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All Drugs Should Be
Legalized
Immediately, Says Harvard Prof
October 6, 2010 - businessinsider.com By Henry Blodget
California residents will vote in November on whether or not to
legalize marijuana. If they vote "yes," says Harvard economics
professor Jeffrey Miron in the interview below, that should only be the
beginning.
All drugs should be legalized nationwide, Miron says. Pot,
cocaine, LSD, crystal-meth --- you name it.
"Legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in
government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. Of these savings,
$25.7 billion would accrue to state and local governments, while $15.6
billion would accrue to the federal government," Miron claims in a
recent Cato Institute report he co-authored.
According to their website, "The report also estimates that drug
legalization would yield tax revenue of $46.7 billion annually,
assuming legal drugs were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol
and tobacco. Approximately $8.7 billion of this revenue would result
from legalization of marijuana and $38.0 billion from legalization of
other drugs."
But won't we become a nation of drug addicts?
No, says Miron. Walk down any city street and you can already buy
legal drugs in multiple establishments: Caffeine at Starbucks, nicotine
at the supermarket, alcohol at bars and restaurants. And we're
not ALL addicted to all of these drugs.
Our current drug policy doesn't work, Miron observes. Despite ~$40
billion spent on enforcement and prosecution, drug use is still
widespread. Meanwhile, because the products are illegal, they're
dangerous, low-quality, and unregulated, and they generate zero tax
revenue.
Legalizing drugs would solve those problems, Miron says. It would
help close the budget deficit. And it would eliminate a bizarre
double standard, in which Americans are encouraged to drink and smoke
themselves to death -- while guzzling addictive coffee and tea -- but
become criminals if they dare to get stoned.
Given enough time, all-out legalization will happen. It is inevitable. It'd be nice to see it in my lifetime, but I won't be holding my breath on that.
-------------------- D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin.
Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
This will never happen. People who do drugs now can get them easily enough through doctors and friends, and if they are stupid enough to buy crappy drugs they deserve it. People who sell the drugs would never vote yes to allow them to destroy their money making business. And parents would be too scared of an abundance of drugs leading their kids to doing drugs to vote yes. People dont care about the national economy more than the welfare of their children. Its not hard for a teenager to convince somebody who is 21 to buy cigarettes and alcohol, what would the difference be with hard drugs. This principle alone will get the thumbs down on this type of thing. Now perhaps making home cultivation of drugs legal would perhaps take away alot of the problems. This would make relying on other countries importing drugs into our country pointless. It would take away from people having to go to scary drugdealers when they can go to their farmer or chemist friend. An over abundance of drugs on the streets will lower prices as well. In places of the country where there is no meth, it goes for 100 dollars a gram. In places like modesto california it goes for 40 dollars a gram. In any rate, people will still steal to get drugs legal and marketed or not.
Plus people have to remember that people dont research into drugs to know the dangers. The other day i was talking to my mom how i take marijuana, lsd, mescaline, and shrooms. And she thinks that i will become crazy if i do acid. I tried to explain to her that these chemicals are some of the safest in the world physically speaking. I told her that aspirin damages the body more. And she said if that was true then why are they illegal then. And i said good question. In my opinion drugs are so demonized by tv ads and health books, to the point that people will never look at drugs like they look at the chemicals they keep in their medicine cabinets. Sure ill feed my kid amphetamines for adhd, but god damn will i ever let him smoke the evil MARIJUANA. REEFER MADNESS OUTBREAK, GRAB YOUR GUNS AND START SHOOTIN THE JAGGERS AND JAZZ MUSICIANS. Stupid.
I think the rest will follow sooner than you think once cannabis prohibition falls (any month now) and the benefits to society from unleashing that menace become visible.
Cannabis prohibition is very much a figurehead of the drug war; once everyone begins to understand the foolishness of it, the rest will be thrown into question as well, and sooner than later we will be able to obtain most whatever we want from pharmacies or produce it for personal use at home without harassment from law enforcement.
-------------------- Enlil said: You really are the worst kind of person.
Quote: Rogerdodger91 said: I tried to explain to her that these chemicals are some of the safest in the world physically speaking. I told her that aspirin damages the body more. And she said if that was true then why are they illegal then.
Slavery was completely legal less than 200 years ago, so it must have been ok by her logic. Tell her to step back from her perspective and look at things from a broader point of view and she'll hopefully understand.
-------------------- D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin.
Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
what better way to have complete control over the people by systematically removing ones freedoms, drug prohibition has only been a step, privacy has already been raped off of existance, remember fear is there most powerfull weapon
Quote: auronlives69 said: remember fear is there most powerfull weapon
That's why they are constantly reminding you that terrorists are lurking behind every corner. They are just waiting for the right time to blow up the Walmart in Watchamacallit, Mississippi. That's why the authorities need to anal probe you at all times, in case the terrorists try to hide there.
-------------------- "Vegetarian" [ /ˌvedʒəˈteəriən/] - Ancient slang meaning "village idiot who can't hunt, fish or ride".
If we have guys at Harvard saying this, then we may have a chance to see this one day.I think the FBI is doing one last push to rid the country of drugs and dealers if it don't work then they'll look for another solution.
-------------------- Legalize! Stop putting our children in prisons.
Quote: gamer4life said: If we have guys at Harvard saying this, then we may have a chance to see this one day.I think the FBI is doing one last push to rid the country of drugs and dealers if it don't work then they'll look for another solution.
they've been trying that for the past 40 years, I think after mexico has done this, I think that will be a good model to look at, see how the trends become trendy and what not and see how the public reacts. Will be interesting to see the statistics of mexico and its drug use/abuse after they legalized. I'm sure their isnt people running around all over high on lsd and 11yos snorting coke for lunch.
--------------------
∞ I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. - Simone de Beauvoir -
while i like to think legalization will spread throught the state quikly I have a feeling its going to be a long time. just look at medical marijuana, it still has gone to only a handfull of states so far but is getting bigger thankfully. i guess i can hope though
Quote: Sykey said: while i like to think legalization will spread throught the state quikly I have a feeling its going to be a long time. just look at medical marijuana, it still has gone to only a handfull of states so far but is getting bigger thankfully. i guess i can hope though
You have a point, but again look at how quickly legalization is making it to the ballot. Only a handful of states have MMJ laws, and already one of them is pushing for full out legalization! The glass is half full my friend.
-------------------- D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin.
Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
Sorry my friends but this article contains a huge piece of propaganda.
The US spends way more than the officially listed numbers on the drug war. Those numbers do not calculate for the salaries or percent of time taken up by police, jail guards, district attorneys, public defenders, lawyers, and probation and parole officers who spend a large percentage of their time on the drug war against all of us but disproportionally against poor people.
I am going to guess and say the real number is more like 150 - 200 billion, maybe more.
-------------------- End American imperialism and colonization around the world and among the people conquered within the domestic empire.
Quote: I told her that aspirin damages the body more.
Source?
-------------------- All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs