What a Legal Pot Economy Would Look Like (Video)
Thursday 29 July 2010
by: Haik Hoisington | AlterNet
How everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.
This fall Californians will go to the polls with a chance to make history. They will be able to cast a vote to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol or cigarettes. California's Proposition 19 is one of many similar initiatives cropping up on state ballots across the country.
Whether it calls for decriminalization or medical marijuana, the end of cannabis prohibition has never seemed closer. In this short animated parable, "The Flower," award winning artist Haik Hoisington contrasts a legal marijuana economy with an illegal one, to show how everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.
"The Flower" contrasts a utopian society that freely farms and consumes a pleasure giving flower with a society where the same flower is illegal and its consumption is prohibited. The animation is a meditation on the social and economic costs of marijuana prohibition.
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Comments
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Bravo Haik Hoisington...
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 14:35 β Josh W in Seattle (not verified)Bravo Haik Hoisington... Bravo
If this reasoning weren't so
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 14:37 β Anonymous (not verified)If this reasoning weren't so funny it would be stupid. Well it is stupid. Let use pastel colors in our cartoon and nice music to sooth the viewer. Lets estimate the "cost" of prohibiting dope as opposed to making a profit of selling and taxing it. (you could use the same argument for kiddie porn). Dope is dope. I have lots of friends who tell me that smoking dope "expands your mind". Trust me, their minds are far from expanded. Shrunk is more like it. Put aside all the bullshit medical claims pot users want to throw in front of us and what it comes down to is that they just want to get high. Period. I had a friend who years ago killed himself and his two young daughters after he and his wife got high while driving. His wife was the only survivor of the car wreck. He drove over a cliff because he misjudged a turn. If you can't stop people from driving while drunk how do you think you're going to stop the millions who will now drive while smoking dope. I'm sure there are even those in government who would like a more sedated society. I'm old enough to have gone through the hippie movement and all the drugs associated with it. I abstained. I watched my friends drop acid, pop pills and smoke dope until they were drooling idiots. Of course, the arguments for using were pretty much the same as today. "Its not bad for you", and "I don't do it that much". I once met a beautiful young woman who asked me if I'd do some lines with her. I said, "I didn't know you did drugs". She replied, "I don't do drugs, just coke". There you go America.
Prohibition is prohibition.
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 15:58 β 2020 Oregon (not verified)Prohibition is prohibition. The major fact that NO ONE ever mentions is the amazingly LOW mortality rate for pot smokers! How many people died of a marijuana overdose last year? Last decade? Same answer: ZERO!!
How many people's lives were ruined because of STUPID laws, (yes, STUPID) that treated consumption of this naturally occurring substance as a criminal activity? MILLIONS!!
The MAIN harm to people from pot are the laws against it. PERIOD.
it would look like 20
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 20:02 β Anonymous (not verified)it would look like 20 billion dollars a year in the economy here instead of sending to mexico
California constitution
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 22:55 β Perivail Benway (not verified)California constitution prohibits legislature from amending an initiative. Present law is simple and clear, and canβt be amended, as it was created by initiative. New, November ballot initiative was placed on ballot by legislature β as a mechanism to re-criminalize pot through commercialization and tax law β essentially a way for state government to muscle in on the private medicinal relationship between patients and doctors and growers. Only an initiative can amend an initiative. Thatβs the unspoken reality of the November ballot trick β itβs all about taking power and money from sick people and giving it to rich people.
Meanwhile, making drugs
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 01:08 β Anonymous (not verified)Meanwhile, making drugs illegal is making some of the worst scumbags on earth into some of the richest, now able to corrupt cops and politicians. Frankly, I prefer pot smokers.
Anonymous who says that
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 02:29 β Anonymous (not verified)Anonymous who says that "dope is dope" is a hypocrite. He doesn't say a word about banning the biggest selling and most dangerous drugs of all: alcohol and tobacco.
Not a great video imo but
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 08:05 β Anonymous (not verified)Not a great video imo but that's not the point. Time to grow up and let adults enjoy marijuana if they choose, while greatly helping society by taxing sales and bringing huge amounts of $$$ into the govt for social services and also vastly reducing the costs of jailing thousands of people who would be innocent if not for the foolish laws criminalizing pot. Take a look at Holland, where pot has been legal for decades? Is that country falling apart?
