CNBC: Could Legally Getting High Reduce the Deficit?

[zirophyz]

From an article published on cnbc.com on Jun 23 - http://www.cnbc.com/id/43508025

 

Some economists believe that there would be substantial economic benefits to legalizing drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

 

“There is a strong case for legalizing drugs,†Jeffrey Miron, senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, told CNBC.com.

 

“This is based on economic reasoning, but it is broader than just ‘economic effects’,†he said.

 

Miron estimates that the US would be around $88 billion a year better off if drugs were legalized, with $41.3 billion saved on enforcement of drug-related laws and $46.7 billion garnered in tax revenues.

 

“The case for legalization is that prohibition harms drug users by forcing them to pay higher prices, to buy from criminals, and to risk incarceration,†he continued.

 

One of the arguments made by those who back legalization of drugs is that the war on drugs is rapidly becoming unwinnable.

 

“Prohibition increases violence, crime, and corruption by creating a black market,†said Miron.

 

“Prohibition inhibits quality control, which would ordinarily allow consumers to know what purity they are buying. Prohibition is bad for civil liberties. Prohibition disrupts other countries. Prohibition inhibits research on medical uses of drugs.â€

 

 

Heh - we all predicted that the yanks might be looking at legalizing to solve their economic woes ... As per other threads here legalization would need to work for everyone; the casual smoker and the growers. It would be great to be able to buy over the counter at your local Coles, and this would allow the government to tax it to make their cut as well as ensuring quality/health standards are upheld by commercial growers; but also allow x amount of plants and/or possession of x kg of dried leaf designated for personal use. The Drugs Act at the moment stipulate 50+ (in NSW) plants as a commercial quantity and 100+ plants as a large commercial quantity (I would guess this includes clones) - if they left it as up to 49 plants designated for personal use I'm sure this would satisfy a majority of growers, and if you want to grow 50+ plants you'll need to register your growroom as a commercial operation and apply for a license and be up for government inspections which would give the government another form of revenue (albeit a lot lower than taxation, depending how much they would charge for a commercial MJ growers license and growroom registration).

 

Did that all make sense? Hope so .. and I think this would be the best umbrella fit - remember you can't make everyone happy all of the time (if it benefits the people probably won't benefit the government and vice versa).

 

What are the current laws for growing your own tobacco? This is the closest match to marijuana currently on the legal market in my opinion.

[andrewb]

im a cigerette smoker and have no idea what it takes to be allowed to grow tobacco, can imagine it is pretty strict though with ongoing pressure on Govt. from big tobacco tycoons running the show.