http://control.mpp.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=53964.0&dlv_id=44644
During the floor debate, legislators discussed passing a “Phase 2” bill next year, and we can all work hard together to encourage lawmakers to reduce the penalty for marijuana possession to a non-criminal fine, as is the case in Mississippi and Ohio. Thank you to everyone who took action!
The end is near for prohibition.
Go "Blue Grass" State of Kentucky !
And this is absolutely what is reasonably being talked about finally , ending the effects of Prohibition thru decriminalization, which all the lessons learned from Alcohol Prohibition seemed to have been ignored . The fact that since Prohibition was repealed there was only a marked decrease in every following decade of criminal violence until the rise of Drug Prohibition which has started up the trend all over again .
As posted on another thread some info searched out just today , was amazed to read that in Kentucky's neighbor state of Virginia the costs of underage Alcohol abuse alone , is estimated to be over $1.2Bil yearly, mainly due to car crashes & violence .
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=4277565#post4277565
To look at Prohibition & Criminalization vs Decriminalization &/or legal sales & taxation rationally one could use the model of California sales & taxing of tobacco, where cigarette sales in California hav been declining dramatically in the last decade , but still represents nearly $1bil dollars in revenue . The federal per-pack tax on cigarettes increased by 62 cents last year , bringing the total tax to $1.01 per pack. In California, a package of cigarettes now costs an average of $5.09.
"The board estimated that 972 million packs of cigarettes were sold in California last year, down from 2.8 billion packs sold in 1980 . California's tobacco tax revenue helps finance health education programs, early childhood development, breast cancer research and other state programs During the most recent fiscal year, the state received $839 million in cigarette tax revenue, down from the $913 million it collected in the previous fiscal year"
The most recent stats & studies of drug & Alcohol use among teenagers inidcate a decline in the traditional binge drinking & more inclined to use MJ..and for this alone the legislators & Feds should be excstatic, imo, for no Laws ever passed or maintained have ever diswayed any youth from experimenting from the use of either of the above.... well maybe with the exception of the era of "Reefer Madness" maybe that still is alive & well in some states unfortunately .
The assumption that decriminalized or legal regulated/taxed MJ sales is going to lead to an increase in useage seems defeated by the huge declining cigarette use stats from previous decades (972mil packs last year vs 2.8bil packs in 1980! ) above which could be largely due to Health Education to the dangers of tabacco largely funded by the tobaco tax itself .
Illicit Drug and Alcohol Use Declining in Teens, Misuse of Prescription Painkillers Increasing
http://www.straightfromthedoc.com/5...se_of_prescription_painkillers_increasing.php
SURVEY: Marijuana use rising, alcohol use declining among U.S. teens Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 (UofMichigan)
http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2010/12/14/news/doc4d07bf5d1b255056892888.txt