Weed

[shaobadman]

surprised me as well since we're always seeing arguments about following los angeles and embracing the realism

[knppel]

16 minutes ago, shaobadman said:

surprised me as well since we're always seeing arguments about following los angeles and embracing the realism

If one thing really is continuous than that many people cherry pick whatever aspect of reality suits their (character's) needs rather than to aim for a simulative approach

Edited July 22, 2021 by knppel

[Florida]

As a crimes man I relinquish the monopolization of selling weed to serial-killer juveniles. This right should belong to the beautiful legal role-players which will better benefit the server as a whole. We are a TEAM and must work together to create a better weed economy.

[DLimit]

1 minute ago, Florida said:

As a crimes man I relinquish the monopolization of selling weed to serial-killer juveniles. This right should belong to the beautiful legal role-players which will better benefit the server as a whole. We are a TEAM and must work together to create a better weed economy.

In the process, legalizing marijuana doesn't stop people from selling marijuana at a cheaper price. I'd envision that the legal marijuana industry would be severely taxed, alongside with increasing the demand for marijuana as it'd be "legal for recreational use". No more of those "I'm legal, I wouldn't smoke weed" characters.

[Florida]

[Fancy Toothpaste]

52 minutes ago, Henning said:

 

How so?

If I'm remembering the bill that was originally rejected correctly, legal weed would suffer a near 40% tax on all income. 40%, added onto costs of labor and time it takes to grow and distribute legally wouldn't be unsubstantial. Just like in real life, this would probably create 3 markets: The white market (fully above board), the gray market (partially above board) and the black market (completely illegal).

 

Many people in California get their weed from unregulated sources despite the substance being legal, simply because the white market is too expensive. It is believed that only 1 in every 5 dispensaries in LA in real life are actually licensed because of additional costs. An added bonus is these operations are often difficult to prosecute unless workers admit to their involvement. It's often difficult to differentiate between those who work at an illegal dispensery (illegal) and those who buy from it or claim to be "simply using the bathroom". (perfectly legal).

 

How would this same dynamic transpire in this game? I'd imagine it would be roughly the same as it is in real life, albeit more rudimentary. Dispensaries would be expensive to own, expensive to run, and with 40% of all profits taxed by the government not nearly as profitable as gray or black market operations. This gives leeway for illegal roleplayers to reap the rewards of partial legality and plausible deniability.

 

This community has been preaching about blurring the lines between legal and illegal roleplay forever, but when presented with the perfect opportunity to do so, it flops.

 

This isn't even really discussing the implications on realism that not legalizing Marijuana has. Medical Marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, longer then half the people in this community have probably been alive. It's become so synonymous with SO-CAL culture that not legalizing it IC is just kind of laughable, especially when you consider just how seriously this community claims to take it's dedication to realistic portrayal.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Fancy Toothpaste
typing on my phone so... typos...

[knppel]

1 minute ago, Fancy Toothpaste said:

This community has been preaching about blurring the lines between legal and illegal roleplay forever, but when presented with the perfect opportunity to do so, it flops.

I was originally sceptic a few months ago but after some longer observation, this here really.

 

Irl I used to jest "The issue with many drug dealers is that they see their trade as a crime, so they won't be morally object to adding other crimes such as scamming you on top".

In our over-exaggerating community this leads to dealers who lack customers (see respective ooc debates) and possible drug users who lack dealers, because the groups are typically ooc-wary of each other (criminals are scared to interact with mallrats to not compromise their rp and vice versa, and everyone's scared of cops taking them in if they carry stuff ic and jail visits don't fit in the character developement arch right now).

 

While I originally was in favour of illegal weed for sentimental reasons, I'd definitely agree opening up the setting to see who can provide the most interesting roleplay around it can definitely not hurt (and if it's criminal networks doing so, that's their win).

 

@Henning

You could extort and burn down legal weed plantations, think of the opportunities gained, not the ones lost!

[Trupiano]

49 minutes ago, Fancy Toothpaste said:

If I'm remembering the bill that was originally rejected correctly, legal weed would suffer a near 40% tax on all income. 40%, added onto costs of labor and time ot takes to grow and distribute legally wouldn't be unsubstantial. Just like in real life, this would probably create 3 markets: The white market (fully above board), the gray market (partially above board) and the black market (completely illegal).

