My Unorthodox Views on Pot Laws (And Licensing In General)

I wonder how many people are like me, and support general legalization and not the medicinal one (note: I don't hate sick people).
— Gerry Daly (@GerryDales) November 21, 2013

Since the above just screams to be misunderstood, let me explain a bit further.

My main objection to medicinal marijuana laws is that it is a bad idea to craft laws in a manner that leads to a general abuse of the law, which these laws do. In California, you can find plenty of businesses where you can basically walk in, answer a few (leading questions) to get a medicinal marijuana card from a "doctor", and go back downstairs to purchase the goods.

It's not so much the end users in that business that get to me, but the whole business model. It sets a precedence where there are doctors set up to basically make a sham of the profession and the licensing process. That is not good, and eventually will lead to abuses within the realm of issuance and enforcement.

To me, the better approach is to end that charade. Naturally, this would also take care of those who need it for medicinal purposes, essentially making it over-the-counter.

Updated after posting:

This article is about Obamacare, but it also tells a lesson about the downside to licensing fees. http://t.co/HKHMT5P7Ui

— Gerry Daly (@GerryDales) November 21, 2013

This feels related. In the article, it details how one woman is practically being forced onto Medicaid against her wishes. One part of her story is how she was trying to build a career as a realtor, but could not afford to renew her license.

"How has it come to this?" she asked in one of our several talks over the past few weeks about what was happening. When she was a working mother and I was young, she easily carried health insurance for our whole family. "How have I fallen this far?"

In 2011, she had to give up her real-estate license; as a newer agent, she did not stand to earn enough in the tough market to justify the fees to renew.

The licensing process is generally presented (and often starts) as a way of protecting customers from charlatans and incompetents. However, the ever-present pressures to increase inflows to public coffers, along with lobbying from established businesses wanting to limit their competition, often leads to situations like the above, which present barriers to people trying to raise themselves up from being poor, concurrently depriving the public from the competition that leads to lower prices and better service.

And don't get me started on the way traffic and parking laws are abused to create revenue streams.

In general, I believe that the only way to raise revenue for governments should be via taxes. While I understand the impulse to get those who want to engage in a certain practice or activity that is controlled by licensing to fund, at least partially, the cost of government administering the licensing program, the adverse consequences are too much.