Imagine how much we could collect in taxes if the whole pipeline (so to speak) from till to toke were taxed like other crops? Not to mention the vast savings in incarceration expense if it were legalized. AND we’d be one step further in getting the government out of our personal lives.
Pot is called biggest cash crop
For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America’s biggest cash crop. Now they’re citing government statistics to prove it.
A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.
If they taxed marijuana, the same way that they tax alcohol, and tobacco, and make it a legal substance, not only would there be a tax SURPLUS, but there would be fewer people in prison.
This is part of the “war on drugs.” A war which we have for all intents and purposes lost. The government keeps throwing more money at the Prison/Law Enforcement industry, because they have such a strong lobby.
If they make hemp legal, there would be more hemp for cloth, paper, even alternative fuel. Until the 1930s, most boats’ ropes were made from hemp. It has been a vital fiber for us for many centuries. Then the same people who wanted a prohibition from alcohol, wanted a prohibition from marijuana. It seems to me that there is still a prohibition on marijuana, and none on alcohol, when alcohol is by far more dangerous than marijuana is.
Haven’t read the article, but here’s a link to another article that cites DEA statistics that say 99% of marijuana destroyed is feral/ditch weed that wouldn’t get anyone high anyway.
Due to operator error, I didn’t leave the link in my previous post, but put it in the ‘URL’ field… http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6220
The economics of marijuana are totally bull crap. It has always been in the government’s and police interest to inflate the value of the drugs. There is better impact with the voters if it sounds like every arrest is a big dealer.
I don’t know the true value of the marijuana crop today, BUT if it is worth $35 billion, then if it were legalized that same amount would probably be worth $1 billion at the most. It is the illegality that makes it such a valuable crop.
Don’t ever expect the government to do anything that is logical. This issue is not about facts it is about politics. For now the up tight squares are ruling the roost.
Marijuana use doesn’t lead to harder drugs. However, having to deal with drug dealers and being forced to become part of drug CULTURE DOES lead to using harder drugs. The obvious hypocrisy also breeds contempt of the law.
Just my opinion.
There are a million valid arguments why pot should be legalized. They’ll fall on deaf ears. The real issue is legislated morality. You’ll never penetrate the pervasive impression that smoking weed leads to more immoral behavior than alcohol does. Even during prohibition, alcohol use was looked on as a socially acceptable vice. You can compare weed to nicotine and alcohol till your blue in the face. I would agree with you. But, no congressman is ever going to look like he’s promoting immorality. It’s the totally fictitious morality argument that wins.
…but there would be fewer people in prison.
Because all of those people who knowingly broke the law would magically be released, and would never knowingly break the law again.
Right…
While #6 is right on, the fact that these people broke the law of their own accord can’t be ignored.
6,
Excellent points.
There is a contradiction in there. Isn’t taxation itself an involvement in our personal lives? If the purpose is to get government out of our lives, they should also be denied ownership over our lives. Taxation is just an exercise of that fake right.
As for marijuana, it shouldn’t matter if it has medicinal purposes, or if indeed it is poison. Treating people like children goes a way to make them just that. It’s not just insulting their ability to act like adults, it is criminal.
Should people be beaten, and raped for doing something that could potentially hurt no one but themselves? If the laws are to be fully applied, 10-20% of everybody should receive the prison treatment. If that is wrong, then the law is wrong. End of discussion.
But then again, that is a greater reason to maintain the status quo. If the laws are overturned, what then? All of a sudden, it would be revealed that the government has, for so long, abused so many people. Revealed as truly evil, they will also lose legitimacy and that can not happen.
The Prohibition didn’t go away because people went to vote, it died because it was simply ignored.
laws are for the irresponsible… live your life in a responsible way and you can do pretty much anything you want to anyway!
marijuana should never be legalized, it should be completely decriminalized… i don’t need a law telling me what is okay to do, that’s just retarded!
People still make alcohol illegally, although a dying art, there are areas of Virginia (Franklin County) where ATF raids every year or so. These guys have been making likker for many generations and their product is excellent (oops).. If Marijuana were made legal, there would still be a black market, people would still grow their own, and do a better job of it than the govt.
LEGALIZE!!!
High grade marijuana cost about $400 an ounce around here. I’m hoping for a price drop if it goes legal.
DISCLOSURE:
I high right now.
