Chart of the Day — A Data Point on the Failure of the War on Drugs
Wonkblog shows us one of the consequences of the legalization of marijuana (for both medical and recreational purposes):
Interesting, yes? Legalizing marijuana thins out the importers. And certainly increases some legal entrepreneurial activity here. And it takes some money out of the black market and puts it into tax coffers. I can’t even imagine the savings from getting law enforcement out of the business of policing small users and producers.
Delaware should legalize marijuana, like Colorado and Washington did. Tax it like crazy and be the centerpiece of a Mid-Atlantic market. Get in *early* and start replacing the revenues at risk from casinos that are being out-competed.
The “war on drugs” is a cash cow for Police Unions, and Private Prisons Corporations. There is big money behind keepign the status quo.
Failure, nah ha
Legalization also allows for regulation, which would make it a safer product (think poisoning from bathtub gin during prohibition.) It makes sense on so many levels.
Every few months, a “synthetic weed”, not yet illegalized hits the head-shops. These are un-researched, hastily made, and almost always, very dangerous (not to mention differences in dosing, high, and after effects). It isnt so much “bad weed” that’s the problem.. if one were to try and buy some nowadays, one would have very little trouble sourcing it from a reputable supply chain that, at one point, was legally sold. It’s the temporarily legal “alternatives” (k-2, spice) that are big problem, and they exist for only one reason.
Until the federal government changes its tune, no state is allowed to woo out-of-state buyers. Pot tourism, though, could bring in extra dollars.
But ultimately marijuana is a minor drug. It doesn’t kill anybody, and its worst ill effect has been to turn lots of bros into libertarians..
The more important step would be to stop treating opioid addiction as a legal matter. Instead of forcing people onto methadone, we should be giving addicts the drugs they need while weaning them off them. It would provide just as many jobs as the drug war does with far less violence and human suffering.
Violence and human suffering isn’t a bug, its a feature.
And then Harper’s publishes this fantastic article called Legalize it Allwith this amazing quote:
Go read the whole thing.
Great link. Baum wrote about that Ehrlichmann story in 1996 in “Smoke and Mirrors,” which was an excellent history of the WoD up to that time:
http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors-Drugs-Politics-Failure/dp/0316084468