Over 300 Economists Agree: It’s Time to Legalize Marijuana

[Anti]

http://blog.norml.org/2012/04/17/over-300-economists-agree-its-time-to-legalize-marijuana/

You can read the whole article (if you wish) at the link above.

This part was particularly of interest to me:

We, the undersigned, call your attention to the attached report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition. The report shows that marijuana legalization — replacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation — would save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods. If, however, marijuana were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it might generate as much as $6.2 billion annually.

Three of the three hundred economists who signed this statement are Nobel Laureates.

(Not that I think that we'll see much movement on this subject in the coming election season.)

 

[resinryder]

Kinda looks like a fish doesn't it.

 

[Anti]

Heh. That was my first thought when seeing it, too.

 

[AOD2012]

thanks for posting this.


aod

 

[Anti]

From the Article:

The fact that marijuana prohibition has these budgetary impacts does not by itself mean prohibition is bad policy. Existing evidence, however, suggests prohibition has minimal benefits and may itself cause substantial harm.

 

[BrnCow]

Looks like a dick...represents those opposed - dicks!

 

[Anti]

I thought that maybe it was a subtle message (a sign, if you will) that Jesus approves of the legalization of cannabis!

 

[flubnutz]

it is at the point where it is a sick joke.

cheech and chong portrayed pot smoking to the amusement of the general public back in '76 with Up In Smoke. 32 YEARS later, Seth Rogen and James Franco crack people up with Pineapple Express. You don't see light hearted entertainment about people with oxy or perc addictions, or people banging shit. this is very, very different, and it is very, very obvious to anyone willing to see.

entertaining television shows deal with ... dealing weed, e.g. Weeds.

there are tons of pics of celebrities smoking weed, for years.

Steve Jobs smoked weed.

William F. Buckley thought it should be legalized, and wrote so in the National Review.

Pat Robertson says the laws should be changed.

Obamo, Bush, Bubba, Bloomberg, Gingrich, Santorum ... all smoked weed. so, you can smoke weed and become president ... what a great country! oh, unless you get caught, in which case you have a criminal offense and are not bondable. Do you have to be bonded to become president?

I think maybe people have to individually stand up and say, "I toke". I think millions could respond. When the government makes millions of its citizens criminals ... it's time for new government.

 

[HempKat]

Obamo, Bush, Bubba, Bloomberg, Gingrich, Santorum ... all smoked weed. so, you can smoke weed and become president ... what a great country! oh, unless you get caught, in which case you have a criminal offense and are not bondable. Do you have to be bonded to become president?

It's not a problem if you don't inhale, just ask Bill and Hillary.

 

[HempKat]

It really is a sick joke because here you've got a situation where a person can be doing something that causes absolutely no harm to anyone (growing weed for thier own consumption) and yet if say someone happens to smell it and call police that person not harming anyone can be sent to prison for years and have everything of value siezed from them.

 

[Growcephus]

The more citizens that become aware of the FACTS surrounding cannabis as an effective MEDICINAL product, useful INDUSTRIAL product, and safe "RECREATIONAL" product, the fewer citizens will buy into the BULLSHIT surrounding the cannabis plant. Eventually, this plant WILL become legal to cultivate, possess, and use for a variety of reasons, INCLUDING for "recreation" use.

IMO, ALL drugs should be decriminalized simply because it makes more sense to address addiction and dependency from a medical standpoint as opposed to a criminal standpoint.

Cost of a criminal approach to drugs.........

1. Pay cops to investigate and apprehend.
2. Pay prosecutor to prosecute in court.
3. Pay defense to defend client in court.
4. Pay judge, jury, and court staff for trial.
5. Pay corrections staff to guard offender.
6. Pay for containment facility, food and medical support for offender.

Total = a metric fuck-ton

Cost of a medical approach to drugs......

1. Treat mental and physical dependency issues.

Total = I don't know, but it's not a metric fuck-ton


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............

