DOCTOR G: 24 TRILLION DOLLARS!!!

Yes I know it's been a while. Just too busy I guess here is one to pass around


24 Trillion Dollars Annually

I saw a news item that stated the 700 licensed coffeeshops in the Netherlands generate about 1 Billion Euros annually. At todayâ??s rates the equivalent of over 1.34 Billion dollars, not an insignificant sum even in a politicianâ??s budget. Each shop generates over 1.9 Million US dollars per year. That does not mean the shop does 1.9 m in business out the door, but the combined effect of tourists and related economic benefits multiply each shopâ??s economic effect into a financial powerhouse.
Each visitor needs a place to stay and eat, also a transportation terminal to arrive and depart a system to transport them to attractions, diversions like shopping and entertainment for the evenings. All of this infrastructure employs people and makes for a better lifestyle for the inhabitants while supporting social services like free quality healthcare.
Holland is a tiny country, if we were to apply the same general licensing guidelines (200meters from schools, playgrounds or churches, limited on site stock, sanitary and weight standards, inspections, 18 and up enforced, Licensed suppliers and so on) here in the US and allow Cannabis Coffeeshops in municipalities that approve such businessâ??s, the estimated financial contribution to the US economy could be 24.5 Trillion dollars ($24,500,000,000,000) annually.
That is to say; every year. 24.5 Trillion dollars by expanding eligible applicants for permits that are already being granted in the US. And that is just the beginning of the financial benefits.
According to FBI statistics we imprison over 700,000 people every year for cannabis crimes (excluding possession). Imagine the twofold benefits of exchanging the financial drain of a prison population for the taxable income of 700,000 businesses. Imagine taking 700,000 families off assistance and making them taxpayers again. Imagine the 14 million people those 700,000 businesses could employ.
Itâ??s the â??thin end of the wedgeâ?� I hear conservatives cry, â??the scourge of DRUGSâ?�.
Not really. By now even the most ardent of that breed must realize that if you want to control something you must regulate it. The 18th amendment failed because the majority of the population could not support it. The â??War on Drugsâ?� has the same kind of popularity. In these financial times can we continue to waste immense quantities of resources on programs that are shown to be failed and extremely unpopular? Can we challenge our politicians to reexamine the testimony from the 1936 Cannabis Tax Stamp Act and subject those â??factsâ?� to independent scientific scrutiny?
Such a reexamination of that legislation would be the â??Thin end of the wedgeâ?� in energy independence as well. One of the many products that are easily and efficiently produced from hemp is bio-diesel vehicle fuel. Hemp products can be used to reduce industrial pollution (1 acre hemp produces as much paper pulp as 4 acres trees USDA 1919), in construction applications (composite materials for panel and structural applications), automotive and industrial (non-asbestos composite braking materials) and of course textiles and food products.
Americaâ??s farmers grew enough raw materials to help us win WW2, and if we let them today they could grow enough hemp to significantly lessen our dependence on imported petroleum before we are bankrupted by the international oil cartel.
I accept the need for border security, but wouldnâ??t security be easier to pay for with a few additional trillion in redirected resources? I would prefer to see the long term benefits of universal healthcare for all citizens but there could be funding for that as well. Perhaps a serious budget towards low impact energy production and efficient use. Maybe even a bomber or two to keep King George happy.
The possibilities are truly endless, whatâ??s stopping us?

If there were coffee shops that sold weed all over America, then they wouldn't be special and people wouldnt come from all over the world to go to them. Faulty logic.

Unless we ran it like the alcohol system, with dry counties and wet counties. If the states were given the choice to license and regulate there would still be areas more "liberal" than others. IE: places to visit, ie: tourist dollars. Perhaps not from all over the world but the US has a hell of an internal population. I can't imagine Alabama or Misissippi giving out licenses so those people have to go somewhere. Oregon perhaps, lots of nice forests, or California, cities and amusement parks, or Colorado.. anyway you see my point. We have enough population to support internal tourism. The real point is how the Dutch experiment has worked. Not only does the Dutch Model support Health Care and other social programs it also reduces "hard " drug use significantly.
So despite all the advantages; less pollution, saving the family farms, creating thousands of jobs, breaking free from imported oil, securing the borders, controling the "scourage" of drug abuse; the "representatives" of the people have not found the will to reevaluate the 1936 Marihuana Tax Stamp Act and consiter the MANY uses of this most valuable plant.
Please pass this around your personal "circle" of friends....
Doctor G