Legal Pot Would Kill Illegal Sales? Not So Much.

     The story out of California reports seven people shot to death at an illegal marijuana operation, even though recreational marijuana has long been legal. The New York Times story includes this:

"Medical marijuana has been legal in California for 20 years and the sale of recreational marijuana was legalized in 2016. But the state’s longtime illegal marijuana market has continued to thrive, officials have said. Experts say that is because of the surplus of marijuana in the area as well as a patchwork of laws by local governments regulating the newly legalized industry.

Though California’s large cities have established legal marijuana businesses, most of the state — small cities and towns — has not. This is one of the many reasons the illegal market continues to flourish."

     Which may at least partly drive a stake into one argument in favor of legalizing grass...that the real danger of marijuana comes from the fact that it is illegal.