Sheelah Kolhatker of BusinessWeek contributes a long story on the economics of growing marijuana in Humbolt, County, Calif., a haven for quasi-illegal cannibas cultivation that is threatened by the potential passage of Proposition 19.
Humboldt County could also lose the geographical advantage of its remoteness, which makes it ideal for producing an illegal product, as production moves closer to where most of the customers are, in Los Angeles and San Francisco. With taxation and regulation happening at a county or city level, there could also be a race to whichever area has the friendliest rules.
The article details how this remote valley is supported by the outsized profits from marijuana due to its limited legality - the boom was ushered in by a medical marijuana provision that can make smoking legal for causes as minor as a stiff neck.
The article provides an interesting look at how taxation and regulation distort market economics as well as the social conventions necessary to operate the corners of the law.
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