Legalizing marijuana would boost the economy

Way to go, Tom Ammiano. He's a California assemblyman who has introduced a bill to legalize marijuana in his state.

AB 390 would decriminalize pot but regulate it like alcohol, limiting sales to those 21 and over. It would also impose a tax of $50 per ounce—something Ammiano said could bring $1 billion annually into our cash-starved state.

The bill doesn't have much chance of passing, given the United States' irrational drug policies. But it's a much-needed step in the right direction.

Recently New Scientist ran a story, "Radical alternatives proposed for cannabis controls," that described why legalizing marijuana makes both scientific and societal sense.

What should we do to minimise the harm cannabis can cause to the health and welfare of users and to society at large? One answer, according to a report by a group of prominent academics and government advisers, is to change the law to allow the state to prepare and distribute the drug for recreational use.

This proposal is the most controversial of several recommendations from a commission assembled by the Beckley Foundation, a British charity dedicated to exploring the science of psychoactive substances. "The damage done by prohibition is worse than from the substance itself," says Amanda Feilding, the founder of the Beckley Foundation.

Click on this image to see the relative harm of cannabis, tobacco, heroin, and alcohol. It makes absolutely zero sense that the least harmful substance, cannabis, is illegal while tobacco and alcohol are blessed (and taxed) by governments.

The NORML blog keeps track of marijuana-related legislation and other policy initiatives aimed at bringing this country out of its crazy Reefer Madness! mentality. It was good to see that the Obama administration is going to put a stop to federal raids on state medical marijuana providers.

I also found "10 Reasons to Get High About Marijuana in 2009." Excellent.

If the Oregon legislature ever takes up a bill to legalize the selling of marijuana, I'll go to a hearing and present myself as living testimony in favor of cannabis' harmlessness. For a couple of years during my San Jose State college days, 1966-1971, I was stoned nearly every day.

Yet I got great grades, nearly all A's. My friends and I drove our cars and motorcycles all around the Bay Area, with nary a marijuana-fueled accident on our record. Nobody ever had the slightest desire to try hard drugs -- just other varieties of psychedelics.

Most perusasive of all in these difficult economic times, we contributed mightily to local restaurant profit margins. Those midnight munchie runs to Denny's put a lot of money into corporate pockets, and tips in the waitresses'.

Comments

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

In considering your days of marijuana use, I suggest your readers ought also consider your December 7 and 9 essays ("memoirs") from this past year (2008) on your "Church of the Churchless" site.

I raise the question as to how much your use of psychedelic drugs might have contributed to some of your rather poor choices in sensible living (cf. guru-"worship," etc.).

Robert Paul Howard

[Brian]

Robert, I don't see any connection between the two. Many people, then and now, made (or make) choices to follow a guru or some other mystical/religious/spiritual path completely sane and sober. By the time I joined up with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, I had stopped using drugs.

So actually my guru-phase started when I gave up psychedelics. I had experienced drug-induced fireworks in my psyche, and now was looking for meditative experiences. Yes, drugs can open up a person to the possibility of realms of reality beyond everyday life.

But I don't see drugs as tilting someone toward religion. If anything, they seem to have a non-religious bent, since you don't need a religious intermediary to experience an altered state of consciousness.

[Robert Paul Howard]

Dear Brian,

Therefore you say that some are "sane and sober" when they decide to follow some "guru or some other mystical/religious/spiritual path"? That seems inconsistent with your more usual condemnation of the "religious" and the "spiritual."

Also, I recall your report of being a follower of the Greek Christian "guru" you "followed" (which only thereafter led you into the RSSB) back in your "college-age" period. Might I again suggest that there is (possibly/probably) a greater interwovenness in all these factors than you seem inclined to grant.

So, maybe I am mistaken: but I still raise the question. (And I suggest others ought examine some of these facts before knee-jerking to some determination/conclusion or another.) I even suggest you might "meditate" on the topic a bit more on your own.

But do as you so see fit. I don't presume to "see" for you.

Robert Paul Howard

[Idler]

Robert, what does any of what you've written here have to do with the merits of legalizing marijuana?

All I get from this is that you don't like Brian's choices.

On another topic, I don't see this at all:

But I don't see drugs as tilting someone toward religion. If anything, they seem to have a non-religious bent, since you don't need a religious intermediary to experience an altered state of consciousness.

To the extent that one uses drugs for some kind of insight (rather than just pleasure or stupefaction), they are probably already disposed toward religion. Of course drugs are used socially in many religious rituals, just as they are used socially for less high-minded ends.

[tucson]

Brian,
Have you tried any of the weed they raise these days? Back in the 60's we had Acapulco Gold and later on Icepack, but none of it would knock you on your ass like the sap-dripping bud available now. We actually smoked the leaves in 1965 which are considered junk and thrown away by today's afficcionados.

Anyway, I don't particularly like the idea of the general populace driving around wasted on modern weed, though I am under no illusion that it isn't already happening.

I do like the idea of removing much of the criminality involved in the business of drugs which would probably occur if you could go and buy drugs just like alcohol and cigarettes. No more desparate junkies and speed freaks shaking people down and burglarizing homes. No more drug cartels and gang bangers murdering everyone over turf wars. This would be especially true if drugs were actually subsidized and sold at a price that no criminal enterprise could compete with...Today's Special, USDA Certified Grade A Pure methamphetamine $5 per ounce, 20% discount if bought by the pound. The stuff is actually very cheap to make in a modern chemical lab. Hey Obama! Get the government in the drug business and pay down the debt that way! What a great idea!

