Could Jim Webb be on to something?
Virginia Senator Jim Webb announced last month that legalizing drugs should be "on the table." Now, a new report in Time, based on a Cato Institute study, finds that Portugal, the European nation that decriminalized personal drug use in 2001, found that use didn't climb–- while disease and incarceration fell. With ongoing drug wars destabilizing America's southern neighbor, Mexico, California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, recently followed Webb's lead.
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12 comments
What's not practical about $20-30 for an ounce of a plant that grows like crazy with just a little love? If someone at the farmer's market asked a tenth of that for basil or any other herb, he wouldn't be able to sell it because it was priced way too high. Good weed is a bit labor intensive, but not that bad compared to any other high quality produce.
CC, I hope for my habits' sake your right ; )
Way to go Webb. I knew there was a reason I voted for this guy! For our country to legalize booze, which is MUCH deadlier than cannabis, shows our ignorance. Prohibition of hemp is outdated! Legalizing it would swell the tax revenue, reduce hospitalization and deaths, allow law enforcement to focus on real crimes and put drug lords out of business. It also has medicinal value unlike hard liquor and is not addictive.
Peace
Totally agree. This is a common sense approach and this article from Canada also highlights the tax benefits which in these difficult times should make us all wake up and support this.
Should Governments Legalize and Tax Marijuana?
Examining a Recent Study on Legalization
http://economics.about.com/od/incometaxestaxcuts/a/marijuana.htm
Just as there is a black market in cigarettes and booze, there will also be a black market in marijuana so nobody can estimate revenue from marijuana sales. Besides, not arresting people for possessing marijuana is not the same as decrimalizing its production and I don't understand why every article mixes both (not the Hook's).
I'm all for making marijuana legal. I'd love to be able to head down to the farmers market late in the afternoon when I get up and see what locally grown varieties are available that Saturday! The idea that there wouldn't still be drug money going to gangs if that happened is kind of far fetched. There is no way drugs like heroin, cocaine, etc. are going to be made legal in the near future. There will be a demand for them, and someone will supply that demand.
Taxing marijuana sales at a reasonable rate, I'd be happy paying $20 - $30 an oz., could fund treatment for people with other drug problems though. That would ultimately help at least reduce the profitability of smuggling drugs that might still be illegal.
Here is Webb's link for those who would like to put some support behind this and let him know what the people of America want. :)
http://webb.senate.gov/
I bet you could get some good greens at the Olive Garden.
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Glad I voted for him! It's only a matter of time until cannabis is legal but I wouldnt count on getting good stuff for 20-30$ and oz!! that would be capital but not practical.
C-ville eye- with it being legal, the majority of users would bypass the black market for their herb simply due to the convenience and hopefully quality of the legal stuff. Also, a majority of users are everyday people like you and me. the only people, I think, that would fund that sector of the black market would be criminals that sell and buy a variety of other illegal substances. With jails and the penal system freed up from legalization, these criminals will be easier to catch and prosecute therefore weeding them out of a responsible, pot smoking society.
Crozet has an Olive Garden?!
i'm getting teh munchies jsut thinking about it. i could eat a ton of alfredo. i shuld hitchhike out to crozet to teh new olive garden.
Absolutely! Been saying this for years. Webb's a surprising guy! He's not the first person in the Senate I'd have expected this from, and that might be the reason he'll be taken more seriously.
When drugs are outlawed, only outlaws will have drugs! Let's face it, tossing regular people into the slammer for simple drug use is idiotic. It's like encouraging taxpayers to become criminals, since they'll now be spending their time with hardened thieves, rapists and assaulters, what skills would be picked up? And all that drug money just goes to finance the most violent criminal gangs.
If anyone is against decriminalizing, it'll be the drug lords! They won't be getting their billions any more!