No one should be locked up
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 12:20 β Anonymous (not verified)No one should be locked up for marijuana. Its one of the safest drugs in existence, far safer that tobacco or alcohol. That said i'm totally sick of hearing about how great legalization is going to be for the economy due to extra taxes and what not. Marijuana is just a plant. A plant that takes about the same resources to grow as do tomatoes. Last time I checked the most expensive organic heirloom tomatoes in town cost about 20$ a pound. If weed was legal what would prevent it from being the same price as tomatoes? So put a 200% tax on it. It would still be dirt cheap. A pound is a shit load of weed. That would hold any smoker over for months. Then theres the fact that any one who can keep it together enough to pour water on dirt once a day can grow close to a years supply on one plant in one big pot in about four square feet of sunlight (Apartment balcony, sunny kitchen window, tiny backyard). That big tax pay off won't look so big when pot goes from costing as much as gold to costing as much as tomatoes. Then theres all the drug money. Who stimulates the economy more pot dealers and growers with an endless(for now) flow of easy money or the migrant farm workers working for Philip Morris's new ganja division and it's stock holders. Marijuanas simplicity and efficiency as a crop is main reason it was made illegal in the first place (too much competition for big pharma, petrochem, textile, alcohol and tobacy( we know that shit about negro jazz musicians was all hype)). The only real financial benefit of legalization will be the money saved on law enforcement's war on drugs which is plenty of reason for legalization in itself. I'm just saying don't go counting on legalization to solve all our budget woes. Its more likely to just turn northern California into the new appalachia but its still the right thing to do.
Oh yeah and the IF THIS
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 12:42 β Anonymous (not verified)Oh yeah and the IF THIS REASONING WEREN"T SO FUNNY guy is a total door knob. I have multiple friends that have died because of drunk driving or drivers. That doesn't make me want to go throwing all the brewers and liquor store owners in prison. It makes me think that drunk driving is stupid. Not to mention the fact that marijuana hasn't even been proven to slow hand eye coordination. Just look at the statistics of how likely it is to be in a wreck after several drinks as compared to several bong loads. People play professional sports and video games stoned out of their gourds every day. You can't do that stuff when your drunk. Some people just can't let go of old brain washing.
Why should we legalize weed?
Sat, 07/31/2010 - 21:01 β Christopher Marlowe (not verified)Why should we legalize weed? Ok, it can cure breast cancer, skin cancer, and skin cancer and even brain cancer. Admittedly, it can be used for food, clothes and building supplies. And it is non-toxic and impossible to cause an overdose. Sure it's good for the soil and will grow just about anywhere. But should such a useful plant be legal? We should let the supreme court and congress decide everything that we do. Thinking for ourselves is not what a free country is about. If we legalize marijuana, then gangs would have less reason to sell drugs, and what would they do for money? Also, if we legalize drugs, there would be less reason to put people in jail, which is where drug users belong. I know this because I saw an advertisement on television.
um, anonymous #1, sorry to
Sun, 08/01/2010 - 07:25 β Anonymous (not verified)um, anonymous #1, sorry to call you out for being wrong, but stupid is stupid, whether it's high or not. pot doesn't make a person negligent. as a frequent user, i have to say it's a lifestyle choice, like drinking wine after work. who are you to say what a substance does to you that you don't even use or have tried? the governator said it best: it's not a drug, it's a leaf!
@anon7:25 I'm the anon
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 00:54 β Anonymous (not verified)@anon7:25 I'm the anon you've referred to a couple of times. I do consider alcohol a drug, that's why I don't drink, Same with tobacco, that's why I don't smoke. If a leaf is a leaf, then you should eat some hemlock, or oleander. What's wrong, afraid of a "leaf" ?
One thing that people are
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 13:41 β geek65535 (not verified)One thing that people are missing in this discussion is the issue of states' rights. The Constitution gave the federal government (ie Congress) limited rights. Over the years and centuries, the federal government has claimed more and more control, and steps on the rights of the states. This is central to this issue: the federal government should, according to the constitution, only have the right to make and enforce laws the deal with federal land, property, and employees; and national and state borders. It should not have the right to make and enforce laws that govern what happens within a state (like the manufacturing, sale or use of drugs).
I believe that in order for California to have legal marijuana use, not only is Prop 19 going to have to pass, but the state AG is going to have to fight the federal government on the issue of states' rights--probably to the level of the Supreme Court.
@"If this reasoning weren't
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 17:54 β Anonymous (not verified)@"If this reasoning weren't so" I agree with the evaluation of idiocy of using drugs. However, this country's laws are based on the sovereignty of every citizen. Everyone needs to decide what is good for themselves, not the 'state'.
This is also a spiritual issue, you must decide for yourself what is good or evil, God gave us the facilities to evaluate and learn while we are alive.
One more time - the proposed
Mon, 08/02/2010 - 19:57 β Perivail Benway (not verified)One more time - the proposed ballot initative is not legalization, it is re-criminalization and commercialization. At this time pot is legal in CA provided a doctor recommends it. The new law makes the state a partner in taxing pot, and limits the number of plants, and so on, making the present legal situation illegal.
Right on! It is time to
Wed, 08/04/2010 - 05:25 β Debber1 (not verified)Right on! It is time to legalize pot. Making it illegal was a stupid idea right from the start.
A very one sided
Wed, 08/04/2010 - 21:35 β Anonymous (not verified)A very one sided view....
You forgot to mention THC induced psychosis, Schizophrenia and other mentla illness, increases in car accidents, increases in the neglect and abandonment of children, decline in general productivity, spiritual and emotional confusion and stress, and holistic depression - the other 'lovely things' and realities I know by experience as a Nimbin child, go with regular maryjane use.