Legalize This!

If the government really wants some revenue, they should legalize and tax marijuana. It’s now the largest cash crop in the US.

For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America’s biggest cash crop. Now they’re citing government statistics to prove it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.

California is responsible for more than a third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state’s grapes, vegetables and hay combined — and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.

Personally, I don’t touch the stuff. But its very beneficial to some patients with pain issues. And frankly, as Prohibition showed, all we’ve done is enrich criminals and create a huge, uncontrolled black market. Crime stats are largely inflated by the drug war.

This is one of those drugs that is a lot less harmful than alchohol or cigarettes, yet it’s illegal. There are many theories as to why, but the fact is, the government is missing out on huge tax revenues by keeping it illegal. 

Oh, the reason it was reclassified as a Category 1 drug back during the Depression was the guy in charge of U.S. drug policy saw it as a way to guarantee jobs (at a time when jobs were damn scarce) for himself and a lot of his friends.  He confessed on his death bed that all the evidence he used to convince the Feds of the “dangers of marijuana” were all faked; but of course, none of that ever got covered by the mainstream media.  I heard the whole story on the radio one morning on, of all things the Alex Bennett show!

Posted by  on  12/19  at  11:42 AM

Well, they need to change the laws. I know people with health problems who say it helps them immensely with pain management. It’s been proven to be beneficial as a medicine, but of course the drug companies don’t want some non-patented substance competing with them.

I suspect a lot of the resistance to MJ legalization has little to do with fear of drug use.

Posted by  on  12/19  at  12:14 PM

Is it possible that the people who most want to see the legalization propositions pass are the same people who keep forgetting to register to vote for some mysterious reason?...?? (runs away)

Posted by Brin McLaughlin  on  12/19  at  01:51 PM

Yes, there’s that.

Posted by  on  12/19  at  03:36 PM

Hud how close did the vote go in Nevada?  I remember talking to some girl in a bar in San Francisco when I was there just before election time and apparently her boyfriend was one of the main organisers to get the question voted on.  Apparently prior to the election the polls indicated it was pretty close.  And Nevada still has very harsh punishments for possession, yeah?

Posted by  on  12/19  at  08:39 PM

Nevada used to have harsh possession laws. Now there has to be more than an ounce for it to carry any penalties.

This page answers some of your questions. Basically, medical marijuana is legal here.

http://www.marijuana.org/nevadamedicalmarijuanapage.htm

Posted by  on  12/19  at  10:45 PM
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