New York’s occasionally inconsistent mayor, Bill de Blasio, has decided to stand up for the legalization of recreational weed, despite the fact that pot smokers by the tens of thousands have been arrested under his watch even though many, maybe even most, committed at worst an infraction, for which a summons should have been issued, rather than a misdemeanor, for which they get arrested and spend the night at the Hotel Tombs.
But hey, the wind is blowing the right way, and that whiff of weed is in the air, so BdB follows his nose.
Legal marijuana is at a crossroads. We can either let corporate cannabis take control or let the will of the people win the day. pic.twitter.com/UEIu6CYF5V
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) December 21, 2018
He’s got a point about corporate cannabis. Open the door to pot and corporations rush in. It’s not that mom and pop pot stores would give them a run for their money, but when legalization happens, it comes with a bunch of rules and regs, because that’s how government does everything (for the children), plus a lot more money to fund huge grow houses with government inspectors overseeing strict adherence to the rules, scientists in white lab coats working on potency, purity and safety, and corporate officials making sure the supply chain is sufficiently profitable.
As BdB correctly notes, Big Pot is poised to swoop in and seize the biggest weed market around. This is terrible.
I know a guy, who shall remain nameless because that’s what everybody called him, who worked the corner of 168th and St. Nicholas. He sold pot. His pot was excellent quality, and he never shorted anyone on quantity. He built up a strong following, regular customers who were happy to pay a little more for his weed because they knew it was good stuff, they knew they would get what they paid for.
His corner expanded to a few other corners, and he took on a few employees who started doing the street corner sales for him. They all made some pretty decent money. They kept their street corners clean and safe, because they didn’t want to attract attention from the cops in the Local Motion cab from the 34 Precinct.
The cops knew they were there. They knew the cops were there. Unless the cops needed to make their numbers at the end of the month, or there was some ruckus that forced the cops to put down the donuts and pick up the handcuffs, everybody went home at night and had a nice dinner with their family. It was a symbiotic relationship.
Even so, the employees would get busted from time to time. A long-term employee could end up with 20 or more busts, each of which resulted in a night in the can and a fine the next day. It was a cost of doing business, which his employer happily paid. And he was back on the corner that same day, because there was weed that wouldn’t sell itself.
This was 30 years ago, before the corners were taken over by guys selling crack, which was far more profitable and, as it turned out, far more violent as people fought for corners with guns. The guy without the name was a peaceful sort, just in it for the money and with animus toward none. When it became clear that he would have to kill to keep his corner, he let it go. He didn’t want to kill. He just wanted to sell weed.
The street corners were taken over by younger people, violent people, stupider people. They didn’t last long, because the cops couldn’t ignore them or the dead bodies they left in their wake. They didn’t get fines when they were busted, especially if it was on a Tuesday, Federal Day, in Manhattan. And within hours after their tenure on the corner came to an abrupt end, someone else would have his guys there, armed and ready to defend their turf.
When Mayor de Blasio says there are two paths, Corporate Cannabis taking control or the “will of the people” winning the day, does he suggest that the old unnamed man return to his street corner? He won’t have a bevy of scientists in white lab coats, but his weed is top notch and he never shorts anyone on quantity. Sure, he’s got some priors, but that’s not because he was a bad guy, but that he labored under bad laws.
New York City had a thriving pot industry run by honest dealers who were just trying to make a good living. Are they now welcomed back, forgiven their former trespasses and turned into paragons of free enterprise? If not Corporate Cannabis, then who?
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who needs a plane?
Who else, indeed. Does the Mayor envision a bunch of old folks running legal mom-and-pop outlets? But he’s just mumbling in the wind because he knows that so long as the feds* make this illegal, no traditional corporate entity is going to sell bud. It’s just pandering.
Fear not for the little guy. The regs will allow them to flourish. Sure, the law makes weed legal, but the specifics are left to agencies. Agencies limit the amount THC to the point where its like driving with 10 octane gas. Nameless will still have the best stuff, but he still won’t have the corner.
But they can’t allow old men to sell good unregulated weed, or they’ll never be able to sell the taxable stuff.
Yep, they’ve been very not-so-good at enforcing the allowance. Since they’ve been so good at it, the market will continue. The taxable stuff will sell to those that think it’s great. But there are still those that remember a single joint of Colombian gold or Panama red being good for a week. Until we die and the Swamp is covered in condos, Nameless and pals will have buyers.
