Damn it!!! Prohibition should end...six reports agree

[beachguy in thongs]

Six recent reports -- from the American Enterprise Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayers for Common Sense, The Sentencing Project, a Harvard University economics professor, and the U.S. Department of Justice -- point out the failures and steep costs of marijuana prohibition and call for a new approach.

Ending Marijuana Prohibition Would Save $10-14 Billion Annually ... Report Endorsed by Milton Friedman and More Than 500 Economists
In "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition" (released June 2, 2005), Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year.

More than 500 distinguished economists -- led by Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman and two additional Nobel Laureates -- endorsed the report and signed an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition," adding, "We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods."

Using data from a variety of federal and state government sources, Miron concludes:

* Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement -- $2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels.
* Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.

Citizens Against Government Waste: Government Anti-Drug Programs Don't Work
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policyâ??s (ONDCP's) expensive drug control programs have failed to produce any meaningful results after 17 years, finds a May 12, 2005, report from Citizens Against Government Waste, a national organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

"Up in Smoke: ONDCP's Wasted Efforts in the War on Drugs" shows how ONDCP wastes millions of dollars annually on media advertising and combating state-level legislation. The report's findings include:

* ONDCP "has morphed into a federal wasteland, throwing taxpayer money toward numerous high-priced drug control programs that have failed to show results ... Instead of curbing Americaâ??s drug problem, ONDCP has wasted $4.2 billion since fiscal 1997 on media advertising, fighting state legislation, and deficient anti-drug trafficking programs."
* Since Arizona and California passed medical marijuana laws in November 1996, ONDCP began campaigning against state medical marijuana ballot initiatives, which is "an infringement upon states' rights, a blatant misuse of tax dollars, and in contravention of ONDCPâ??s original mission. The White Houseâ??s drug office should use its resources to root out major drug operations in the U.S. instead of creating propaganda-filled news videos and flying across the country on the taxpayers' dime."
* "ONDCP burns through tax dollars by funding wasteful and unnecessary projects. Partly to thwart state efforts to regulate marijuana, the drug czar created a $2 billion national anti-drug campaign, produced expensive propaganda ads that failed to reduce drug use among Americaâ??s youth, and in the process, violated federal law. Furthermore, the office wastes federal resources by opposing any legalization of marijuana, including medicinal use, which has nothing to do with the war on drugs."

War on Drugs has Become War on Low-Level Marijuana Users
During the 1990s, the â??war on drugsâ?� was transformed to a â??war on marijuana,â?� with law enforcement officials shifting their focus to arresting increasing numbers of low-level marijuana offenders, finds a Sentencing Project report released on May 3, 2005.

"The War on Marijuana: The Transformation of the War on Drugs in the 1990s" finds that between 1990 and 2002, 82% of the national increase in drug arrests were for marijuana offenses, and nearly all of this increase was arrests for possession. Marijuana arrests now constitute 45% of the 1.5 million drug arrests annually.

As a result, significant policing resources have been dedicated to low-level offenses, with only 6% of marijuana arrests resulting in a felony conviction. One-quarter of people in prison for a marijuana offense are low-level offenders.

Despite the billions of dollars being spent annually on marijuana law enforcement, use and availability have not declined, while cost has dropped.

American Enterprise Institute: Prison is not an effective drug policy
American drug policy should focus on expanding treatment options and not on prison, says a new book from the American Enterprise Institute, one of the country's most respected conservative think tanks.

In An Analytic Assessment of U.S. Drug Policy (published in February 2005), Peter Reuter, a professor at the University of Maryland and a
senior economist in the Drug Policy Research Center at RAND, and independent consultant David Boyum use a market framework to assess
the effectiveness of anti-drug efforts ... and conclude that they have failed.

The authors note that while there is little evidence that tougher law enforcement reduces drug use, drug policy has become increasingly punitive -- the number of drug offenders in jail and prison grew tenfold between 1980 and 2003. They recommend the following changes:

* Law enforcement should focus on reducing drug-related problems, such as violence associated with drug markets, rather than on locking up large numbers of low-level dealers.
* Treatment services for heavy users need more money and fewer regulations, and programs that coerce convicted drug addicts to enter treatment and maintain abstinence as a condition of continued freedom should be expanded.

Taxpayers for Common Sense: Effectiveness of billions spent to stop marijuana use remains unknown
Despite the federal government spending tens of billions to combat marijuana use over the last three decades, use and perception of the drug has barely changed, according to an economic study released by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a national budget watchdog organization that targets wasteful and ineffective federal spending.

"Federal Marijuana Policy: A Preliminary Assessment," released June 28, 2005, finds that efforts to reduce marijuana use and supply cost federal taxpayers billions, despite no evidence that the programs actual work. "Despite sky-high deficits, taxpayers continue to watch their money go up in smoke funding expensive but ineffective government programs intended to reduce marijuana use," said a Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman.

