Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2012
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Gavin Gill

LEGALIZING POT IS SENSIBLE

The Editor,

Re: "Pot laws aren't in jurisdiction of mayors: Watts," the Now, Sept. 27.

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is quoted as saying, "I don't think 
legalizing pot will have drug dealers filling out tax forms."

Maybe not, but that's not the goal. Cannabis is such a profitable 
venture because it's illegal - the higher the risk, the more the 
dealers charge. That's why high-quality cannabis costs more in places 
like Texas than it does in California.

If cannabis were to be decriminalized/ legalized in B.C., prices 
would start to drop (much more drastically if it were fully 
legalized). That's the goal, to lower the profit margin of the drug 
dealers. Lower the profit margin, and you decrease the incentive to 
sell said product.

After a certain point, many small-time dealers wouldn't bother 
wasting their time (for the simple fact they would have to work much 
harder and sell much more of their product than they do now to 
compensate). And more importantly, the cartels and gangs wouldn't be 
pulling in as much money as they currently are from the cannabis trade.

Marijuana is just another commodity; the rules of the market apply to 
it in very much the same fashion as they apply to shoes, food, clothes, etc.

Realistically though, legalizing pot is the more sensible solution. 
Legalizing would allow licensed and regulated establishments to sell 
the product in stores in the same way that alcohol is sold.

No one in their right mind would choose to buy from a shady street 
peddler in some back alley, if instead they could buy from a safe, 
government-regulated source like a legal dispensary.

That's a major blow to the pockets of the cartels/gangs, the only 
thing they could do to compete would be to lower their prices... 
which would cause the legal dispensaries to lower theirs (Business 101).

Eventually, as mentioned earlier, prices will drop to the point where 
it's no longer profitable for most dealers to dabble in the cannabis trade.

And the ones that are left won't be making nearly as much money as 
they are now under prohibition.

Decriminalization/legalization is simply the more sensible route to 
take. No matter how well-intentioned, a prohibitionist is just a drug 
dealer's best friend.

Gavin Gill,

Surrey
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