July 21, 2010 11:48AM 

# Baptists and Pot-Growers 

By [Ilya Shapiro](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-shapiro) 

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The [*L.A. Times* reports](http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0721-oakland-pot-20100721,0,2767349.story) that the city of Oakland has approved an ordinance paving the way for the industrial production of marijuana. There is more to this than simply a victory for liberty in the drug war. As the story describes and [Josh Blackman analyzes](http://joshblackman.com/blog/?p=4895), the episode demonstrates “Baptists and Bootleggers”-style public choice economics in action: existing small-time growers are displeased at the competition, barriers to entry are high, the approved pot factories engaged in serious rent-seeking, and the city profits from a new stream of tax revenue.

And so, as liberty expands, government reserves the power to decide who gets to benefit most — after taking a slice for itself off the top.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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