Which one is more cost effective to the tax payer?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

Portugal adopted the medical approach to dependency issues, and not only are they saving CA$H, they have also REDUCED dependency issues, and their citizens are no longer CRIMINALIZED for some stupid shit like cannabis.

We don't criminalize alcoholics, we TREAT them. We don't criminalize large scale alcohol producers and distributors, we REGULATE them (and sadly tax the shit out of them) so we know their products are safely produced, handled, and distributed for consumption. We IGNORE alcohol production for PERSONAL consumption. Holy shit! What a concept!

Alcohol can be dangerous as hell, and it's FAR more dangerous than cannabis. There's a trail of dead frat / sorority kids bodies due to overdose/alcohol poisoning to prove that. Show me the cannabis overdose bodies. Oh yea, there ARE none.

Someone once said that madness is choosing the same failed course of action and expecting different results, well, we tried the criminal approach, and it has failed since....forever.

Time for something new.

 

[yesum]

I started smoking in the 70's and it was not even a close call on pot for younger people. I was convinced legalization would happen by the eighties at the latest.

30 some years later and this is still going on.... I am in Cali and quasi legal with a med recommendation. No worries for me personally but I feel for others in non med states.

I kinda hate to say it, but some older folks need to die off for this issue to be resolved. I like older folks generally am not young myself but they are the votes that keep cannabis illegal. That and a lot of people that make money off 'fighting' drugs. Lifetime job security. I think even the commercial growers here favor keeping it illegal, very sad.

 

[cannadelic]

we're just missing a president with balls to go along with the program.

 

[Cheerful]

I feel more encouraged after I read this article in the HuffPost. (I copied the text below for those who dislike clicking on links)

I feel like our tide is rising, we're steadily moving toward a tipping point where enough articles like these are posted and people start being more open minded out of desperation, since everything else is going to hell.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...a-legalization_n_1431840.html?ref=mostpopular

Here's the article: (and BTW, at the end of the article was a video
titled "Glenn Greenwald Discusses Decriminalization in Portugal".)

Your plans to celebrate 4/20 this Friday could actually make the government some money, if only such activities were legal. That’s according to a bunch of economists, and some prominent ones too.

More than 300 economists, including three nobel laureates, have signed a petition calling attention to the findings of a paper by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, which suggests that if the government legalized marijuana it would save $7.7 billion annually by not having to enforce the current prohibition on the drug. The report added that legalization would save an additional $6 billion per year if the government taxed marijuana at rates similar to alcohol and tobacco.

That's as much as $13.7 billion per year, but it's still minimal when compared to the federal deficit, which hit $1.5 trillion last year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

While the economists don't directly call for pot legalization, the petition asks advocates on both sides to engage in an "open and honest debate" about the benefits of pot prohibition.

"At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition," the petition states.

The economic benefits of pushing pot into mainstream commerce have long been cited as a reason to make the drug legal, and the economists' petition comes as government officials at both the federal and local levels are looking for ways to raise funds. The majority of Americans say they prefer cutting programs to increasing taxes as a way to deal with the nation’s budget deficit -- marijuana legalization would seemingly give the government money without doing either.

Officials in one state have already made the economic argument for pot legalization, but to no avail. California Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano proposed legislation in 2009 to legalize marijuana in California, arguing that it would yield billions of dollars in tax revenue for a state in dire need of funds. California voters ultimately knocked down a referendum to legalize marijuana in 2010.

Economist Stephen Easton wrote in Businessweek that the financial benefits of pot legalization may be even bigger than Miron's findings estimate. Based on the amount of money he thinks it would take to produce and market legal marijuana, combined with an estimate of marijuana consumers, Eatson guesses that legalizing the drug could bring in $45 to $100 billion per year. Easton’s name doesn't appear on the petition.

Some argue that the economic argument for pot legalization is already proven by the benefits states and cities have reaped from making medical marijuana legal. Advocates for Colorado's medical marijuana industry argue that legalization has helped to jumpstart a stalled economy in cities like Boulder and Denver, according to nj.com.

