Maine’s tax is only 10%
I do get your point. By decriminalizing weed we could/should take a lot of profit out it. Many (but not all) of the bad things about marijuana stem from its illegality. My point is that the cartels have invested a lot of time and money in the cultivation, distribution and sale of it and I don’t know if they are willing to walk away from the business. Their expertise could make them the obvious choices to dominate the market.
They are now sailing submersibles/semi submersibles across the Atlantic Ocean to sell their wares in Europe. I just don’t see them giving up on the North American market.
My SIL is a Mass State cop. He stopped someone the other day driving 50 pounds of pot through the state. People do not want to stand in line like criminals and pay $40 a gram for pot. Its a weed. They would rather buy it cheaper off the street. Legalization is not a panacea. It has a long way to go.
Yet I can buy alcohol on just about every corner in Springfield.
It's not about the cartels walking away, but about their customers walking away from them to the legal shops (if not excessively taxed).