Legalise marijuana, tax it – and end NYC's wrongheaded war on pot-NYC Comptroller John Liu [View all]

[hrmjustin]

John Liu

It's time to recognize that New York City's misguided war on marijuana has failed.

Instead of spending millions on low-level drug prosecutions that disproportionally affect communities of color, why not regulate the city's $1.65bn marijuana market – and use the tax revenues to cut City University tuition in half? Instead of sending kids to the courthouse, let's send them to college.

A new report by my office (pdf) [of city comptroller] found that regulating marijuana sales would raise $400m annually, plus save another $31m by reallocating resources spent on marijuana-related arrests. Regulating marijuana would also offer relief to those suffering from a wide range of painful medical conditions, and make our streets safer by sapping the dangerous underground market that targets our children.

To be clear: under my proposal, only adults age 21 and over would be allowed to possess up to one ounce of marijuana – which would be grown, processed, and sold by government-licensed businesses for recreational or medicinal purposes. There would be strict prohibitions on driving under the influence and marijuana use in public

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/17/legalise-marijuana-tax-nyc