Why on earth the government hasn't legalized marijuana (at least), regulated its use and taxed it to provide for needed government programs puzzles me.
Here in Humboldt County the estimates of how much marijuana cultivation contributes to our local economy ranges from $200 million on the conservative side to half-a-billion on the optimistic side. And that's just a single California county; you can imagine how much in potential tax revenues that single crop could generate if it was legalized. And the savings in law enforcement, probation services, court and related court services themselves would be tremendous in and of themselves. Some portion of revenues could be directed towards drug education and rehabilitation services for those who become caught up in drug addiction, though marijuana ain't one of the drugs that causes problems (outside of its illegality). And, although there will always be something of a black market for any desirable product, the heavy duty criminal element that is drawn to high-risk, high- profit ventures would exit the market. I don't think that will happen until we have a responsible Republican administration that will make the argument an economic one; once you examine current drug laws through that lens I don't believe you can long endorse this well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed drug war. ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm reading a book called Dry Manhattan, Prohibition in New York City. > It is such a strong parallel to what is going on now with an > important exception. Because of the depression, society got sick > really quickly of financing an unwinnable war which creates a mobster > underground making untaxible billions. The same issues of black market > impurities causing more health issues than the drug itself happened > back then also with private stills cranking out some nasty stuff. > > Cry'n Mama, Mama, Mama, cry'n canned heat kill'n me > Cry'n Mama, Mama, Mama, cry'n Sterno is kill'n me > If canned heat don't kill me, I believe I'll never die. > > Sterno strained through bread was a favorite drink. Only problem was > is was wood alcohol, not grain alcohol. > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Marek Reavis" <reavismarek@> > wrote: > > > > Thanks for posting this piece, Bob. Seeing firsthand how this so- > > called war is fought, at least on the jurisdictional battlefields I've > > been in, is a scary eye-opener to just how ineffective and crazy the > > whole enterprise is. One of the very worst examples of how a good > > intention goes terribly bad is the asset forfeiture laws that > > essentially create self-funding task forces that receive percentages of > > property and cash seized from drug arrests. > > > > It makes these multi-agency task forces into freebooters who profit > > from their busts. > > > > ** > > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, bob_brigante <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > Think the war in Iraq is stupid? The war on drugs is much dumber: > > > > > > http://www.slate.com/id/2178795/ > > > > > >
