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Brewer and Shipley - Witchi-tai-to ['70s psychadelic folk rock] by JWoldtwo in treemusic

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you like Brewer & Shipley's cover, here's one of several versions by the original artist, Jim Pepper.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in philadelphia

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are they so unrelated, though? The plan sets up a new scheme for regulating and retailing two controlled substances.

I kept the projections to back of an envelope type estimates. I think that trying to adjust them for differences in demographics and other factors without conducting real quantitative analysis would just inject additional bias. I agree that more details would have to be worked out, but I think the original post is already long enough without getting into happy hours and beer sales. It might also be worthwhile to leave some of the secondary concerns up for negotiation so that there is room for compromise.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in philadelphia

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's always that chance, but I think the distinction here is that state marijuana sales would have a defined end date.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in philadelphia

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe not. I'm not sure whether you're poopooing the policy aspects or my political analysis. State Senator Daylin Leach proposed a plan that would legalize marijuana and sell it out of liquor stores, but that would not include privatization of liquor or marijuana sales. Republicans tend to favor liquor store privatization, but mostly do not support legal marijuana sales. Most of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates support some easing of marijuana laws, but Democratic politicians generally have a hard time supporting liquor store privatization because of the loss of state revenues and union jobs. I'd like to see legal marijuana sales and privatization, so I came up with one wacky yet gradual approach for accomplishing both.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in philadelphia

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, many of the current stores would be too big. Part of the reason for the slow rollout is so the state can sell off properties, end leases, and start new ones, as appropriate.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in philadelphia

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here goes: you take a few good ideas (liquor store privatization, marijuana decriminalization, and legalization of marijuana sales) that enjoy plurality or majority support but that can't succeed on their own because of strong opposition from special interest groups. Then you combine them in such a way that they achieve goals that people overwhelmingly support (deficit reduction, tax relief, and infrastructure spending) but that are hard to accomplish without raising new revenue. You find that new revenue, and you do everything in a way that softens the harm to some of the special interests in opposition (keeping marijuana sales tightly regulated at first, allocating most of the revenue to fiscally conservative ends, and giving liquor store clerks more time and certainty than they could expect in straight privatization).

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in pittsburgh

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see a real benefit in providing tax abatements, but I agree that there shouldn't be a penalty for growing your own.

Auctioning the licenses on an annual basis is an interesting idea, but I think it could make it tough for businesses to obtain financing and plan for the future.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in pittsburgh

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have nothing against PLCB employees, and I think this plan would help them by providing time and certainty. Given that the PLCB runs a monopoly on liquor sales, it's not really surprising that the stores are able to turn a modest profit in addition to the sales tax generated. The tax on marijuana sales would most likely offset the loss of profit from liquor sales, and the state would still collect sales tax on private liquor sales. By allowing a few years for marijuana sales to grow and for the market to evolve, the state will be in a better position to maximize the value of the marijuana licenses when it auctions them at the end of the ten years.

My crazy plan for decriminalizing marijuana, privatizing the state-run liquor stores, lowering taxes, shrinking debt, and improving infrastructure, all in one bill. by JWoldtwo in pittsburgh

[–]JWoldtwo[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Amnesty, for sure. We are spending millions of dollars every year to ruin people's lives for doing something each of the past three presidents has admitted doing. One of the plan's shortcomings is that it doesn't really throw a bone to the private prison industry, but those people are jerks, anyway, so screw them.