Cannabis
Financial burden of Corporatism
Hundreds of economists agree marijuana legalization could save US taxpayers
$13.7 billion per year
Monday, April 23, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
http://www.naturalnews.com
(NaturalNews) Marijuana prohibition currently costs taxpayers billions of
dollars a year to enforce, and it accomplishes little or nothing beneficial in
terms of economic benefits. On the contrary, legalizing marijuana would not only
save taxpayers billions of dollars a year in unnecessary costs, but it would
also jumpstart the economy to the tune of $100 billion a year or more, say some
economists.
In an open letter written to the President, Congress, State Governors, and State
Legislators, more than 550 economists, including several nobel laureates, draw
attention to a report authored by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron that highlights the
potential economic benefits of marijuana decriminalization. Entitled The
Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition, the report states that
legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana would do wonders to reduce inflated
budgets and generate new revenue streams.
"[R]eplacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation [...] would
save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition
enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually if
marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods," say the economists. "If,
however, marijuana were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it might generate
as much as $6.2 billion annually."
You can view the entire petition at:
http://web.archive.org
As many as 60 million Americans are already estimated to be spending upwards of
$110 billion a year on marijuana, the vast majority of which ends up in the
hands of organized crime units. If marijuana was legalized, honest citizens
could grow and sell it instead, which would inject new life into the flailing
economy, and redirect billions of dollars in cash flow from criminals to
legitimate growers.
"At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that
prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone
tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana
prohibition," add the economists.Marijuana prohibition
benefits Big Pharma, prison system
If marijuana were legalized nationwide, however, the drug industry and the
prison system, much of which has now been privatized, would suffer greatly. And
this, of course, is one of the primary reasons why these special interests are
working hard to squelch all efforts to legalize marijuana at the national level.
According to a 2009 report published by NowPublic, the United States
incarcerates the most individuals per capita compared to any other country in
the world. And the "War on Drugs," which continually targets marijuana users and
dealers, is largely responsible for making America the most imprisoned nation in
the world (http://www.nowpublic.com).
"According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), 30 to 40 percent of all
current prison admissions involve crimes that have no direct or obvious victim
other than the perpetrator," says a 2008 DOJ report. "The drug category
constitutes the largest offense category, with 31 percent of all prison
admissions resulting from such crimes."
If drugs like marijuana became decriminalized, the prison industry would lose a
large chunk of its business -- after all, who is going to fill all those empty
prison cells in all the new privately-owned prisons being erected across the
country?
The other major player in the "War on Drugs" is Big Pharma, which stands to lose
a significant portion of its business if marijuana is legalized as well.
Marijuana, after all, is a powerful, natural medicine that can eliminate chronic
pain, balance brain chemistry, mimic the regulatory system of cellular
physiology, and even treat cancer, among other things.
Be sure to check out this amazing video about juicing raw marijuana for
non-psychoactive medical treatment:
http://youtu.be/rDJv9OgATok
Sources for this article include:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/4/prweb9414694.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com