And as for the Dutch, go to Holland, my friend. What you will find is that you can walk into these coffeeshops and buy marijuana, hash, and all sorts of teas and cakes and other consumable products that contain marijuana. You can buy seeds to grow your own. You can have marijuana and not worry one bit about being arrested. They've closed down some of the coffeeshops, but there are still plenty left and the marijuana laws and policies haven't changed. They did ban the sales of magic mushrooms and they are trying to stop some of the drug tourism and crack down on organized crime, but marijuana is still de facto legal there. And it hasn't hurt their culture, and it is still true that even though they've allowed for marijuana possession and sales since the Seventies a lower percentage of the Dutch smoke marijuana than Americans and several of their European neighbors who do not allow their people such freedom.
The Netherlands is a good example of why just letting people grow their own will not stop organized crime. They let people grow their own, and they allow for sales in these coffeeshops. They do not allow for commercial production though, so organized crime stepped in to supply these coffeeshops. They smuggle hash in. They produce marijuana on a comparatively large scale. They supply the coffeeshops and have made enough money to fund other criminal enterprises, such as exporting marijuana and producing and exporting drugs like Ecstasy. Their tentacles are getting into everything. Billions of dollars from the marijuana industry helps these groups grow into large and sophisticated criminal organizations.
We'd still have the same thing going on if we legalized possession of marijuana and growing a few plants but did not allow for commercial production and regulated sales of marijuana. The average pot smoker is not going to grow his own. The average pot smoker doesn't smoke enough pot to justify growing his own. He wouldn't even need that much pot. Most pot smokers only smoke a few grams per month, if they smoke that much. Some smoke more, some a lot more. Only the heaviest smokers can really justify growing their own, and a lot of them might not have anywhere to grow it, or they won't be able to be home enough to take care of it, and so on. It makes much more sense just to have a shop that's sort of like a liquor store where people can go in and pick up a very small amount of pot, a joint, a gram, something like that, or a little more if they want. If we tell people they can't have it unless they grow their own most of them will just buy black market pot, and if there is a black market you can bet your shirt organized crime will be heavily involved.
The government estimates that between 12,000 and 25,000 metric tons of marijuana are available on the market here in a given year. That's between 12 billion and 25 billion grams of marijuana. That's just a staggering amount. It is estimated that the Mexicans produced 15,500 metric tons of marijuana in 2007 and most of it came here. That's 15.5 billion grams and most of it came here. Ridiculous quantities of marijuana are consumed in this country every year. There are tens of billions of dollars to be made every year in our black market for marijuana. It's a huge business. Mexican drug trafficking organizations make most of their money from marijuana sales. We are not going to stop this massive illegal industry by letting those who want to grow a couple of plants. The only way we will take this money from organized crime is to allow for a legal marijuana industry, where commercial production is legal and the product can be sold from licensed shops.
Giving people the right and the power to control that right assumes personal responsibility. If a person chooses not to eexercise that right; that’s their choice, but creating an industry for the purposes of tax revenue or because people are too lazy is asinine. Now you’re saying that government is needed to make sure that marijuana is organic! If you think you’re making sense, you’re smoking too much pot.
We need less government, not more. If people can grow vegetables or flowers, they can grow marijuana. If you want to smoke it, grow it. You can’t sell it, transport it, distribute it or drive under the influence (all current laws). We currently distinguish between amounts grown for personal use and intent to distribute.
I’ve been to Amsterdam, got mugged there in fact. The Dutch tightened their drug laws because they regret the effect that they have had on their culture. Most Dutch who I know don’t associate with the drug culture that’s been cultivated in Amsterdam. The tourists love it though, hence the problem. But again, whether someone chooses to grow their own is their choice. Faced with legally growing your own or jail time, most people here in the states will grow their own. It’s an easy choice. Heavy users would certainly opt in, and the casual user could partake in social situations in private, reducing the demand for foreign and domestic sources of marijuana. Local supply, local demand. If a pothead can’t buy into that concept, pot is the least of his or her problems.
The most sure fire way to kill the drug trade is to reduce to demand, give people the power and the right to do it. More government and more taxation is not the answer.