2008 Woodie Awards
Tax on legal marijuana could benefit nation
Legal marijuana can save taxpayers money and be easier to keep out of the wrong hands
Bryan Lung
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Marijuana makes more money than any other crop in California.
A recent study conducted by Dr. Jon Gettmen, a regional economics expert and adjunct instructor at Shepard University, shows that the production of marijuana has increased from 2.2 million pounds to 22 million pounds in the past 10 years.
Proper legislation of marijuana could benefit California and the entire country.
People are going to grow, smoke, sell, and transport pot whether it is illegal or not.
It makes an outrageous amount of money and costs almost nothing to grow.
I have personally grown and sold marijuana and made close to $2,000 in one week.
Just imagine if the state could have taxed me on that.
There are hundreds of thousands of people growing and selling marijuana for profit and, of course, recreationally smoking it.
California spends close to $1 billion a year attempting to enforce anti-marijuana laws, quite unsuccessfully.
Everybody stands to gain from the legalization of marijuana.
Farmers would have a new cash crop, taxpayers would save money, law enforcement could focus on more important issues, and our prisons wouldn't be overcrowded because of trivial marijuana laws.
Just like prohibition (the outlawing of alcohol), anti-marijuana laws cause more problems than they solve.
I think we have wasted enough money locking up potheads; they're stupid, but they hardly deserve to be incarcerated.
Almost everybody has smoked or has known someone who has smoked pot.
The fact is that marijuana is here to stay and forcing people to stop smoking and growing is about as impossible as forcing Americans to stop drinking alcohol.
From personal experience, most law enforcement don't even enforce anti-marijuana laws and usually allow people to slide for being in possession of a small amount of marijuana. There are very few people left who want to take the time to enforce this law, but unfortunately the law still exists.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying everybody should be allowed to smoke marijuana whenever or wherever they want.
Marijuana should be legislated and controlled like alcohol.
Something has to be done because the war on drugs is a war that cannot be won and costs everybody far too much to fight.
A recent study conducted by Dr. Jon Gettmen, a regional economics expert and adjunct instructor at Shepard University, shows that the production of marijuana has increased from 2.2 million pounds to 22 million pounds in the past 10 years.
Proper legislation of marijuana could benefit California and the entire country.
People are going to grow, smoke, sell, and transport pot whether it is illegal or not.
It makes an outrageous amount of money and costs almost nothing to grow.
I have personally grown and sold marijuana and made close to $2,000 in one week.
Just imagine if the state could have taxed me on that.
There are hundreds of thousands of people growing and selling marijuana for profit and, of course, recreationally smoking it.
California spends close to $1 billion a year attempting to enforce anti-marijuana laws, quite unsuccessfully.
Everybody stands to gain from the legalization of marijuana.
Farmers would have a new cash crop, taxpayers would save money, law enforcement could focus on more important issues, and our prisons wouldn't be overcrowded because of trivial marijuana laws.
Just like prohibition (the outlawing of alcohol), anti-marijuana laws cause more problems than they solve.
I think we have wasted enough money locking up potheads; they're stupid, but they hardly deserve to be incarcerated.
Almost everybody has smoked or has known someone who has smoked pot.
The fact is that marijuana is here to stay and forcing people to stop smoking and growing is about as impossible as forcing Americans to stop drinking alcohol.
From personal experience, most law enforcement don't even enforce anti-marijuana laws and usually allow people to slide for being in possession of a small amount of marijuana. There are very few people left who want to take the time to enforce this law, but unfortunately the law still exists.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying everybody should be allowed to smoke marijuana whenever or wherever they want.
Marijuana should be legislated and controlled like alcohol.
Something has to be done because the war on drugs is a war that cannot be won and costs everybody far too much to fight.
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