1/8 oz. = $50.00 street value for good green buds is pretty common.
1 oz = $400.00 street value if sold in 1/8ths
for reference Gold is $614 per troy ounce 31 grams approx.
16 oz = a pound or $6400.00 if one were to pay street value.
So $35 billion would get you 2734.375 tons of buds at 50 bucks an 1/8th
Does it cost 50 bucks an 1/8th to produce? not even close..
Just think if the government legalized pot and sold it they could probably pay off the national debt in just a few years as well as save money by not spending so much on
Incarceration of users and dealers. Freeing up plenty of jail and prison space that could be used for violent offenders and other that do need to be locked up for what ever reason.
They could cut back on the war on drugs or concentrate more on meth which is the real problem.
And of course theres the benefits of using the plant for production of hempseed oil which is viscous enough for use in automobiles.. and of course fabric and rope and all that stuff as well. Even more for the economy.
If pot was legal whats the worst that could happen?
A nation of pot heads? Unlikely..
#4, FWIW, I think the price they used in the analysis wasn’t too bad. $1600 per pound, rather than the typical law enforcement numbers of $2-4k per pound. Wholesale type prices, rather than the broken up resale values added together. We don’t base the value of the corn crop by taking the cost of one can of corn and extrapolating upwards, but the police seem to want to base everything off of the price of a dime bag on the street.
As for it being cheaper if it was legal, I don’t know. In Amsterdam last summer, I paid on average about 8 euros per gram, which would work out to around $300 per ounce which is higher by far than what I pay here. Of course the quality was a lot better. I think that is a more likely outcome of legalization than a price drop…the price point and quantity demanded aren’t going to change if the quality of the supply rises up to meet it.
Make PEOPLE responsible for their condition.
NOT that they are druck, high, wasted…ONLY that they Hurt someone, or hit something.
Let Police be PEACE officers, not inforcers.. Let them become friends and Give warnings…NOt scare you IF you are being stupid.
Just look at the countries here in Europe whare they legalised marijuana: The Netherlands and Switzerland… (Yeah, Switzerland as well, though you need a Swiss passport to buy any).
Have they become a nation of potheads? No!
Do they have more crime because of it? No!
More health problems? No!
Where’s the time when George Washington grew pot in the garden of the White House… [Sigh]
I could go on for a bit more but will leave it at that… 😉
adi11235 — Sorry, but you are totally wrong about prohibition. It was both put into effect, and taken out of effect, by voters’ action. As it was a Constitutional Amendment both times, and had to be voted on, by the people of each and every state.
Which is worse??
Drugs to keep you mellow or MJ and stay mellow?? FOR a LOWER price. Look up Valium..
Look at the prices for some of the new Mood mods…$1-5 per PILL.
Think it would be better to have MJ..
The law change was just a formality, if you wanted to get a drink in the 20es you’d have little problem getting it.
But even saying that Democracy overturned it eventually, what does this tell us by the fact that it took 13 years of bloody turmoil? I don’t know about you, but I’d say but the democratic process has claimed too many lives already.
#9,
You make a very good point and I agree. While I favor the decriminalization of pot, I also have the same misgivings about those that are high while driving or operating machinery.
The current method of detecting cannabis is to check to see if there are any metabolites in the blood / urine. Because cannabis is retained in fat cells and released over a period of time, there is no way to determine if the person is high now or last week.
We do need a better test to keep those that are high from getting behind the wheel. I like to think pot smokers are smarter then most boozers, they too have a share of the national stupid population.
#6, Good point and I agree.
#11, I think we’re on the same page.
Im sorry about where you all live but here in the midwest the kentukians and the mex’s have driven the price of a pound down to $500. I ain’t talkin ditch weed either. Do not legelize it. Please do not destroy the last FREE market leftin America.
legalizing marijuana would have major benefits and a few set backs… over all i think it would reduce use of meth and other potentiallt dangerous drugsbecause these drugs are much more available… DXM is found in everything heloooo
I think it would be a good thing to legalize pot.what the gov.cant seem to understand is you put people in prison for weed a harmless crime.but the people they were locked up with are in for real crime.and by the time they have been let out they now know all about other crime that is far greater then what they were sent to jail for in the first place.its kinda a college for crime.they should have never been their in the first place.so in a way the gov.is schooling people how to be a hard ass and then seting them free on the street.thats just grate.