MikeK
Gold Member
There surely will be a some who do that. But unless the tax makes the price so high that the average user will be willing to risk being busted for evasion most will buy their pot from legitimate suppliers, which will operate much like liquor stores.
One distinct advantage to being able to buy marijuana from a legitimate source is the relative assurance of purity and consistent quality, a circumstance which is analogous to buying liquor from a legitimate liquor store as opposed to buying from a bootlegger during Prohibition. Back then there were unscrupulous bootleggers who concocted all sorts of makeshift booze known as "bathtub gin," some of which contained toxic substances such as ethylene (anti-freeze). The contemporary analogy to that is buying pot from a street dealer because a lot of bootleg weed is grown using toxic pesticides and growth-inducing hormones.
Also, if marijuana is legitimately produced and marketed the buyer will know exactly what he's getting in terms of variety and potency, much like buying booze from a liquor store. There are standards which are controlled by law. In the same way as one can choose between a fifth of Schenley or a fifth of Jack Daniels, a marijuana buyer will have a choice between an ounce of ordinary garden brown or an ounce of hydroponically grown indica sinsemilla.
