Could cocaine and khat be legalized in another 50 years?

[Antonio the Sixth]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

I'm fine with personal consumption and (obviously) medical use. I don't think it should be sold for profit. For the record, I'd say the same about cigarettes.

So basically you want it to be legal to buy and use but have the only way to buy it via an illegal black market?

Yeah, Antonio, this...this isn't a sensible position.

Yeah, I see that now. This is not an issue I care much about, beyond its tragic repercussions on mass incarceration.

FTR, what I was thinking about was people growing their own.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think I share Tony's dislike of the idea of the equivalent of Big Tobacco forming but around hard drugs. Nobody wants Joe Camel brand cocaine.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I think I share Tony's dislike of the idea of the equivalent of Big Tobacco forming but around hard drugs. Nobody wants Joe Camel brand cocaine.

Are you familiar with the Washington and Colorado markets? Most of the stores function as more similar to farmer's markets or consignment shops. They get their product from small growers, and there is no megacorporations involved or marketing.

Also Tony you really need to think of the demographics of who is most likely to use marijuana with your suggestion people just "grow their own". You think college dorms are going to allow college students to set up growing spaces? Or that it's easy for hipsters who live in small cramped apartments?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Speaking as someone who has actually legally purchased marijuana, let me explain how it actually works. I was initially thinking that a dispensary would be like a liquor store only with marijuana, but that is not the case at all:

-When you enter the shop you're in nothing but a lobby. There's a receptionist behind a glass wall who checks your ID and asks you recreational or medical. There are two rooms with doors labeled as such behind you. You're then asked to have seat, similar to a doctor's office.

-Once it's your turn, someone comes up and calls our name to let you in. By law the customer:staff ratio in the room can not be higher than 1:1.

-All product is kept behind the counter. You have to ask the clerk to hand you anything. No "free samples", no lines and lines of dimebags like liquor bottles.

It's far closer to a pharmacy than a liquor store (or what people think of as a head shop.)

[Boris]

I think I share Tony's dislike of the idea of the equivalent of Big Tobacco forming but around hard drugs. Nobody wants Joe Camel brand cocaine.

Are you familiar with the Washington and Colorado markets? Most of the stores function as more similar to farmer's markets or consignment shops. They get their product from small growers, and there is no megacorporations involved or marketing.

I think this dynamic will change rapidly once recreational commercial markets in California and Canada appear sometime in 2017-18, and transporting marijuana across state and even national lines becomes legal.

[DavidB.]

Speaking as someone who has actually legally purchased marijuana, let me explain how it actually works. I was initially thinking that a dispensary would be like a liquor store only with marijuana, but that is not the case at all:

-When you enter the shop you're in nothing but a lobby. There's a receptionist behind a glass wall who checks your ID and asks you recreational or medical. There are two rooms with doors labeled as such behind you. You're then asked to have seat, similar to a doctor's office.

-Once it's your turn, someone comes up and calls our name to let you in. By law the customer:staff ratio in the room can not be higher than 1:1.

-All product is kept behind the counter. You have to ask the clerk to hand you anything. No "free samples", no lines and lines of dimebags like liquor bottles.

It's far closer to a pharmacy than a liquor store (or what people think of as a head shop.)

That's funny. Nothing like most Dutch coffee shops.

- When you enter the shop, people are smoking everywhere.

- A guy behind a counter -- most of the times like half-stoned -- asks you what you want, and he can show you stuff. If you want to buy it, you have to show your ID.

-

- Profit.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

That sounds even worse to be honest. Too sterile, I prefer the sort of Dutch coffee shop vibe.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I think I share Tony's dislike of the idea of the equivalent of Big Tobacco forming but around hard drugs. Nobody wants Joe Camel brand cocaine.

There was a 1972 novel by the name Acapulco Gold that was about a Big Tobacco company deciding to embrace the "inevitable" and rush legalization on its timetable so that they'd be positioned to get a headstart on the competition.

[DC Al Fine]

I think I share Tony's dislike of the idea of the equivalent of Big Tobacco forming but around hard drugs. Nobody wants Joe Camel brand cocaine.

[Simfan34]

I've not sampled it, but I don't really think it's a problem.  I suppose you probably shouldn't try to drive a car or operate heavy machinery after a consuming a bowl of bushman tea, but I'm not sold on the philosophy that we should try to control its use.

You'd think that, but in Ethiopia, it's very popular amongst truck drivers. Causes a lot of nasty accidents, and Ethiopians can barely drive well as is...