Los Angeles looks to break up vast illegal pot sales

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles looks to break up vast illegal pot sales

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
March 27, 2019

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that Los Angeles is considering a major crackdown on illegal marijuana shops that have been bedeviling the city’s legal marketplace.

The move that could pump tens of millions of dollars into police enforcement comes as legal shops struggle to turn a profit while hundreds of illicit storefronts enjoy brisk sales, thanks to their typically cheaper, tax-free prices.

The legal shops “can’t get undercut every single day by everybody else that’s out there,” the mayor told reporters at City Hall.

The Democratic mayor in his second term didn’t put a precise figure on the spending for the city’s upcoming budget, but he estimated it would be a ten-fold increase from the current year.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/342703c3e2f5463ab34f0958a404bed6

[4now]

1. New chapter in the never-ending drug wars

[appal_jack]

2. If a black market like this can flourish, then taxes are too high.

I oppose "sin taxes" as a concept, though I understand that they can generate significant revenue in the right circumstances. They work on alcohol reasonably well, since distilling quality alcohol takes quite a bit of know how and equipment. They work on cigarettes and other tobacco products since

But with cannabis, one can grow it pretty well without too much investment. The state is just going to have to accept that weed will not be quite the tax-gusher they'd hoped. A taxation program should support testing for safety (mycotoxins, pesticide residues, etc.) and a bit for schools and roads besides, but it won't pay for everything.

-app

[Quemado]

3. New Mexico's attempt to legalize failed, but

if it had succeeded, the proposed legislation would have limited sales to state owned and operated stores. Could California do the same thing, like limiting sales to state owned and operated stores, to fight illegal storefront sales?