Don’t steal, because government hates competition.
I keep getting the notices of new bills N.J. is contemplating as they do this kabuki dance across the Hudson.
Weed will be legal to sell, but not to… grow.
They aren’t even pretending to claim it’s about anything but $$$ here.
Good luck with BdB.
Out here in California, it seems like everything’s migrated online. Billboards for this or that weed delivery app are quite common, with Weedmaps seemingly being the primus inter pares of the bunch. I’m not sure whether Hizzoner thinks this is “big weed” or not; sure, Weedmaps and the other delivery apps gets their cut (and take on the burden of doing the legislative and administrative palm-greasing), but the vendors advertising seem to be, often as not, SHG’s nameless guy (or his equally-enterprising kids). No storefront or corner needed, really.
I bet people with prior convictions won’t get to open pot dispensaries.
I doubt anyone will take that bet.
smdh
Just for you.
“I know a guy, who shall remain nameless because that’s what everybody called him, who worked the corner of 168th and St. Nicholas. He sold pot.”
So, back then, you were picking up Ron Kuby’s surplus clientèle, eh?
Anyway, Comrade de Lousy-O never met a potential revenue stream that he couldn’t think of a way to tap into.
If Hizzonner can’t tax it and/or extract other concessions, it cannot be allowed!
I see Skink has cited potency (or lack thereof) for continued street-corner sales. However, I had read that in states where recreational pot is legal, the cost of doing business, and excessive taxes, raise the price to the point where street-sales are still thriving. The problem is similar to black-market cigarettes, without the tax stamp, that are illegally imported and sold within NYC. (A fairly recent NYPD report to the City Council said they were barely making a dent in illegal Tobacco sales).
There’s already talk of bringing the SLA (State Liquor Authority) into the pot regulatory mix.
In any case, with the help of our socialist
CityShitty Council*, de Lousy-O is determined to chase those evil capitalists out of NYC, along with any taxes they might bring in or jobs they might create.*On December 12, the Council held hearings on Amazon’s new, to-be-built, NYC headquarters. To seal the deal, the state had used its authority to bypass the city’s ULURP** process. Amazon’s executive-in-charge of the project — in response to the Council Speaker’s question (to a cheering crowd) as to whether they would “voluntarily surrender the privilege granted them by the state?” — replied, in extremely polite terms (the specifics of which I regret not recalling), words to the effect of “Why in hell would we subject ourselves to the ***Byzantine, onerous, and extortionate ULURP process, adding years and billions of dollars to a project for which we already have approval?!?!
In addition to pandering to the crowd, this was a fantastic example of how the city, through public shaming, attempts to voluntarily extract concessions that they could not extract through coercion.
I must say, for an off-Broadway production, it was great political theater, and the price was right!
**ULURP = Uniform Land-Use Review Procedure.
***Calling it “Byzantine, onerous, and extortionate” does not do it justice. The list of authorities you must appear before and get approval from, the
baksheesh“donations” to various groups you must make, the number of city and state officials you must kiss the ring of, and the blessing of all the trades unions you must have, makes most projects unachievable without corporate backing. The semi-legit pot biz will only be more difficult. Especially so if the SLA is involved.Those were the days Kuby and I became buddies, but I was always much more of a capitalist than him.
Some lessons are slow to absorb. The SJW biz (or the back-then variant) just doesn’t pay the bills. When Bill Kunstler passed, I think Ron abruptly came to the unpleasant realization that he’d actually have to earn a living.
When Bill passed, it got very ugly, as Ron was Bill’s partner except on paper, and Bill’s wife froze him out of the practice. But by then, Ron had established more than enough cred to make it on his own. He may not be a capitalist like me, but he doesn’t suffer.
Chances are, “big cannabis” will be “the will of the people.” Way more people are consumers than suppliers in small cannabis. If the product is provided en masse by huge conglomerates, it’s going to be way cheaper and of more uniform and consistent quality than what they had to get on street corners. That’s how and why “big cannabis” is poised to snap this up as soon as the federal law changes to allow it.
Nonsense. Buying from a grower is better and cheaper in most cases, and less hassle. Bonus benefit; he doesn’t keep records nor share your information.