But do we want to risk having a stoned society? What would be the long-term ramifications of that, if it happened? There is certainly some deterrence by the fact that drugs are illegal. I don't know the answers. It would be an interesting social experiment, sort of a reverse prohibition.

[Harry Vanderpool]

$50.00 per ounce tax?
Is it Brian Hines, or Brian Kool-aidgoski?!!
:-0
How about $.50 per ounce?
We need to keep the price as low as possible so we can TOTALLY eliminate the criminal end of the business.
Make it more profitable for them to work at a car wash.
If I were interested in smoking pot I would grow my own.
But I'm not interested. When I was in high school they always said, " Don't get high on drugs; get high on life!". Then, they provided not as much as a single clue as to how one does that.
Fortunatly, I have since learned how to be high on life, no thanks to government, school, or superstition.
Maybe the Ultra, Ultra, Ultra, Ultra lefties will want to tax me for that?

[Robert Paul Howard]

To the one who calls himself "Idler":

While you are indeed correct that I don't like various of Brian's "choices" (particularly if I were to be subjected to them myself), I believe Brian's self-told stories about his life also shows some of his own displeasure/dissatisfaction with some of them. As he has indicated, he has already rejected some of those from his past and, as his remarks about residual "Catholic guilt" yet indicates, he is still in that process of self reformation.

I further believe that his presenting himself to the Oregon legislature "as living testimony in favor of cannabis' harmlessness" might be viewed more as an example of how the use of such a drug - being "stoned nearly every day" - can lead to further errors of good judgment and behavior (like ensuingly following various "gurus" into various "cults" - to various degrees of one's own detriment). Perhaps, therefore, someone else might better be able to make make the argument for "the merits of legalizing marijuana."

But, of course, you can all "think" as you so "choose."

Robert Paul Howard

[K]

The civil war was started over states' rights.The people of the south believed that they had the right to own slaves.A war was fought, Americans against Americans, because of this principle. Now a large percentage of Californians are consuming marijuana, and are tired of being treated like criminals.Marijuana may have some supposed health risks, but is it inhumane? It is the cure for bordom. It makes u laugh, and isn't laughter the best medicine? Maybe someone doesn't have a health plan, and can't afford to get anti-depressents or pain medicine, so instead grit their teeth, wipe a tear, and smoke a joint..... Who stocks your shelves, who makes your burgers, who sells your liquor, who mowes your lawns,... who delivers your pizza, who digs your ditches,who works midnight shifts, through all the yawns,...who blows their money, all up in sm0ke,... could it be your moms? Taxation and legalization of marijuana is the only reasonable thing to do this broken economy. We tax many "legitimate" addictions ...money, oil, cigs, commercial goods, and even hot food.
TO ANY FOLLOWERS OF THE HOLY BIBLE WHO DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS: CRACK OPEN YOUR BIBLE AND FLIP THROUGH THE FIRST FEW PAGES OF GENESIS. LOOK FOR SOMETHING ABOUT "GREEN HERBS BEARING SEED".

[K]

MARIJUANA GROWS UP 20 FEET A YEAR...REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING...REDUCE GLOBAL DISEASE THROUGH INCREASED OXYGEN...WHILE CONSUMING CO2...GROW WEED EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!

[c. Nielsen]

MARIJUANA LAW IS
NOT TO FOLLOW FEAR OR YOU MAY GET PARANOID, BUT YOU FEAR THE POLICE... SO IT IS A BAD BAD COCTAIL.
RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE GANGS ARE FIGHTING WITH GUNS IN THE CITY, WHERE MY CHILDREN LIVE.BECAUSE OF STUPID DRUG LAWS.
THEY FIGHT OVER THE CANNABIS MARKET.
THE OIL OF A HERB THAT CAN GROW FREELY IN ANY PRIVATE GARDEN.
BEFORE THIS GOVERNMENT TOOK POWER CANNABIS WAS TOLERATED AND SOLD UNHINDERED.AND THERE WERE NOT DOZENS OF KILLED AND INJURED.
RECENTLY A NEW LAW PROHIBITED DRIVING WITH ANY TRACEABLE THC IN YOUR BLOOD.THAT WAY FASCISM GETS ESTABLISHED
IN THIS ROTTEN STATE

[richard]

PASS THE LAW AND FUCK THE POLICE!

[Mark Grimes]

This is definitely awesome! It's a

really helpful article and I hope

you could also get to visit my site

so we can permeate ideas when it

comes to legalizing medical

marijuanas. Please drop some

comments and let us know what you

think about our website.

Here's the link:
http://bit.ly/dburLQ

Thanks ahead and have a wonderful

day! :)

[[email protected]]

Okay on that graph that is posted it is said that marijuana has a monderate affect on cancer.
THERE IS NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE THAT SAYS MARIJUANA CAUSES CANCER!
Dumass!

[Nagolbud]

Since when does a human being need permission from "government" aka another human being to grow a plant or use it? Americans live in a state of delusion thinking they need permission to smoke a plant. It's not even a real crime. A real crime requires 'cause of action', without a valid “cause of action” there’s no corpus delicti. If there’s no corpus delicti a case has no standing. There are numerous cases dealing with corpus delicti and all say the same thing. Without a corpus delicti the plaintiff has no standing. In order to have a corpus delicti a case requires a valid “cause of action.” A valid cause of action requires three elements.

The Three Elements Are:
1) a violation of a legal right, 2) damage or injury, 3) redress-ability by the court.

SMOKING OR GROWING MARIJUANA IS NOT A CRIME. STOP SIGNING PLEA DEALS AND PUT THESE CORRUPT JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS IN THEIR PLACE.