The report assesses the cost of the nation's anti-marijuana efforts and the effect those efforts have had on marijuana use and finds the program to have been a failure, noting that increased federal spending on marijuana has accompanied increased use.

The report singles out as particularly wasteful and ineffective marijuana arrests (which have not stemmed marijuana usage rates), the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's youth anti-drug media campaign, and student drug testing programs.

"The ultimate measure of the drug war's worth is its impact on drug usage," concludes the report. "By this standard, the federal marijuana program has fared poorly. Rather than continue to spend billions of dollars on the problem, it would be better for the U.S. government to get out of the marijuana business entirely."

U.S. Department of Justice: Top cops say drug war is on the wrong track
The Justice Department's 2005 "National Drug Threat Assessment" concludes that not only is the war on marijuana a failure, but police officers overwhelmingly see methamphetamine as a much greater threat than marijuana. Asked to identify the greatest drug threat in their communities, only 12 percent of local law enforcement agencies named marijuana -- a figure that has been declining for years. In contrast, 36 percent named cocaine and 40 percent cited methamphetamine as the greatest threat -- despite the fact that marijuana use is massively more common and despite what the report describes as "marijuana's widespread and ready availability in the United States."

The report explains, "Such data indicate that, despite the volume of marijuana trafficked and used in this country, for many in law enforcement marijuana is much less an immediate problem than methamphetamine, for example, which is associated with more tangible risks such as violent users and toxic production sites." (Despite this, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has focused heavily on marijuana. In November 2002, ONDCP sent a letter to the nation's prosecutors declaring flatly, "Nationwide, no drug matches the threat posed by marijuana.")

The report also finds "no reports of a trend toward decreased availability" anywhere in the country ... Indeed, reporting from some areas has suggested that marijuana is easier for youths to obtain than alcohol or cigarettes."

FULL STORY: http://www.mpp.org/reports/index.html
(actually, you can see more of these stories here, but the entire page is here)

beachguy in thongs Reviewed by beachguy in thongs on 11-28-2005. Damn it!!! Prohibition should end...six reports agree Six recent reports -- from the American Enterprise Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayers for Common Sense, The Sentencing Project, a Harvard University economics professor, and the U.S. Department of Justice -- point out the failures and steep costs of marijuana prohibition and call for a new approach. Ending Marijuana Prohibition Would Save $10-14 Billion Annually ... Report Endorsed by Milton Friedman and More Than 500 Economists In "The Budgetary Implications of Rating: 5

[Trichome Creator]

Yeah but then I would'nt make any money off my grow operation and that would REALLY suck.

[Trichome Creator]

Just what the goverment needs. Something else to heavily tax.

[beachguy in thongs]

That's not what they're saying.

They should not ticket anyone for it, let alone, arrest them.

[Trichome Creator]

Oh I know. I not basing what I'm saying off of your gathered reports. I'm stating that if cannabis was legalized (Never Will Be) Decriminalized (Possibly But Unlikley) they would treat it like tobbaco taking the money mostly out of privte growers hands like myself and give it a marijuana tax (Actually they already do.) And then stamp a brand name on it like marlbrojuanas or some shit and that would be the end of it. Another sin tax made. How can something god created be called a sin tax? Did you know they tax illegal marijuana now? you can see it at www.norml.com The thing is your supposed to go to your citys town hall if your state participates (most do) and pay a pre-paid tax for each gram of contraband you have and then stick the tax stamp onto your so called contraband. Don't you just love our goverment?

[Trichome Creator]

The stamp shown below is a Marijuana tax Stamp from the State Of Minnesota. If you are caught by police with marijuana without the tax stamp you are charged with the normal penalties plus 200% payment of your unpaid marijuana tax up to $14,000 and (or) up to 7 years in prison. (So much for the goverment not being able to tax things that are illegal.) Over 40 states have new similar laws to these. The price of the tax stamps in this state are $3.50 per gram of cannabis.

[robert42]

this is mycard i show the police when they arrest me i say fuck u im legal u punk ass nazi and there all like yea? beef u want? and im like emmm u talkin like yoda get with the PG that PRGRAMME punk ass nugga, and show them my card and there like yea and im like so and there like well and im like errrr and thereso total virgins

[Trichome Creator]

this is mycard i show the police when they arrest me i say fuck u im legal u punk ass nazi and there all like yea? beef u want? and im like emmm u talkin like yoda get with the PG that PRGRAMME punk ass nugga, and show them my card and there like yea and im like so and there like well and im like errrr and thereso total virgins

Robert42 no offense but what in the fuck did you just say?

Nazi Virgin Police Who Wanna Get It On With Yoda?

[robert42]

Exactly

ABSTRACT...

Abstract keep it on the low down... get it

[Reefer Rogue]

Brilliant thread. Why can't the people who matter read those and actually do something about it?