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Vice Products blog #5

In chapter 8, it talks about Vice Products. Vice products are items the government feels are going to have lasting effect on the public, most likely bad, that they want to regulate. I Found it interesting how the series of events happened that led to each of those products they mention, that led to their approval on the public. Things like Alcohol, Tobacco, and Gambling. Now its 2017, and a new item to add to that list is cannabis. Weed is the newest vice product that is being regulated by the government as a medical item. Weed created 50 billion in tax dollars for colorado its first year on the market. Now my article doesn't talk about is how these products actually make a huge profit for the state itself. Whats weird about america is that we are 'owned' by the media. If something is shown on the news, or something like this we change how we see that something. Now is the government planning these vice products in advance to 'scare' us into thinking something is bad for long enough until the public wants it bad enough to where the item brings in so much money because of the wait for it to be on the market. Do you think the government really cares about our health? Or do they have another agenda in mind that is all profits?



https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/big-money-and-tech-advances-in-vice-products_us_5994b2c7e4b00dd984e37c04

Comments

  1. This was an interesting post in the way that you label weed as a new vice product. You are definitely right when you suggest that corporations that advertise and sell these products, may not care about our health. Their main agenda is to make money, just like most other businesses and corporations. Do you think that weed is legitimately a vice product at this point, even though it is only legal for recreation use in 8 states? The amount of commercial speech or advertising at all for weed is extremely minimal. Tobacco, alcohol, gambling, tanning, etc. are all legal in most states, and commercial speech for these products are quite prevalent. Yes, these products are harmful to our health. Yet, this is why they are labeled "vice" products in the first place.

    "Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff. “Where Is Weed Legal? Map of U.S. Marijuana Laws by State.” The Cannabist, www.thecannabist.co/2016/10/14/legal-marijuana-laws-by-state-map-united-states/62772/."

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