this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
69 points (94.8% liked)

News

23266 readers
3036 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
69
Marijuana dispute led to California desert massacre ; 5 arrested - Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Recreational marijuana and registered marijuana grows are legal in California. Dicus, however, cited the marijuana black market as a cause of violence.

“The plague is the black market of marijuana and certainly cartel activity, and a number of victims are out there,” he said.

I live in California. I have gummies and a vape that I bought at corner stores. How is this still a thing? I'm genuinely curious. Why are people still dying over pot if I can buy it legally?

top 26 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

I can’t speak for California but in many states in the US medical and recreational weed is expensive.

There is still a black market for it because the black market is cheaper. For example in MA you can either buy it at a dispensary for $60 an 1/8th or go to the black market for half the price.

Not everyone who consumes weed wants to be registered or pay through the nose if they can find a dealer on the black market that is considerably cheaper and anonymous.

The black market will never go away unless they can make recreational access cheaper than what it costs to truck it into the US from Mexico. I don’t ever see that happening.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I keep hearing how other states outside of CO are getting bent over on weed prices while I pay 60 for an ounce of decent stuff.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Michigan is really cheap, too. I’ve heard that we get people coming from Illinois (also a legal state) because it’s cheaper here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

This is true. But keep in mind that when things started in CO prices were also really expensive.

Over time as more and more dispensaries open there will be more supply which will shift things to be cheaper. Hopefully.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's common for dispensaries to sell an 1/8th for ~$15-25, at least in northern California. Just checked a couple local places and see many options for half ounces around $40.

I doubt many people care about anonymity here either. It's all cash transactions, and you just get carded like buying booze - no real registration, except for like rewards points/loyalty programs lol

Plus, a new law just went into effect here that supposedly protects employees from being asked about/discriminated against for their cannabis use, granted there are exceptions for some construction jobs and jobs requiring federal clearances. (AB 2188, for anyone interested)

The legal market is saturated in California. I would guess most of the black market is exporting out of state where it can be sold for more. But I could definitely be wrong! I agree that it's unlikely to disappear until it's unprofitable.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

I doubt many people care about anonymity here either.

I’d make a bet that there is plenty of people who care, enough to support a black market.

There are plenty of people that don’t have an ID or aren’t old enough to go to a dispensary.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Even in California, lots of illegal pot farms selling for cheaper than legal stores. Less taxes, less Q/C, less overhead etc. dont even need to pay over the border shipping.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Consider the source, it's totally possible the cops are leaving out information or straight up lying to push their own agenda here

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Cops hate legalization because they can’t sell the drugs they seize.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Also, if/when they want to harass someone all they need to do is say "sniff sniff I smell marijuana, so now I get to search through all your stuff without a warrant" and they hate losing that

[–] [email protected] 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"The plague is the black market of marijuana ..."

No. The plague is America's war on drugs that creates the perfect storm for cartels to operate in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

In this specific scenario, the problem is black market Marijuana. In a place where there is a handful of dispensaries, anyone over 21 can walk in and buy Marijuana, where the sheriffs don't give a damm about if you got pot. The core of this incident was "blackmarket" Marijuana. Probably also with the heightened tensions with a number of dealers getting pinched and lots of sheriff operations in the area.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I really don't get how anyone buys dark market weed just to save a dollar or two. Fucking with the quality like this is just disrespectful.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The difference is way more than a dollar or two depending on where in the US you’re referring to.

If you consume an ounce a month you’ll be saving thousands of dollars a year by purchasing off the black market. Seems like a no brainer.

Personally I’d rather spend the extra money for quality control and not having to deal with some dickhead fucking me around. But to each their own. Different priorities for different people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Twenty years ago in High School, good weed was about $60/eighth in CA. $40 was for decent stuff.

With legalization, I can get decent stuff for $25 now — twenty years of inflation later. Anecdotal, sure, but it’s way cheaper for me now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Somehow my friend in Texas is getting 3 grams of carts from a dealer for like $30, whereas in Rhode Island it's 50 bucks for half a gram. I'm very Puzzled by this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I can get full grams legally for as little as $30 in WA. Either RI has some bonkers taxes or you're getting badly ripped off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I can get 7g of THC-A edibles for ~$30 in texas

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Taxes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That's an enormous difference. Way more than flower.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Look at the break down of the taxes. Like in Illinois the more concentrated the higher the taxes percentage.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The costs of regulations that dispensaries and growers have to deal with get passed on to the consumer as well.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

Too many cities ban legal retail, so they left the market in the hands of criminals.

Prohibition is still propping up the black market.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago

Why are people still dying over pot if I can buy it legally?

It might not have been heading for California. Lots of states around where it's still illegal as hell. Which the black market was already setup to provide to so they still do it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Sounds like these dudes needed to smoke a bowl and chill.