re: A lovely scene out of San Francisco

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I didn't realize legalizing marijuana got heroin, crack and meth off the streets.

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Chris, you really are a simpleton. Everywhere that legalization exists, the black market is still thriving. Want to know why? It's cheaper than paying for a product that has a ton of fees and taxes attached to it just to bring it to market.

Anyone thinking that legalizing drugs would reduce crime is naive at best. It would just do the same as with MJ and that is the criminals will sell it cheaper than the legal shops.

There are also good arguments that it may also make crime worse as now those cartels and gangs are even more competitive for market share.

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It turns out that legalization of marijuana doesn’t eliminate the illicit black market, but may actually increase competition among rival factions of black-market dealers. State regulation, taxes, cultivation, and supply chain logistics force prices much higher for legal pot than its illegal and unregulated competition. The illegal market persists because most users aren’t inclined to pay premium prices just to avoid committing a very low-level transgression that police are increasingly being asked to ignore.

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LINK