Corporate Effects of Marijuana

As more and more states put forth legislation that will ostensibly legalize (or at least decriminalize)  marijuana usage, has anyone stopped to think about the poor smalltime drug dealers that will be adversely affected by the new laws?  You know who I'm talking about,  Joe College and Johnny High School.  Dudes and dudettes looking to make a few extra bucks while getting their smoke on for free.  What will these once invaluable resources and lifelines to recreational drug use do when their economically blessed friends/clients trade in shadier dealings for pot cards?

If we view marijuana within the scope of the legitimate business world (which it is now entering), smalltime dealers who once rather harmlessly served a valuable purpose in their respective communities will naturally be overwhelmed by larger shops.  In Denver, marijuana dispensaries now outnumber Starbucks 3 to 1.  And while that might have been every pothead's childhood fantasy, the idea of franchised weed shops on every street corner seems to run counter to counter culture.  Within a few years, I predict weed will go corporate.  The weed lobby, aka The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, will change its name and grow powerful, ultimate outlining policy in Washington just like every other special interest group.  Prices for weed will astronomically rise (What did coffee cost before Starbucks?), which in effect will once again make the dealings of Joe College and Johnny High School necessary for the economically less fortunate.  Although by this point, the weed lobby will have aided in legislation aimed at extreme sentencing guidelines for unsanctioned dealers, thereby putting the illegal weed trade in the hands of the no longer white collar Joe College and Johnny High School.

Having written that, and it's just one extreme (albeit possible) future based on how this all plays on the federal level over the next few years, I still think marijuana should be legal.  Nonetheless, something isn't sitting right with the thought that one day, marijuana joints will be sold in packs like cigarettes behind the counter at convenient stores across the country.