 

[HempKat]

I started smoking in the 70's and it was not even a close call on pot for younger people. I was convinced legalization would happen by the eighties at the latest.

30 some years later and this is still going on.... I am in Cali and quasi legal with a med recommendation. No worries for me personally but I feel for others in non med states.

I kinda hate to say it, but some older folks need to die off for this issue to be resolved. I like older folks generally am not young myself but they are the votes that keep cannabis illegal. That and a lot of people that make money off 'fighting' drugs. Lifetime job security. I think even the commercial growers here favor keeping it illegal, very sad.

It should happen soon then since the "Hippie Generation" is now moving into thier retirement years.

 

[exploziv]

I thought that maybe it was a subtle message (a sign, if you will) that Jesus approves of the legalization of cannabis!

I bet that in a while the graph will look like momma fish kissing a baby fish. Last data is from 2009, and the 2 lines look like they have crossed already.

Legalize it! It's about time!

 

[HempKat]

we're just missing a president with balls to go along with the program.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. The President is just a figurehead and does not have the power to create or change laws. He only has the power to sign legislation into law and he can also impact how a law is enforced through executive order. What is really needed is for each state to have representatives with the balls to go along with the program since it is they who actually create laws. Unfortunately they're mostly in it for the money they can milk from the deep pockets of corporate lobbyists. So what is really needed is for those wanting marijuana legalized to form into a lobby with pockets so deep that the politicians will tell the other corporate lobbyists to go pound sand.

 

[Iron_Lion]

MJ should not be used as another monetary bail out for the fucked up guvmint.

Decriminalize, but NO NEW TAXES ARE NECESSARY.

They've already raped an pillaged, they can leave my MJ alone!

 

[dddaver]

I totally agree about the sick joke thing. But I think it has gone beyond that, it is now a national tragedy because of how we the people have allowed this idiocy ( and NORML) to expand and fester. I don't know what the answers are. I certainly know it's not with NORML. Just exactly WHAT have they done? All this time and so little accomplished? I too graduated high-school way back in the '70s and thought no way they'd still be arguing this even in the '80s let alone in 2012. Absolutely such a HUGE fucking stupid waste. I did a big 10 page research paper on decriminalization back in 72. The vast MAJORITY of learned consensus back then was for decriminalization. I think NORML is screwed up and has been part of the problem. Somebody once said they are actually against legalization because then they are all out of jobs. 50/50 my ass. Try 80/20. Just another of their insidious perpetuating the problem. I don't believe one thing them fuckers say.

 

[MadBuddhaAbuser]

Unfortunately it's not that simple. The President is just a figurehead and does not have the power to create or change laws. He only has the power to sign legislation into law and he can also impact how a law is enforced through executive order.

That is such an illinformed excuse to back a prez who thinks pot smokers are criminals.

The prez appoints the head of the dea, the secretary of hhs, federal judges, oversees the budget (yes congress must approve, so dont bring your copouts). http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite...torney_General " The attorney general is nominated by the President of the United States and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate. He or she servesatthepleasure of the president and can be removed by the president at any time; ."

Even wiki has to acknowledge the bully pulpit of prez.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power..._United_States " Much of the legislation dealt with by Congress is drafted at the initiative ofthe executive branch. In annual and special messages to Congress, the president may propose legislation he believes is necessary. The most important of these is the annual Stateof theUnion address. Before a joint session of Congress,the president outlines the status of the country and his legislative proposals for the upcoming year. If Congress should adjourn without acting on those proposals, the president has the power to call it into special session. But beyond this official role, the president, as head of a political party and as principal executive officerof theUnited States government, is primarily in a position to influence public opinion and thereby to influence the course of legislationin Congress."

Executive ordercreated the dea.

Presidents can issue blanket amnesty which forgivesentiregroups of people for a crime. PresidentJimmyCarteroffered amnesty to Vietnam War draftees who fled to Canada.