Decriminalizing Pot Will Devastate the Mexican People...

[TheSenator]

So, who is supporting to keeping marijuana illegal? Who has interests in keeping it illegal? Who makes the most money in keeping it illegal?

Who is lobbying congress to keep marijuana illegal???

California will legalize marijuana but then will face many legal federal hurdles.

Hopefully, more states will follow and decriminalize marijuana once and for all and TAX the shit out of it.

Decriminalizing pot would devastate cartels

March 30, 2010

BY STEVE HUNTLEY

One step forward: California voters will get a chance in November to decide if the state should legalize marijuana. Two steps backward: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently told authorities in Mexico that the United States was looking at anything that worked to fight the drug cartels killing Mexicans daily -- but responded "no" when asked if anything included legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.

The California vote, however it turns out, constitutes a recognition that millions of Americans see lighting up a joint as no different than sipping a martini. Clinton's rejection of easing U.S. law on recreational weed use reflects a wide opposing belief that allowing marijuana use would violate moral norms and inflict onerous social costs on our society.

Sponsors of the California referendum attempt to sidestep the moral argument by framing the issue in dollars and cents. They assert taxing legal marijuana could bring $1.4 billion to California's bankrupt state coffers while cutting law enforcement and incarceration costs.

Passage of the Golden State measure would set up a state-federal conflict. Federal law trumps state law, but the Obama administration has wisely stopped federal prosecution of medical marijuana sales in the more than a dozen states that have approved them. But turning a blind eye to a defiant challenge on recreational use would be another matter.

A California yes vote could force the nation into a realistic conversation on drug prohibition. Casualties from the war on drugs keep piling up. Nowhere is this more true than in Mexico, where more than 18,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the last three years, including several recent victims with ties to the U.S. consulate in Juarez. In this country, FBI crime statistics list narcotics circumstances behind 3,052 murders over five years ending in 2008.

The deaths and millions of arrests, convictions and imprisonments stem from a trade supplying products Americans obviously want -- and No. 1 is marijuana. The National Institute of Drug Abuse found that more than 40 percent of high school seniors used marijuana at least once. Sports Illustrated reports that personnel in the National Football League see joint smoking "almost epidemic" among 2010 draft-eligible players. Weed has been depicted as the norm in books and movies for years, and the medical marijuana revolution in the states now has even timid broadcast television addressing the issue.

Legalizing marijuana wouldn't end the criminal drug trade and its violence. Addicts still would crave heroin, cocaine and other hard narcotics. But decriminalizing marijuana would be a body blow to drug cartels. Half the annual income for Mexico's violent drug smugglers comes from marijuana, one Mexican official told the Wall Street Journal last year. Imagine how many smugglers and street-corner reefer hustlers would be put out of business.

One recent advocate of considering legalization as part of a new approach to crime is John J. DiIulio Jr., who served as President George W. Bush's director of faith-based initiatives. Writing in the journal Democracy, DiIulio said that the impact of more than 800,000 marijuana-related arrests on crime rates last year was "likely close to zero." He argued there is "almost no scientific evidence showing that pot is more harmful to its users' health, more of a 'gateway drug' or more crime-causing in its effects than alcohol or other legal narcotic or mind-altering substances."

Legalization backers go further, pointing to Canadian studies suggesting health-care costs are higher for tobacco or alcohol users and that police disruption of drug-trafficking gangs contributes to street violence by causing gang power struggles.

The prospect of reducing violence, undermining gangs, freeing law enforcement to concentrate on serious crimes and more revenues for hard-pressed governments -- all are reasons to end the "reefer madness" in our laws.

[ottopottomouse]

If you make something legal then tax the shit out of it there will still be a black-market in the untaxed stuff plus if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

Cigarettes are legal but they are taxed to death here and people will quite happily buy cheaper Eastern European imports if they are offered.

[Agent 488]

it should be kept illegal. who wants their buds filled with poison by the tobacco companies and taxed every year.