 

Many people in California get their weed from unregulated sources despite the substance being legal, simply because the white market is too expensive. It is believed that only 1 in every 5 dispensaries in LA in real life are actually licensed because of additional costs. An added bonus is these operations are often difficult to prosecute unless workers admit to their involvement. It's often difficult to differentiate between those who work at an illegal dispensery (illegal) and those who buy from it or claim to be "simply using the bathroom". (perfectly legal).

 

How would this same dynamic transpire in this game? I'd imagine it would be roughly the same as it is in real life, albeit more rudimentary. Dispensaries would be expensive to own, expensive to run, and with 40% of all profits taxed by the government not nearly as profitable as gray or black market operations. This gives leeway for illegal roleplayers to reap the rewards of partial legality and plausible deniability.

 

This community has been preaching about blurring the lines between legal and illegal roleplay forever, but when presented with the perfect opportunity to do so, it flops.

 

This isn't even really discussing the implications on realism that not legalizing Marijuana has. Medical Marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, longer then half the people in this community have probably been alive. It's become so synonymous with SO-CAL culture that not legalizing it IC is just kind of laughable, especially when you consider just how seriously this community claims to take it's dedication to realistic portrayal.

 

Absolutely none of that matters when there is barely any demand for weed outside of simply using it to create illegal RP. If there was a large demand for weed on this server, as there is a large demand in Southern California. I'd 100% agree with you, but there just simply isn't. 

 

35 minutes ago, knppel said:

I was originally sceptic a few months ago but after some longer observation, this here really.

 

Irl I used to jest "The issue with many drug dealers is that they see their trade as a crime, so they won't be morally object to adding other crimes such as scamming you on top".

In our over-exaggerating community this leads to dealers who lack customers (see respective ooc debates) and possible drug users who lack dealers, because the groups are typically ooc-wary of each other (criminals are scared to interact with mallrats to not compromise their rp and vice versa, and everyone's scared of cops taking them in if they carry stuff ic and jail visits don't fit in the character developement arch right now).

 

While I originally was in favour of illegal weed for sentimental reasons, I'd definitely agree opening up the setting to see who can provide the most interesting roleplay around it can definitely not hurt (and if it's criminal networks doing so, that's their win).

 

@Henning

You could extort and burn down legal weed plantations, think of the opportunities gained, not the ones lost!

 

First off, the whole civilian VS Criminal OOC shitfest should have absolutely nothing to do with it. If your too "OOC-wary" to deal with drug dealers because of the shit you see on the forums and in discord? I'm sorry but frankly your opinion on this matter holds no value. You are making the decision to do drugs, it's a crime, your going to have to interact with criminals. Guess what comes with that? Oh shit! The possibility that you could get robbed or arrested. Tough shit, it's apart of doing drugs.

 

As it stands, weed serves as a somewhat easily obtainable drug that's easy to sell. It drives illegal character development and RP forward for a lot of people. Many people will tell you, selling weed is what started them down the criminal path. What starts as something you do just to pay for your own habits quickly develops into other criminal ventures as well. 

 

Now as I mentioned before, the demand for all drugs including weed is unrealistically low. For the most part drugs are sold from criminal to criminal with the off chance that someone like yourself might try to make a purchase. What's going to happen if weed is legalized on the server? It's not going to create RP for both sides, this isn't real life Southern California where there's such high demand that people are willing to go to the black-market to save a few bucks. This is a roleplay server where the vast majority of people are wealthy and many are too concerned about their assets to interact with someone they OOCly fear is going to rob them. So what's really going to happen? Weeds going to become a drug with no real RP value, if civilians can just walk into a store and purchase weed without the fear of robbery  and with money being basically a none issue for every character. No one is going to purchase from the street level guy ever and therefor that guy loses all his RP. 

 

@knppel Yeah, as an organized crime character? it's an opportunity gained. But for ever smaller faction we interact with it's a huge opportunity lost. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Henning

[ThatDutchPerson]

Most cops keep an eye closed for it though, unless you're an obvious dealer or you smoke it right infront of them, so its not really a big deal in my opinion.

[Illusory]

6 minutes ago, ThatDutchPerson said:

Most cops keep an eye closed for it though, unless you're an obvious dealer or you smoke it right infront of them, so its not really a big deal in my opinion.

 

This is true, getting arrested for having like 3 grams of weed on you is about as likely as getting a ticket for jaywalking at this point. There would have to be something else supplemental going on for anyone to ever actually get prosecuted for having personal use amounts on them anyway.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Sush