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Coyotl

(15,262 posts)
Wed May 1, 2013, 11:19 PM May 2013

Article: Smoking Away the Deficit = Marijuana Legalization

A bit of reason:

Marijuana Legalization Could Shrink the Deficit

The government could legalize marijuana and shrink the federal deficit in a single hit. At least, that's what two politicians think. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) say the Fed could save billions of dollars by jointly taxing pot and cutting costs in drug enforcement and incarceration.

"We are trying to rationalize federal drug policy," Blumenauer told Top Line. "We're spending too much money on enforcement for something most Americans think should be legal, and we're losing revenue."

Colorado and Washington have already legalized recreational marijuana, and are taxing and regulating the drug. Blumenauer and Polis think the federal government should take a similar approach to blaze the deficit away. Some say pot could be a gateway to other drugs, but Blumenauer rejects the notion. Pot legalization and regulation will make it tougher for kids to score some, he said. ....

http://www.livescience.com/29175-legalizing-pot-to-shrink-deficit.html
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Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
1. It's ONLY a gateway if it's illegal
Wed May 1, 2013, 11:27 PM
May 2013

When you go into a liquor store to by weed, the guy behind the counter is not going to whip out a line of coke and ask you if you would like to buy some. That is how gateways work. Keeping it illegal makes kids try other drugs they had no intention of trying till they were introduced to it.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
2. exactly
Wed May 1, 2013, 11:37 PM
May 2013

more teenagers use cannabis in the U.S. than in Portugal or The Netherlands, where it is quasi-legally regulated.

ask any teenager if it's easier to score pot or alcohol. from those who have looked at this issue, the illegal nature of the cannabis market makes it easier for teenagers to access.

but what studies have also shown is that teenagers smoke weed and then, when they're of legal age, they'll drink alcohol, instead.

And alcohol use is tied into auto accidents.

the places that have made cannabis quasi-legal in the U.S. have also noted a reduction in alcohol-related traffic incidents.

As a public health and safety issue for young adults, cannabis is safer than alcohol.

napoleon_in_rags

(3,991 posts)
3. Raindog and you are totally correct.
Wed May 1, 2013, 11:44 PM
May 2013

The way a black market works is everything illegal gets lumped in together. Are you going to report your drug dealer for trying to sell you meth when you went to him to buy pot? No. Are you going to report seeing underage people buying from a dealer who you yourself went to to buy weed? No, you'd incriminate yourself.

BillStein

(758 posts)
9. and another thing
Thu May 2, 2013, 10:33 AM
May 2013

when kids realize that the feds lie about pot- addictive, brain death etc- they wonder if the authorities are lying about all drugs- so maybe heroin isn't really addictive, or PCP dangerous for other reasons etc. I still think that's at least part of what makes it a "gateway".

edited for clarity

Javaman

(62,439 posts)
4. When pot becomes more cost effective as opposed to the
Thu May 2, 2013, 08:42 AM
May 2013

bullshit "war on drugs" then pot will become legal.

it's all about money.

 

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)
5. When liberals quit smoking it, this part of Nixon's political war will end
Thu May 2, 2013, 08:58 AM
May 2013

I know I'm being cynical, but that is the fact of the origin of the drug war, the suppression of liberal political enemies and a welfare program for conservative police forces.

Javaman

(62,439 posts)
6. Oh I know it's origin, but it was ray-guns and halfwit nancy's
Thu May 2, 2013, 09:44 AM
May 2013

"war on drugs" that turned it into a cottage industry that bloomed into a multinational money making/money laundering outfit for the US government and the various arms suppliers.

To much money is made off this propaganda program to suddenly turn off the spigot.

 

Coyotl

(15,262 posts)
7. Ronnie just upped the ante and deprived millions of African Americans of voting rights
Thu May 2, 2013, 09:57 AM
May 2013

That too, taking black men off the voter rolls, is part of the political war.

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