[EscortBiz]

fast forward 30 years and

drugs legal
hooking legal
gambling legal

and people must explain their kids as to why it wasnt legal

we will anyway legalize, cut the bullshit and do it already

[bufferover]

Can't wait to see if that will happen at the place where i live

[TidalWave]

Originally Posted by EscortBiz

fast forward 30 years and

drugs legal
hooking legal
gambling legal

and people must explain their kids as to why it wasnt legal

we will anyway legalize, cut the bullshit and do it already

sounds good to me

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

If you make something legal then tax the shit out of it there will still be a black-market in the untaxed stuff plus if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

Cigarettes are legal but they are taxed to death here and people will quite happily buy cheaper Eastern European imports if they are offered.

Yeah, because there is a huge black market for tax free cigarettes here in the US.

Bullshit. Make it legal already. Costs less in prison costs, law enforcement, and god only knows what else. Turn into something that will generate a new tax base.

[pamon]

Only problem is that even of it's legal here in calif., it's still illegal federally under the DEA.

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

If you make something legal then tax the shit out of it there will still be a black-market in the untaxed stuff plus if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

Cigarettes are legal but they are taxed to death here and people will quite happily buy cheaper Eastern European imports if they are offered.

Wrong. The price will drop, it will be a product that can (and will) be grown locally, and on top of that they would put regulations on it that would keep the cartels out of the picture.

[brassmonkey]

drugs are bad

[TheSenator]

I can see hemp being used as a commodity and spurring a new economy.

[dav3]

Legalize marijuana, open a new tax stream and quit turning good people into 'criminals' for relaxing in their own way!

[J. Falcon]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

They will cut out the mid level suppliers, which is definitely something positive.

[fatfoo]

Originally Posted by TheSenator

Who has interests in keeping it illegal?

Imagine if an accountant could come up to a pot dealer to offer tax services. Tax business would increase.

[Adam X]

Now is the time to go LEGAL federally too... the economy is begging for it.

Imagine how this will affect the cartels, cocaine production and sales will surge due to lost pot revenue south of the border.

[minddust]

Originally Posted by escortbiz

fast forward 30 years and

drugs legal
hooking legal
gambling legal

and people must explain their kids as to why it wasnt legal

we will anyway legalize, cut the bullshit and do it already

Vote for EscortBiz!
Vote for EscortBiz!
Vote for EscortBiz!

Where do I sign?

[IllTestYourGirls]

Here's an idea, make it legal and DONT tax it! woot!

And I don't even smoke pot lol.

[directfiesta]

Originally Posted by EscortBiz

fast forward 30 years and

drugs legal
hooking legal
gambling legal

and people must explain their kids as to why it wasnt legal

we will anyway legalize, cut the bullshit and do it already

euthanasia = legal

[DBS.US]

They should start by growing and taxing non THC Industrial Hemp

[GatorB]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

If you make something legal then tax the shit out of it there will still be a black-market in the untaxed stuff plus if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

The number of people that buy illegal booze and cigs is miniscule.

[GatorB]

Originally Posted by TheSenator

Decriminalizing pot would devastate cartels.

Last time I checked drug dealers still sell cocaine, meth, heroin and numerous other illegal drugs.

[Overload]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

If you make something legal then tax the shit out of it there will still be a black-market in the untaxed stuff plus if it is legalised the cartels already have the infrastructure to grow and import it so the only winner really will be the government with the tax income.

... and cud finance the new social health care

[tiger]

It would help Mexico if anything. Without the drug wars Mexico would be doing much better right now. Weed is about 65% of cartels income. Taking that away would crush most of the cartels. Do the math on how many retirees would take their 401ks and IRAs south of the border if Mexico didn't have so much bad press right now.

[$5 submissions]

For decriminalization to yield state revenue it should cover growing-related equipment. I figured a lot of people would grow their own.