Just kidding. Let’s see if legalizing marijuana is a good idea.
Some background first. Who started the War on Drugs and coined that phrase? Ronald Reagan? Nope. Jimmy Carter, who suggested decriminalizing possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana? Not likely. It was Richard Nixon in 1971 who declared the War on Drugs and added that it was Public Enemy Number One. Nixon also created the Drug Enforcement Administration, then known as the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and assembled a commission to study drug use. Ironically, one of the conclusions of the Nixon Commission was “the private use of marijuana in one’s own home should not be illegal.”
FIRST AMERICAN TO ENLIST IN THE WAR ON DRUGS
On July 30, 2008, news reports announced that a political odd couple had introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives which proposed ending federal penalties for people carrying less than 100 grams, about 3 1/2 ounces, of marijuana. This bill was co-sponsored by uber-liberal Democrat Barney Frank from Massachusetts and ultra-libertarian Republican Ron Paul from Texas. The bill remains stuck in committee. In other words, DOA.
BARNEY FRANK AND RON PAUL
An average joint of marijuana, according to pro-pot National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), weighs 4/10 of a gram. So Frank and Paul advocated that if you carry “less than 100 grams” of Mary Jane, you are “limited” to carrying the equivalent of about 250 joints of marijuana. Oh, the horror. You can throw a helluva pot party with 250 joints.
ACTUAL PHOTO OF 100 GRAM JOINT
So the issue of legalizing of marijuana has been around for quite some time. The focus in this discussion will be to see whether or not it makes ECONOMIC sense to legalize marijuana.
There is no consensus on how many REGULAR pot smokers are out there. USG figures put the number at 14-15 million. Sites that advocate legalization put the number at anywhere between 20 and 40 million and note that half of the population has at least tried marijuana once. That’s 155,000,000 people. The higher figures make sense from the legalization lobbies’ viewpoint. Just like advocates for the homeless, the higher the number, the greater the problem and the more urgent the need to fix it by government action. According to the pro-potters, legalize marijuana, and you have fixed the problem and will garner BILLIONS AND BILLIONS in federal and state revenues by taxing marijuana heavily like alcohol and cigarettes.
UNCLE SAM SWIMMING IN DRUG REVENUES; DEFICITS ERASED!!
It won’t work that way. The Mexican drug cartels are fiercely protective of their drug profits, so protective that they’ve moved some of their marijuana cultivation into the U.S. itself. They grow the marijuana here, and, like the marijuana smuggled across the border, ship it to the HUNDREDS OF U.S CITIES where the distribution of marijuana is mostly controlled by people working for those cartels. They have the marijuana distribution networks so wrapped up that the other major importers of marijuana (Canada, Colombia, and Jamaica) somtimes sell their product to the Mexican cartels. And yes, the distribution networks are largely populated by illegal Mexican aliens.
The Mexican cartels are growing marijuana on large tracts of land in California, Oregon, and Washington, with intelligence indicating that they also plan to set up cultivation areas in Michigan, Arkansas, and North Carolina. According to a Washington Post article published in October 2009, the Mexicans protect their U.S. cultivation areas with trip flares, fish hooks dangling at eye level, punji stick pits, guard dogs, and trip wires linked to grenades, shotguns, and other explosives. Miles of PCV pipe have been laid in these areas for irrigation in times of dry weather so that 2-3 crops can be raised year round. And yes, most of the labor in these cultivation areas is illegal Mexican aliens.
This just in. Add Wisconsin to the list. On August 11, 12 men were arrested for running a huge marijuana cultivation and processing operation in the Nicolet National Forest near Green Bay. 200 pounds of marijuana were found in the processing plant, and a large cache of weapons, including assault rifles, was also seized. The names of the men arrested were Adalberto Valencia, Raul Juvenal, Javier Navarro ………… oh hell, you get the point. All were obviously upstanding Polish-Americans just trying to get some extra beer money for the Packers games. Read about it here. www.postcrescent.com/article/…/12-arrested-in-bust-of-marijuana-operation
VINCE LOMBARDI: REPUTED GODFATHER OF THE GREEN BAY MEXICAN MARIJUANA MAFIA
Is anyone getting the uneasy feeling that the Mexicans will NOT be raising a white flag of surrender should the USG legalize marijuana?
COMING SOON TO YOUR CITY: TRAFFICKERS SURRENDER
In fact, just the opposite will happen. The Mexicans may at first deal with legalization of marijuana by simply undercutting the price of heavily taxed weed on the legal market. That should be easy to do, given the track record of the USG for screwing up everything it touches and the fact that the Mexican traffickers aren’t paying any taxes on their dope. If it does play out this way, you can kiss those billions of dollars in marijuana tax revenues good bye.
However, if the Mexicans sense they are losing their customer base and profits start to tank, they will react harshly. Violent crime will skyrocket, and this time the victims won’t be members of a rival drug gang. It will be the people involved in the legal cultivation, distribution, and sale of marijuana. And it won’t make a whit of difference whether those victims are public or private employees. The cartels will view those people as every bit of a threat to their drug profits as the members of a rival cartel. So when you pick up the morning paper to read about the latest dumping ground for people murdered by the traffickers, the location won’t be Juarez or Tijuana, Mexico. It will be Oakland and Chicago. Not good.
