Colorado Division of Criminal Justice posted:

The 2012 prison population projections
released in February of 2013 forecast that the Colorado prison inmate population would decline
by 4.6% by the end of FY 2013, to 20,079. The actual population at year-end was 20,135, a
difference of less than 0.3%.

However, the projected decline in the female inmate population did not meet the expected
11.4% drop, with the population falling only 5.6% from 1,885 to 1,780 by the end of FY 2013.
The female population began to increase in February of this year, a significant deviation from
the negative growth observed over the prior 16 months.

quote:

Colorado correctional populations, both adult and juvenile, are expected to continue to decrease in the
upcoming years. These projections are based on historical trends in these populations, as well as the shifts
in all aspects of the criminal and juvenile justice systems, including declines in arrests, criminal and juvenile
delinquency court filings and probation revocations. Recent legislation and parole practice reforms also
significantly influence these forecasts.

computer parts posted:

Or private prisons could just raise their rates per prisoner.

WampaLord posted:

Hahahaha, yea no.

The appeal of going to a store that has all the strains listed on the wall with set prices will outweigh waiting for a call from a dealer where he tells you he's got the "best stuff" but refuses to give you any more info. (At least, I assume, I've never used a dealer, this is just based on my talks with weed users in non-legal states)

quote:

I'm starting to sense that you don't know much about weed or the people who smoke it.

Dusseldorf posted:

It's not optimal but I would be fine with paying the same for fewer prisoners.

quote:

“The curve of epidemic imprisonment in America has now begun to inflect and a growing number of states are now intentionally shrinking their prison populations in favor of alternatives to incarceration, especially for juveniles and drug offenders. 21

New York, the first state to employ long mandatory sentencing for drug offenses with its “Roc kefeller drug laws” of 1973, 22 is now leading the nation in reform. Indeed, New York State now has the nation’s largest percent drop in its prison population since the 1990s—from 73,000 inmates in 1994 to 58,000 in 2012—a decline of over twenty percent. 23 In New York, we can already see that this drop is due to changes in two important expressions of policy: the number of felony drug arrests and the patterns of mandated long sentences that have accompanied them, along with the repeat imprisonments that these policies made inevitable. 24 Felony drug arrests alone have dropped twenty percent in New York State since 2008, leading to declines in associated prosecutions, convictions, and imprisonments.” https://law.uoregon.edu/org/olr/volumes/91/2/documents/Drucker.pdf

Powercrazy posted:

Have you read the reports? Many retail stores are OUT, there isn't anything left. So if my options are ZERO WEED, or some decriminalized weed that is conveniently delivered to my door, the choice for me is obvious.

The legal supply cannot meet demand, and it's not going to suddenly "ramp-up," especially since the legal licensing and grow ops won't catch up for the next few years, by legislative design.

Also don't apply your non-experience with dealers to people who have no choice but to get their weed from dealers. I have a literal online catalog that includes strains from Oregon, Colorado, Amsterdam, and various independent growers that I can have delivered to my door within hours at prices that are cheaper than retail Colorado prices. The black market still exists, and will continue to exist until the barrier to entry for legalization is lower.


But yea, what I was actually getting at is that there are so few people in jail for possession, that decreasing that already small number isn't really that big of a deal, on the whole. It's obviously a good thing though.

Powercrazy posted:

I have a literal online catalog that includes strains from Oregon, Colorado, Amsterdam, and various independent growers that I can have delivered to my door within hours at prices that are cheaper than retail Colorado prices.

BottledBodhisvata posted:

I was under the impression that about 50% of the prison population was in there for non-violent drug possessions. I understand that actually not nearly that much is in there for pot, but surely it'd make at least a dent, wouldn't it?

WampaLord posted:

I find this extremely had to believe, or I guess drug dealers really have adapted well to modern technology.

Sorry about the "you don't know poo poo about weed" comment, but I still think the black market in CO will die out as retail operations expand. Also, people can start growing their own, so the supply is definitely going to go up one way or another.

