cannabisnews.com: COLUMN: Don't Waste Our Money, Legalize Pot


cannabisnews.com: COLUMN: Don't Waste Our Money, Legalize Pot 





COLUMN: Don't Waste Our Money, Legalize Pot 
Posted by FoM on March 13, 2000 at 22:10:06 PT
By Geoff Grammer, The Round Up - New Mex. State U.
Source: U-WIRE
The New Mexico State Legislature may be forced to cut back on the lottery scholarship program due to lack of funding. Universities across the country are being forced to cut men's athletics programs due to lack of funding and government imposed Title IX sanctions. I can't afford to pay my parking tickets. 
All this going on in the world and the federal government can't help a brother out? They have the money. Instead they would rather spend $17.9 billion in 2000 to continue their less-than-successful "War on Drugs." $17.9 BILLION! On a "war" the government is losing! Not only are they losing the war, they're getting their asses kicked! That's not even my main gripe, though. A few ass-kickings make us all better people, at least that's what my parents used to tell me. The problem isn't that the government is losing their "war," the problem is they're using the wrong tactics to fight the "war." First off, let it be known that I'm one of those Birkenstock-wearing, liberal, tree-hugging-hippies that thinks marijuana should be legal (except for the tree-hugging-hippie part). I do not, however, smoke marijuana. I had my run with the stuff back in high school. I liked it. Then I realized I didn't like it. Now I don't do it. Its that simple. I think its really easy for people to sit up on their pedestal and look down on people who smoke marijuana. Last Thursday, the Round Up's News Editor wrote about her video game playing pot-head friends who waste their life away because of marijuana addiction. People seem to think marijuana makes you slow and dysfunctional. Well then, I better write this editorial extra slow because all my pot-head, hippie friends can't read fast. The fact of the matter is marijuana doesn't cause nearly as much harm as smoking or drinking and, unlike smoking and alcohol, marijuana doesn't cause a serious health risk to non-users. Marijuana has yet to kill a single person. If the FDA lost all their records and had to re-write the list of legal and banned substances and marijuana, tobacco and alcohol were all under consideration, marijuana would be the only one of the three legalized. If people want to get a little high, so be it. If they aren't out killing people and they're in the privacy of their own homes, the government needs to mind their own business. Now, back to the government. The primary drug targeted in their "war" is marijuana. So far in 2000 (72 short days) the government has already arrested 310,000 people on drug offenses, the bulk of which are possession of marijuana arrests. On Feb. 15, the United States federal prisons system opened their doors to their 2 millionth prisoner. 60 percent of federal prisoners are drug offenders. 2.5 percent are incarcerated for violent crimes. Do you have any idea how much tax payer dollars it costs to feed a pot head in prison when he has the munchies? These dollars aren't included in the war on drugs budget. Of the $17.9 billion spent on the drug war, 70 percent goes to the enforcement and the legal expense side of the "war" and 30 percent goes to treatment and prevention. What kind of sense does that make? Now before you start putting on all your "Just Say No" buttons and come breaking down my door for an intervention, let me make it clear to everyone that I don't think all drugs should be legal. Just marijuana. Not cocaine, not heroin and not acid. Just marijuana. Of course, according to pedestal-sitting, government-propaganda-believing anti-marijuana people, all those other drugs are soon to follow because marijuana is a "gateway drug." Well, let me tell you, there are just about as many studies from "expert witnesses" that have not found pot to be a gateway drug to all these other drugs. Of course we don't hear about those studies because the government wants to make marijuana look like the devil so they don't feel guilty about wasting all our tax dollars fighting it. All the while, Senators and Legislatures are sitting in their chambers, smoking joints, trying to relax after a long stressful day of wasting our money. If the government wants to start a war on something, why not cut the $17.9 million dollar war on drugs budget in half, make marijuana legal, impose some kind of tax on people who sell it, and spend all that money on something a whole lot more worthwhile, like paying my parking tickets. (U-WIRE) Las Cruces, N.M.Updated 12:00 PM ET March 13, 2000 (C) 2000 The Round Up via U-WIRE  Copyright © 1995-2000 Excite Inc.Going Dutch - Salon Magazinehttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5061.shtmlCannabisNews Articles From U-WIRE:http://www.google.com/search?q=CannabisNews+U-WIRE
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Comment #3 posted by Joey on March 20, 2000 at 16:26:07 PT:
taxes
If all the places that sell cigarettes (20 in a pack for 3 dollars) sell a pack of joints (20 for 5 dollars) all our problems will be solved. An interesting fact that I just learned.... 52% of American teens (15-18) admit to smoking weed on a weekly basis. 4% of Dutch teens (15-18) admit to smoking weed on a weekly basis. The gov't gets their cut and all the tobacco companies grow marijuana and packages it. The DEA can regulate the amount of THC in the joints and the 52% of teens will shrink to 4%. The tax money will go to the countries failing school systems and maybe help with the national debt. All the dealers will evaporate because nobody would pay those outrageous prices no more now that they have an alternative. One last question. This country's government is still democracy right? That's what I thought. Why don't we have a national vote if marijuana should be legalized as I have said above. If you like what I say, cut and copy this letter to your word processer. Print it and send it to your congressman or woman and tell them that a 15 year old kid from Ohio solved the most debated issue in this country. "Smoke weed everydayCause my people stress my mind"Joey Prawdzik
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Comment #2 posted by Just a citizen on March 14, 2000 at 16:14:07 PT
Follow up Priorities...
I was driving to work this morning and I saw a homeless Vietnam War Vet begging for money. I see him every day... same intersection... every morning. I gave him a buck (always do) and told him to take care of himself. Wish I could do more than just that.I bet he's happy that our goverment will spend $17.9 billon dollars on "war on drugs" this year.Peace everybody.
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Comment #1 posted by Puritan on March 14, 2000 at 04:43:33 PT
Priorities
It's all a question of priorities...the drug war is more important than (take your pick, or better yet, all of the below) Education, health care, campaign financing, and environmental concerns. Feel free to add any you like to this list. 
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