cannabisnews.com: Legal Pot Would Be Budget Boon Legal Pot Would Be Budget Boon Posted by CN Staff on February 14, 2003 at 15:31:04 PT By Kathy Kennedy Source: Lansing State Journal It seems that the main topic in Michigan is the state budget. I have an easy way to greatly relieve the state's financial stress: End the prohibition against cannabis and release all prisoners whose convictions are for cannabis violations only. Marijuana laws are more harmful than marijuana. The "weed" is already everywhere because the laws don't work. Countries that have legalized smoking pot have reported diminishing problems with drug traffic and corruption.Legalizing cannabis might sound more crazy than easy, but it really would help with the budget problem.When you ask people if marijuana has hurt them, they only say yes if they've been charged with a violation. Those who feel smoking hurts them ... quit smoking.But if you ask someone how marijuana laws have hurt them, get ready for a big response. As a cannabis reform activist, I get to hear everyone's "drug bust story." Entrapment, corruption, theft, wrongful death; these well-intended laws are destroying people's lives.Of course, if marijuana is legalized, it would be available to everyone and that's bad, right? Wrong! It would not be available to everyone unless lawmakers were willing to write laws to guarantee that everyone get a personal supply.More likely, legal cannabis would be taxed and regulated. Right now any high school kid can get a bag of pot without too much trouble, but it's difficult for them to get alcohol because it is legal. So if prohibition isn't working, why are we spending so much money on it? We could get relief from our substance abuse control problems and help Michigan's budget to boot!We are fortunate to be able to look at countries that have legalized cannabis to see what happens. Substance abuse decreases. Violent crime decreases. Families are restored, which has tremendous positive repercussions. Corruption in law enforcement almost disappears, while respect for the law comes back. If we could end cannabis prohibition, we would save that thousands of dollars per year that it costs to keep one prisoner in custody. Now, multiply that figure by the thousands of prisoners who could be released. Those people being with their families would help us at the welfare office - and they'd be taxpayers.Maybe we should take a lesson from the experience of governments that have legalized cannabis.Nah, that's just crazy talk!Note: Legalizing cannabis would boost taxes, cut prison costs.Kathy Kennedy of Onondaga is an activist with "Cures Not Wars." -- http://www.cures-not-wars.org/Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)Author: Kathy KennedyPublished: February 14, 2003Copyright: 2003 Lansing State JournalWebsite: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/Contact: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/contactus/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by JSM on February 15, 2003 at 08:07:26 PT Rational thought This just goes to show one more time how prohibitionists are not motivated by rationality. Their stand is simply an emotional crusade based on fear, prejudice, bigotry and flavored with a big dose of irrationality. They refuse to admit or even consider the utter failure and immense damage prohibition has and will continue to bring upon all citizens of this country - not just those may use this amazing plant for whatever reasons. Someday and somehow there will be an accounting for all of the pain and destruction done to the innocents who have hurt no one but find their lives destroyed as a result of this insane witch hunt. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Cannabis jarhead on February 15, 2003 at 06:26:29 PT MI, gov Granholm I wrote To Gov. Granholm of Mi. and she told me that she would never support anything to do with marijuana. I got a strong feeling she was a drug warrior. Long Live the RAINBOW campground. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by billos on February 15, 2003 at 03:52:10 PT: Kathy Kennedy The most sense I've heard in a while. How do we get this message past the "Black Hole" of Washington that just sucks in, then makes the truth disappear.There was an excellent article written by a PhD. on this site the other day. She is a professor and is deeply involved in studies regarding the use of cannabis. Yet her articles and studies go unnoticed by the Feds. It's ludicrous. Another probelm is the press. We never hear about things like the trial of Ed, the cannabis guru, on national news because the press tends to abide by National Policy, and rule of thumb is: don't buck the system. I'm sure the Feds did their best to impress on the media that any attention would be "un-American". So, the news doesn't get to the Sheople and they remain ignorant. We should all buy American flags and fly them upside down. It would be simple to do and would send a high impact message to the feds that we feel this country is in serious trouble. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 14, 2003 at 19:24:08 PT Hi Michael Good to see you. I hope you had a nice vacation! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by michael segesta on February 14, 2003 at 18:52:35 PT: Way to Go, Kathy..... Excellent piece written by one of Michigan's finest reform activists! It's nice to post again here after a few months off. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on February 14, 2003 at 18:19:01 PT p4me,FoM... That's great news about Belgium and also the Kubby's! I'll have to check out Pot-TV!from the article..."We are fortunate to be able to look at countries that have legalized cannabis to see what happens. Substance abuse decreases. Violent crime decreases. Families are restored, which has tremendous positive repercussions. Corruption in law enforcement almost disappears, while respect for the law comes back." If anyone is still against legalized cannabis at this point, they may want to consider investing in a brain.STOP THE WAR...THEY KNEW!Possible Patterns and Motivations Forming for 9/11 Sequel? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1416.htmLATEST INFO ON 9-11 MOVEMENT - PROTEST PLANS FOR SEVERAL CITIES LISTED: http://webpdp.gator.com/v3/webpdp_v3_plugin.php?yic=HIC_Adtegrity2Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/terror030213_falsealarm.htmlAnti-war protests planned across globe: http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/209754.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 14, 2003 at 17:38:55 PT p4me Thanks! That's good news. We just watched Pot-TV and saw them giving the Kubby's back everything. That was priceless! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by p4me on February 14, 2003 at 17:30:08 PT Expatica reports Belgium's legislation... that legalizes cannabis. This is the article in full from http://www.expatica.com/belgium.asp?pad=88,89,&item_id=28897Belgium set to legalise cannabis 14 February 2003 BRUSSELS — Belgium is set to permit the use of cannabis, following the passing of the country's new drugs law Thursday. Cannabis users will be allowed to have the drug for personal use, providing they possess no more than 5 grams. They are allowed to cultivate one cannabis plant. However, smoking of cannabis in public and in the presence of minors remains illegal. Users who cause problems for neighbours will face prosecution. Parliament approved the new drugs law by 75 to 40 votes, with four abstentions. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 14, 2003 at 16:10:54 PT Paragraph of the Day From an article written by Sunny Angulo, a Narco News Authentic Journalism Scholar, reports from the Out Of the Shadows Summit in Merida, Mexico on the statements of Dr. de Greiff- http://www.narconews.com/Issue28/article619.htmlUnfortunately, the U.S. government is more in alignment with the mentality of drug cartels than that of their European allies. The drug cartels don't want to see drugs legalized, either - that would only serve to take away their cash cow with the elimination of black market dealings. No, de Greiff argues, the U.S. government doesn't want to stop narco-trafficking, because it benefits those in power within the government just as much as drug kingpins in Latin America. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment