I caught an amazing expose last night on CNBC:
Marijuana Inc: Inside America’s Pot Industry, Business, Domestic Production, Government, Drug, Medicine, Economy, Profit - CNBC.com
The States' Rights thing reminded me of it.
Until recently, it was the local law of Mendocino County, CA that citizens could grow and maintain up to 25 marijuana plants for medicinal or recreational use. Since then, they've changed the law so you can only grow 6 plants for said use.
Town officials estimate that upwards of 66% of the local economy is essentially predicated on marijuana growth and usage. That the county would pretty much shut down if they banned it and actively enforced the ban. It really was incredible.
They had a guy with a Smoke Shop selling pot, medicinal or otherwise, who admitted, on camera, to having paid $300,000 in State and Local taxes last year, and $600,000 to Uncle Sam. Just under a million dollars in TAX in a year. But he refused to say how much profit. He respectfully declined to answer that cuz he didn't want to "Taunt the DEA".
An entire county, completely flaunting federal regulations, and doing so out in the open. They aren't even trying to hide it. The bigger growers are doing it under the radar. They buy homes, and I mean, real homes...homes you would want to move into...picket fences, nice shutters...and gut them and use the whole house in a residential neighborhood just to grow pot. And when they get discovered, they just leave it and find a new place. We're talking a half million to a million dollars in equipment and house, and they can afford to just go buy all new gear.
What do you do about that? And would it even make a difference?
BTW- Trish Regan is ugly and in no way contributed to me watching this whole thing.
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Originally Posted by Green Lantern