WampaLord posted:

Sorry about the "you don't know poo poo about weed" comment, but I still think the black market in CO will die out as retail operations expand. Also, people can start growing their own, so the supply is definitely going to go up one way or another.

computer parts posted:

Or private prisons could just raise their rates per prisoner.

WampaLord posted:

The demand was just overwhelming in the first few days (as to be expected.) Weed is crazy easy to grow, they will just start growing more and supply will quickly meet the increased demand. The black market for weed in CO will wither away and die very soon.

The only people who would hit up a dealer instead of go to a store are people who live extremely far away from stores, but even that won't be a big issue after the retail weed spreads throughout the state.

DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:

This is mistaking a symptom for the disease. The drug war has two purposes: 1. Getting federal money into local law enforcement agencies in order to militarize them (in the 1960s many local PDs didn't even have radios in their vehicles), in order to more effectively clamp down on social unrest. 2. Imprison large numbers of lower-class and minority Americans in order to head off the social unrest that rocked the 60s (itself largely the result of increasingly broad solidarity between exploited and oppressed groups and classes). While the War On Terror can take the place of the War On Drugs for (1), (2) will require some alternative measure to be adopted.

DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:

This is mistaking a symptom for the disease. The drug war has two purposes: 1. Getting federal money into local law enforcement agencies in order to militarize them (in the 1960s many local PDs didn't even have radios in their vehicles), in order to more effectively clamp down on social unrest. 2. Imprison large numbers of lower-class and minority Americans in order to head off the social unrest that rocked the 60s (itself largely the result of increasingly broad solidarity between exploited and oppressed groups and classes). While the War On Terror can take the place of the War On Drugs for (1), (2) will require some alternative measure to be adopted.

DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:

I'm also skeptical that legalizing marijuana will actually affect the prison population over the long term, because our justice system is a sham and it's economically and politically necessary to imprison more people than the height of the GULAG period to keep things running smoothly.

WampaLord posted:

I find this extremely hard to believe, or I guess drug dealers really have adapted well to modern technology. Regardless, I doubt most people know how to access said catalog. Check your weed buying privilege.

BottledBodhisvata posted:

This shouldn't be allowed.

twodot posted:

Here's the primary Seattle marijuana delivery service:
http://www.winterlifecoop.com/daily-menu.html
I guess it's plausible that not everyone has heard of them, but it's not like you have to install Tor or anything to get to it, and local news have published stories on them. (I have also literally seen dudes on bicycles waving hats with marijuana leaves shouting "I've got weed")

WampaLord posted:

That's in Seattle, where WA has medically legal weed for the time being and is opening retail stores soon. I was talking about in states where it's still fully illegal.

WampaLord posted:

That's in Seattle, where WA has medically legal weed for the time being and is opening retail stores soon. I was talking about in states where it's still fully illegal.

E: VVV You're almost there, now imagine how the police would act in a state where marijuana wasn't legal. And no, he was talking about NY.

I find it very hard believe that these delivery services are as prevalent as Powercrazy is implying, he just has a sweet setup going on.

Xandu posted:

quote:

High Times, the magazine that has been catering to cannabis enthusiasts for four decades, wants investors to light up a new venture.

The magazine is working to set up the High Times Growth Fund, a private equity vehicle that would allow investors to connect with legitimate pot start-ups.

The aim is to open next month and to raise $100 million over two years, according to Michael Safir, the business manager of High Times, who will work for the fund full time once it launches.

He said that the fund, which is open only to accredited investors, could dwarf other private equity ventures in the budding pot industry.

"Basically, the main obstacle is getting people over the fear of investing in cannabis," Safir told CNBC in an interview. "I've kind of taken the position that if you believe in it, it doesn't matter what we say—you're going to give us a check."
(Read more: WeedMaps: Meet the Yelp of the marijuana business)

KernelSlanders posted:

It looks like High Times Magazine is opening a legal marijuana focused private equity fund.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101297399

WampaLord posted:

This is brilliant. If banks can make money off of it, marijuana will be fully legalized within 5 years.

