Yes

by Edward Hall

Created on: July 02, 2011

I would guess that the first marijuana laws in this country were passed in 1619 in Jamestown Colony. Each colonist was required to grow marijuana (hemp). It was to be used for ropes, rigging and for trade with this same purpose in mind. Since that time hemp has taken a sharp drop in popularity with our governing bodies.

Ask yourself a simple question, how is the illegalization of marijuana helping you?  Let me take a moment and tell you how they are hurting you even if you do not use marijuana and do not want to use it. According to the FBI in 2007 eight hundred, seventy-two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one  (872,721) marijuana arrest were made. Let me ask you a series of questions; how many man-hours of law enforcement and judicial time do you think that many arrest might take, how many man-days of incarceration do you think came out of that many arrest, and finally how many people went on the public dole because their bread winner was doing time because of these arrest?

Allow me one more question, who do you think paid for all that? I’ll answer that one, you paid for it. You, I and every other person who paid state and/or federal taxes paid for that Dog and Pony show.  The cost of the War on Drugs has never been precisely calculated and the bureaucracies we call the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms prey reverently they never will be.

The myths concerning marijuana such as marijuana leads to violent behavior, immorality and is a gateway drug for harder drugs have been so thoroughly debunked I can and will add very little to that discussion only this. Marijuana does not lead to harder drugs in point of fact the criminalization of marijuana is the gateway to harder drugs. For a moment put yourself in the place of the Drug Dealer; you have a full line of products and marijuana is the most bulky product you sell, it is largely non-addictive  and has the lowest profit margin so what is your marketing strategy? I will be honest enough to say that in that position my goal is to get my customers to trade up.  Take marijuana out of the hands of the Dealer and the gateway closes.

I have already hinted at how much we could save by legalizing marijuana, ever thought about how much we could make?  Anti-vice and prohibition laws make me break out in hives but sin taxes make me smile. What is a more moral answer taxing someone’s vice and gaining revenue for the state or taxing food?  We tax tobacco and we tax alcohol so why not legalize and tax marijuana? It increases revenue and brings the substance under a controlling authority that can regulate it and at least reduce its falling into the hands of minors. What can be wrong with that?

Marijuana as an illegal substance only benefits the criminal. Marijuana as a legal controlled substance reduces our law enforcement cost across the board from the street to the prison, it comes under some control and reduces use by minors, it stops making criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens and it increases tax revenue.

I asked at the first of this article how the illegalization of marijuana is helping you.  The real problem is how it is hurting all of us.

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