cannabis-infused drinks<\/a> as a way of maintaining sales if a pothead future comes to pass and customers aren\u2019t interested in beer but like the idea of their mind-altering-substance consumption coming in a beverage form (rather than, I suppose, focusing on tasty non-alcoholic beverages that people will chose to drink even without seeking out intoxication) \u2014 reportedly for the Canadian market but presumably every bit as much to be ready to jump into the US pending a nationwide legalization.<\/p>\nAnd now the proposed bill in Illinois, again, goes beyond, \u201cwe\u2019re second-guessing the strategies of the past and think that criminalization was not as effective as we thought it would be,\u201d into some notion that the pot-sellers of the past were somehow righteously disobeying an unjust law.<\/p>\n
Here are the particulars, from Capitol Fax and its links:<\/p>\n
The state will tax pot at 10% (if THC is < 35%, or 25% (if above 35%), and all cannabis-infused products will be taxed at 20%.\u00a0 All producers will pay a 7% tax on gross receipts.<\/p>\n
Producers\/retailers will all pay one-time license fees of up to $40,000, except for \u201cearly approval\u201d license fees of $100,000 plus 5% of total sales, up to $500,000.<\/p>\n
Revenue will be allocated to, in the first place, state agencies administering these regulations.\u00a0 Net revenue will go to the General Revenue Fund (35%), the \u201cRestoring Our Communities Fund\u201d for areas that \u201chave suffered the most because of discriminatory drug policies\u201d (25%), mental health and substance abuse services (20%), the unpaid bills backlog (10%), a law enforcement grant program (8%), and public education\/awareness funding (2).<\/p>\n
Records are to be expunged, not just for possession but for dealers and producers.<\/p>\n
And how are the licenses assigned?\u00a0 A points system, in which \u201csocial equity applicants\u201d are given priority and low-interest loans.\u00a0 And who are \u201csocial equity applicants\u201d?\u00a0 In part, companies majority-owned by residents of \u201cdisproportionately impacted areas\u201d but also companies majority-owned by, or who hire on a majority basis from among, workers who have been previously been convicted of these expungable offenses.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, I don\u2019t think this is simply a matter of wanting to help people with criminal records reintegrate into society.\u00a0 If that were so, why are the provisions limited to convicts with pot offenses?\u00a0 Why not provide such consideration for people who committed any number of crimes with equivalent levels of severity?<\/p>\n
So I get that we don\u2019t really have a road map here, but I have the sense that the folks who are driving this are casting about for a narrative and have landed in the wrong spot.\u00a0 They use a mistaken story of Prohibition as a foolishness by prudish Puritans that caused endless harm for no good reason (when, in fact, the temperance crusaders were motivated by real problems of widespread alcoholism), layered with recent memories of crusades against unjust laws (Jim Crow, racial intermarriage prohibitions), to convince themselves that they are not merely trying to be pragmatic problem solvers but that, if a law existed that shouldn\u2019t have, it was a matter of injustice.<\/p>\n
What happens next?\u00a0 Advocates of legalization are painting a rosy picture in which users are middle-class adults who make sure the kids are put to bed first, or engage in the activity by choosing a strain that simply allows them to unwind at the end of a long day at work and is no different than having a beer while watching TV.\u00a0 Reports of ill-effects are being pooh-poohed as simply scare tactics.\u00a0 That is a long ways away from the Dutch \u201cwe won\u2019t jail the kids but we\u2019ll make sure they know that they\u2019d better give up the habit sooner rather than later if they want to go anywhere in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
A month or so ago, I bookmarked an article from City Journal, \u201cThe Marijuana Delusion<\/a>,\u201d which detailed the harms from existing legalization programs and the risks of future harms as pot becomes not merely tolerated but a massive wealth-generating machine for producers.\u00a0 Can they conclusively prove that legalization has lead to greater homelessness in Seattle and Portland?\u00a0 That recreational pot is behind Colorado\u2019s 20% increase in violent crime?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 There are too many contributing factors.<\/p>\nBut the use of pot fits in with where we are as a society, in America.\u00a0 To deny oneself physical pleasure is prudish and puritanical and scorned, except for the acceptable higher purpose of caring for the environment.\u00a0 And our culture can\u2019t handle very well the concept of \u201cwrong, but not illegal,\u201d can we?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Illinois readers will know that, under the new governor JB Pritzker, the state is moving full-steam-ahead towards pot legalization.\u00a0 To what extent it\u2019s motivated by promises that it\u2019ll be a financial cure-all, vs. a cure for all manner of social woes, I can\u2019t tell, but the promises that are being made across the country \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[447],"class_list":["post-13829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pot"],"yoast_head":"\n
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