Excuse me, but I found a few problems with your logic here.
1. People who have smoked "good" weed are not going to smoke shwag intentionally.
2. Though your "cigaweed" idea is a likely scenario, good quality cannabis is always going to be sought after by all stoners, smokers, and tokers. Because of this, the market for bad quality "cigaweed" will not be lucrative in relation to the majority of the consistent cannabis smokers. Also, the legal cannabis market would call for professionals who know the plant entirely which means
more jobs for us growers and cannabis connoisseurs which in turn would cause the market to be under the power of people who respect cannabis. Another known trait of large, commercial grow operations is that quality falters because, as we know, the cannabis plant requires specific and detailed attention in order to grow to it's full potential. For these reasons I think the small-scale grows will be more successful, at least until the commercial grows learn how to grow cannabis like experienced cannabis growers do.
3. Cannabis is not physically addictive, only habitually addictive in some people so there is nothing the growers can do to make their product any more addictive.
Marijuana does not cause physical dependence. If people experience withdrawal symptoms at all, they are remarkably mild.
- United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. DASIS Report Series, Differences in Marijuana Admissions Based on Source of Referral. 2002. June 24 2005.
- Johnson, L.D., et al. “National Survey Results on Drug Use from the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1994, Volume II: College Students and Young Adults.” Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996.
- Kandel, D.B., et al. “Prevalence and demographic correlates of symptoms of dependence on cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in the U.S. population.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 44 (1997):11-29.
- Stephens, R.S., et al. “Adult marijuana users seeking treatment.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 61 (1993): 1100-1104.
4. Yes, weed is readily available currently. But ask any teen in the US what is easier for them to obtain through purchase, alcohol or marijuana. I'm positive that most of them would say buying marijuana is easier since buying alcohol requires a stores age screening process whereas a dealer would be more likely to sell to whoever has the cash. Therefore, rescheduling cannabis and regulating it would make marijuana as hard to buy as alcohol for underage citizens. So access for the kids wouldn't be easy at all, it would be even harder since the penalties for buying controlled substances for underage people are quite high.
5. I disagree completely in regards to marijuana being a "de motivator" or that it makes you lazy. I'm sure that it all depends on the person. Most people who claim and blame that cannabis is the reason for their laziness or lack of motivation were already like that to begin with, the cannabis is just their scapegoat. Those are the stoners who give all of us a bad name.
6. If you really care that your son be successful in that he stays away from all the things that made it tougher for you to really get what you wanted in life then you should just be honest with him. Tell him straight up your experience when he is ready/old enough and he will most likely learn through your experience so he doesn't have to go through it himself. Lying to him will only make him lose his respect for you and not listen to you when he finds out.
7. You proved you're voting No because you will be losing financially since you are making profits from the black market cannabis economy as is. In my opinion, that does make you selfish so yes, I'm calling you selfish as well as an irresponsible citizen.
8. The constitution says it all, man. I still remember the Preamble word for word from 8th grade: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and provide blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America."
Just because most of our nations citizens neglect to learn their constitutional rights doesn't mean that we don't have any. The current system works through a judicial branch that is upheld by people who argue with bias. Many of these people use the tact of trying to get their opponents to "forget" and give up their rights in order to get ahead either financially or in relation to power. Think of lawyers, what I just described is a huge part of their job. The original government our founding fathers created has morphed into this mangled mess because we, their posterity, have "forgotten" why they set up the government like they did. Though we made a few good improvements (i.e. Bill of Rights, equality despite gender or ethnic differences, no slavery), we have made some pretty bad mistakes (i.e. Prohibition part 1, Patriot Act, Prohibition part 2).
Even Benjamin Franklin said, "a nation that will give up it's freedom for security deserves neither." So EPIC FAIL, Patriot Act.
It is our responsibility as citizens to fix problems within our nation. If our democracy is being corrupted by a few in power, the population needs to get aware of it because as soon as we do, strong emotions will cause action that in turn will cause change. Its up to us to figure out how to make the change a positive one. This requires time and thought...do we have what it takes or are we just going to let them do whatever they want no matter how it may effect any one else, including the Earth?
Let's stop fucking up for money and fix this shit.
