Um, he's got two penises?

Seriously, CM, that's really pretty awesome right there and I sincerely wish your campaign all the best. By the way, what exactly is the "other side" that these religious leaders are missing? Yeah, nice try Todd. Judge the tree by its fruit indeed.

That'd be awesome if the October issue of Playgirl was Karl Rove naked, with the title "October Surprise!" above it.

Dude, he might want to think about that if he'd like me to start voting republiican....

Re-pube-lickin'!

Ewww...

I never thought I'd be on the same side as someone who "believe[s] that one of the functions of government is to curb sinful behavior."

Also, $45 per ounce in taxes? Ouch! But it's not like consumers have an alternative. :}

that wouldn't be so bad. if pot were legal, the "natural" cost would be about that of tobacco, which is absurdly cheap. so while still overpriced, it would cost about the same, right?

Plus, you'll probably get some black market smuggled tobacco without the taxes! Hooray for capitalism.

When I lived in England there was a guy on the street corner who I thought was selling drugs, after a few months I realized he was actually selling cigarettes that had been smuggled into the country without having paid the import tax.

Yeah, it occurred to me after I made that post that the black-market status of marijuana must inflate its price. It would be amusing if the price of legal pot plus tax ended up being roughly the same as what people were paying for illegal pot all along.

Does anyone know by weight how much tobacco is in a pack of 20 cigarettes? Judging stricly by feel, I'd venture that $45 an ounce in tax on top of suggested retail value and so on will make a pick of joints quite a bit more expensive than a pack of cigarettes, but I could be wrong.

An ounce of marijuana is about the equivalent of about 30 cigarettes. But there's a big difference between a cigarette and a joint.

Yeah, cigarettes are cooler.

True enough, CM- I guess for some reason I was forgetting that it wouldn't necessarily be packaged in the same way. Nevertheless, at $45 an ounce in taxes, the cost of weed for consumers will be very much higher than that of cigarettes. I have no problem with this, as long as I know that the tax money I'm providing is being put towards programs that I feel are for the public good or whatever, in particular drug treatment programs, I love the apparent irony there which is actually not irony at all. I think I understand this to be a specific aspect of your initiative, which is cool. Nothing would creep me out and depress me more than the thought that I could, say, be supporting the war in Iraq with my weed smoking (and yes, I understand that every paycheck I earn can be construed to be in part supporting the war in Iraq). And if the total cost of an ounce for a consumer worked out to be, say, $100, including taxes, and it were high quality, that would be hugely less expensive than blackmarket rates. Even if it were $200 an ounce and really good, that would be a massive drop in prices if you go by what one pays in New York.

Hey, Jesse, you just provided me with an excellent rationalization for lying about my tips.

I expect people would be willing to pay more for pre-rolled joints.

Would manufactured pot just look like cigarettes? I always assumed the rolled joint was just a function of the illegality and lack of manufacturing process. Can pot be smoked like tobacco in a normal cigarette tube?

yessiree.

Nice Lorelei. Preemptive withholding...