I've been thinking lately about drug legalization and how it tends to transfer the wealth from selling drugs to the business owner class. I'm coming at this from having argued for years for across-the-board legalization of all drugs (with regulation for many drugs).
Where I live weed got legalized a few years ago. Before legalization there were lots of stores that sold weed, and they were all very chill, like more like a bodega vibe. After legalization it became very highly regulated, all those places closed, and now all the new weed stores feel like Apple Stores - obviously much more up front investment and a very different vibe.
This isn't a fully-formed thought, but I can't help but feel like this whole process starts with the poor having an easy way to make decent money then with decriminalization we have a slightly higher class of people making that money, and now with legalization it really is like the top 1% making this money.
None of this is an argument for putting people in cages for drugs, I'm just wondering if there's a better way than legalization? Or is the problem I'm seeing a regulation problem over a legalization problem?
People like John Boehner are on the boards of marijuana investment firms. If there's money to be made, the 1% will write the rules to make it. Sorry for linking a shit source like the new york times https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/us/politics/john-boehner-marijuana-cannabis.html
Agreed. Pretty sure some decrim states had swat teams kicking down people's doors for growing a couple dozen plants and doing smash and grabs on dispensaries, meanwhile there were full-on industrial grow ops with literal acres of corporate marijuana hydroponics spooling up that got ignored.
I remember seeing a documentary about this with pretty high production values, but I can't remember who made it