An unfathomably huge problem facing California that is under-discussed is the second order effects of the legalization of cannabis. Used to be you could get $4,000/lb per lb, but now theyr're going for $500. Generations of families and industry and workers happened at $4k which provided underground jobs that now don't exist. These are people that have never had W2 income and thus are not counted in any official stats due to the nature of growing illegal pot. These are swaths of people that previously funded their lives through illicit pot deals that no longer exist. The arts in California? Funded by untracable weed cash. That's gone.
There are very few jobs for a convicted felon with a mental illness, and trimming weed was the one way to pay the bills. That's now dried up. On an individual level, just don't be a convicted felon and don't catch a mental illness. Easy, right? Society includes all of us and they need jobs to be paid so they can buy food.
I don't know if UBI is the answer, but California's underground economy has this massive hole in it due to legalization that's gone unnoticed and we're in line for a big cultural shift because of that.
There are very few jobs for a convicted felon with a mental illness, and trimming weed was the one way to pay the bills. That's now dried up. On an individual level, just don't be a convicted felon and don't catch a mental illness. Easy, right? Society includes all of us and they need jobs to be paid so they can buy food.
I don't know if UBI is the answer, but California's underground economy has this massive hole in it due to legalization that's gone unnoticed and we're in line for a big cultural shift because of that.