, second time they didn't smoke a joint before hand.

Never had the legislator assembly been witness to that much laughter in the room before. ( I was told it helped you to laugh/have hysterics - honest!)
 
There is one other supplier that is competitive with illicit sources and government ones: your own garden. We can grow marijuana plants on our own here without interference from the law, so a lot of people do and other suppliers can't jack up the prices that much and excise taxes are not that bad.
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
Contrary to the nightshades thread, they certainly don't want you to grow your own here
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
Oh dear @Skanky Vamp, if I'm not meant to grow it myself I'd better (tee hee) burn it!
Back
Top Bottom