BottledBodhisvata posted:

For once in my life I am rooting for the banks.

twodot posted:

I thought he was talking about Colorado, but regardless I should note that the business I posted is operating illegally. They do business with people who don't have medical marijuana cards, and no retail licenses have been given out yet. They claim they're legal, because they claim to be charging for the delivery process, and not the marijuana, but this is obviously wrong. The reality is the police (and the DEA) just don't care enough to prosecute them.

edit: Oh wait, I think they are now claiming that literally every resident of Washington qualifies for medical marijuana. In any case, the point is that they are operating illegaly no matter what excuse they give.

Powercrazy posted:

Have you read the reports? Many retail stores are OUT, there isn't anything left. So if my options are ZERO WEED, or some decriminalized weed that is conveniently delivered to my door, the choice for me is obvious.

The legal supply cannot meet demand, and it's not going to suddenly "ramp-up," especially since the legal licensing and grow ops won't catch up for the next few years, by legislative design.

TenementFunster posted:

give it a few months. as i've said earlier in this thread, current medical shops had the one time option to transfer some existing medical supply to retail supply. given that relatively few locations actually opted to become retail establishments on Jan 1 and the first retail seeds/clones were planted 6 days ago, it is going to take awhile before supply and demand are in sync based on the nature of the plant itself. it won't suddenly "ramp up," but give it a few months to normalize after more retail shops and retails grows become available. it's brave, new and slightly chiller world out here. anyone expecting perfect on day 1 was a fool. so far things are going pretty well in my estimation, considering there haven't been any raids or violence.

also this is totally anecdotal, but I've heard that a number of current/former weed dealers in the Denver area are transitioning to make "ecstasy" and LSD/psilocybin their new draws. stuff that is sold as ecstasy is huuuuuuge here. it's the only drug and place where people have come up to me at nightclubs and ask if i'm holding. although that might just be because I look older than I did 10 years ago.

Warchicken posted:

Support for marijuana is so ubiquitous now that I can only see O'reilly's freakout hurting him, not the cause of cannabis.

Lycus posted:

Oh man, the Nancy Grace thing was hilarious. "You mean a private space, like your home? Where you're supposed to taking care of you children, or cooking at a gas stove, or lighting a fireplace? You mean that place? Yeah, no!"

Powercrazy posted:

Have you read the reports? Many retail stores are OUT, there isn't anything left. So if my options are ZERO WEED, or some decriminalized weed that is conveniently delivered to my door, the choice for me is obvious.

The legal supply cannot meet demand, and it's not going to suddenly "ramp-up," especially since the legal licensing and grow ops won't catch up for the next few years, by legislative design.

Also don't apply your non-experience with dealers to people who have no choice but to get their weed from dealers. I have a literal online catalog that includes strains from Oregon, Colorado, Amsterdam, and various independent growers that I can have delivered to my door within hours at prices that are cheaper than retail Colorado prices. The black market still exists, and will continue to exist until the barrier to entry for legalization is lower.


But yea, what I was actually getting at is that there are so few people in jail for possession, that decreasing that already small number isn't really that big of a deal, on the whole. It's obviously a good thing though.

WampaLord posted:

I find this extremely hard to believe, or I guess drug dealers really have adapted well to modern technology. Regardless, I doubt most people know how to access said catalog. Check your weed buying privilege.

Sorry about the "you don't know poo poo about weed" comment, but I still think the black market in CO will die out as retail operations expand. Also, people can start growing their own, so the supply is definitely going to go up one way or another.

numbs posted:

Honestly though, considering the people are demanding more than the dispensaries have available, the black market may be the only option. Perhaps there will not be as many drug dealers all over the place, but there will be less. Good drug dealers will stay in the game, while the mediocre dealers are weeded out.