DRUG WAR BREAKS OUT IN WEST PHILLY’S 30 BLOCKS OF SQUALOR
Many may be saying at this point, “Hey, I don’t favor the total legalization of marijuana, but don’t Barney Frank and Ron Paul have a good idea in trying to change the federal laws for POSSESSION of marijuana?” Actually, no. Note that only federal penalties would change, but the bill doesn’t attempt to change state penalties. So if you get caught by ICE officers at Miami International or the Arizona border with 3 and 1/2 ounces of MJ or less, no harm, no foul, right? Wrong. Your’e still in violation of Florida and Arizona law, so off you go to the custody of the Miami Airport Authorities or the Arizona State Police. The only thing the Frank/Paul bill would accomplish is a tiny reduction in required arrests by federal law enforcement authorities, most of which would be shifted to state law enforcement officers. Granted, many states may change their possession laws (all are well below the 100 grams in the Frank/Paul bill) to match the federal law. But it’s an ironclad guarantee there will still be state fines for simple possession.
How about all those arrests for marijuana-related offenses, 847,000 in 2008, cited constantly by NORML and other pro-pot organizations as needlessly costly (NORML says “billions” with no stats to back it up) to our law enforcement budgets and unnecessarily damaging to the lives of millions of our citizens? Time to break out a photo of Congressman Joe “You Lie” Wilson of South Carolina.
NORML is grossly covering up the true picture. What NORML doesn’t tell you is that 90% of the arrests, or 762,000, are almost all “catch and release” for simple possession (the remaining 75,000 arrests are for “manufacture” or “sale”). In states where most of the arrests are made, such as California and New York, it’s almost like getting a speeding ticket. You get a citation to appear in court, show up, pay your fine ($100 in both California and New York), and off you go. California really puts the hammer down if you’re caught with 28.5 grams (over 70 joints worth) or less ON SCHOOL GROUNDS. Then you get 10 days in jail and a $500 fine, which is the NORML equivalent of waterboarding. New York gives you three shots if you have 25 grams (60 joints) or less: first offense, $100 fine; second offense, $200 fine; third offense, $250 fine and maybe up to 5 days in jail if the judge is in a really cranky mood. It doesn’t get any more draconian than that. I’d be willing to bet that states like California and New York MAKE money, not lose, off the fines they collect for marijuana possession.
Memo to NORML. Over 1,000,000 people are arrested for drunk driving every year. When someone fails or refuses roadside tests, they are arrested, cuffed, taken into custody, and jailed. 100%. Not 10% as in marijuana cases, 100%. Convicted DUI offenders pay enormous fines, lose their drivers license for 90 days or more, have to take mandatory alcohol abuse courses, and on and on. 2nd and 3rd offenses start to involve serious jail time in some states. And alcohol is a legal drug. NORML thinks smokers of an illegal drug are being dumped on and uses outright propaganda to mislead the public about marijuana laws unnecessarily clogging up the court system.
Some factoids in closing. Nobel Prize winner and cat lover Paul Krugman was my advisor on the economic analysis.
1. Every year, 200,000 people enter drug rehabilitation centers for marijuana addiction (it is estimated that 4,300,000 people are addicted to marijuana). Average cost for inpatient treatment is $7,500 and may go up to as high as $75,000 for stays over 30 days. Simple math tells you that a minimum of $1.5 BILLION is spent annually to treat marijuana addiction. I’m sure all of these addicts pay cash on the barrel head for their treatment, and, according to Krugman’s infallible analysis, legalizing marijuana will certainly decrease the number of addicts. Costs for rehab will plummet, he believes, saving the addicts hundreds of millions in out-of-pocket expenses. Krugman insists that addicts will use this money to send child-support payments to their battered ex-wives.
2. 12% of all the fatal accidents involving a driver of an 18-wheeler are caused by the driver being high on marijuana. Krugman advises that legalizing marijuana will make this 12% drop to 0%, so let’s move on. Nothing to see here. These fatal accidents are totally cost free. “Good Lord,” Krugman told me, “Do I have to spell out every obvious detail. Everyone has to die from something!”
3. Every year, 2,000,000 people try marijuana for the first time. 62% of this group is under the age of 18. According to Krugman, if we legalize marijuana, this 62% will fall dramatically, perhaps disappear altogether, because everyone knows that kids just like to do forbidden stuff. He knows for a fact that kids certainly don’t smoke or drink because tobacco and alcohol are legal. It’s just not fun. Further, he states, if the snotty little brats fool us and marijuana use increases among underage teenagers, they’ll probably all mellow out and grow up to earn their PhD in nuclear physics from MIT. “It’s so clear,” Krugman insisted, “that these young potheads will solve America’s energy problems overnight. Am I the only person who can see this?”
Paul Krugman for president 2012. Legalize marijuana now.
