No there's something useful!

So we've got the economists on board with decriminalization...and many of the law enforcement officers...so just what sort of logic do we have to use to convince the goverment they could be making a fortune with weed??

According to the report, lifting prohibition and allowing for the taxation of marijuana would save the government approximately $7.7 billion per year in enforcement costs. Of these savings, $5.3 billion would be accumulated at the state and local levels from such expenditures and $2.4 billion at the federal level.

Maybe that's the problem? The states will benefit more than the feds & this is what they have a problem with? ;)


COLLEGE PROFESSOR SAYS THERE MAY BE HOPE, THE FINANCIAL KIND, IN DOPE

College economics professor Carl Moody has endorsed a report advocating the legalization of marijuana, which, according to research done by a Harvard University professor, would create savings and tax revenues resulting in a net gain of approximately $10 to $14 billion annually.

Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron's report, published in June 2005, is called "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," and has garnered the support of over 530 economists from colleges and universities across the nation.

Focusing on federal budgets, Miron's report notes that "prohibition entails direct enforcement costs and prevents taxation of marijuana production and sale."

Moody decided to express his support for the matter because he has long agreed with Miron's argument, despite the controversy surrounding the issue.

"It just makes so much sense. I've done lots of research, never published it, but I looked into it, and the cost of drug prohibition is just enormous," Moody said in a phone interview. "It is controversial, but look who else supports it. I'm with Nobel Laureate winners. If [Nobel Laureate recipients Dr.] Milton Friedman and [Dr.] Vernon Smith can take the heat, so can I. It's just so sensible, why wouldn't people agree?"

According to the report, lifting prohibition and allowing for the taxation of marijuana would save the government approximately $7.7 billion per year in enforcement costs. Of these savings, $5.3 billion would be accumulated at the state and local levels from such expenditures and $2.4 billion at the federal level.

In Virginia, the police, judicial and corrections budget combined is $2,935 million, of which $99.46 million is attributed to expenditures related to marijuana prohibition, the report says.

In addition to these savings, the report says that the tax revenue gains would be considerable. Depending on the method of taxation, anywhere between $2.4 billion ( if marijuana were taxed like an ordinary product ) and $6.2 billion ( if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco ) would be accrued annually.

Many of the esteemed endorsers of the report, however, think that the economics are only part of the problem about marijuana prohibition.

"Look at the factual consequences: the harm done and the corruption created by these laws," Friedman said in an interview with Forbes magazine. "The costs are one of the lesser evils."

Although the report espouses the view that legalizing marijuana would have many economic benefits, it acknowledges that the social impacts and consequences of eradicating prohibition were not considered.

Moody, however, feels that the social impacts of lifting prohibition would all be positive.

"It's an unnecessary infringement on rights as a person and the right to do what you want with your body. It's not anybody else's body; it's not the government's. I support [legalization] on philosophical grounds," he said.

His support for the issue of legalization also stems from his view of the negative impacts of prohibition on society and individual freedoms.

"Prohibition leads to empowerment of the law enforcement and police side of government. We're not a police state, but if you stop people from doing what they want it reduces freedom overall. [In situations like this,] police are forced to go undercover or rely on snitches or break into houses [to seek out the criminals.] If prohibition were lifted, there would be a significant shift of usage from alcohol to marijuana, and also from more intense drugs to marijuana, which [in comparison] is pharmacologically mild," Moody said.

Prohibition, in Moody's opinion, is the reason that harder drugs have become more popular.

"[During prohibition in the 1920s,] beer wasn't smuggled in, they took in hard alcohol. Essentially the same thing holds true now. Dangerous, designer drugs are popular because they're easier to smuggle in. You can't fly a plane of marijuana leaves," Moody said.

The report has been summarized in a letter to President George W. Bush, requesting "an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition" and advocating reform that would allow a system of regulation and taxation similar to that used for the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages.

"I don't expect significant movement [to change marijuana policy as a result of] the report," Moody said. "This is essentially one drop in a Chinese water torture method to change [the current] policy. Our one drop says 'your policy is stupid.' Sooner or later, reason will win out."

Maybe we should move to Madison, WI

Here is an interesting story we came across:

AFTER 30 YEARS, ANOTHER PUSH TO RELAX POT LAWS

MADISON - Thirty years ago, Madison was at the forefront of the effort to bring the nation's marijuana laws in line with growing public opinion that, among adults, smoking a joint is akin to drinking a beer.

But after three decades, Madison's historic ordinance permitting possession of small amounts of marijuana remains at odds with state and federal laws, putting city police in a difficult position.

And Madison advocates are still pushing for Wisconsin to join other states that have relaxed their laws against pot.

"Once again, from the bottom up, we're seeing an upswing in activism," said Gary Storck, co-founder of the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a medical marijuana activist and patient.

On April 5, 1977, Madison voters passed what is now the nation's second-oldest municipal ordinance still on the books decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The binding referendum - which made its way onto the ballot after proponents obtained 8,800 signatures - went beyond an ordinance the City Council adopted just two months earlier by eliminating any penalty for private possession of small amounts of pot.

Minutes after the February law was adopted, "several persons lit up marijuana cigarets in a hallway outside the council chambers," the State Journal wrote at the time.

By the time Madison's referendum passed, five states - Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, Ohio and California - had decriminalized pot. Madison's ordinance also followed a similar measure in Ann Arbor, Mich., the oldest municipal decriminalization law still in existence.

"Relaxed Atmosphere"

Madison's ordinance 23.20 allows possession of up to 112 grams of marijuana - just under four ounces, or about 112 joints - or up to 28 grams of cannabis resin, or hashish, in a private place.

It prohibits possession in a public place without a prescription or order from a physician or other practitioner, violations of which are subject to a $109 fine. Selling the drug is also still prohibited.

But Madison police Lt. Sandy Theune, commander of the Dane County Drug Task Force, questions whether it would be appropriate for city police to say, "Hey, just feel free" - even in a private home.

"It's still not 100 percent legal," because of state and federal law, Theune said, but "I think it's pretty well known that there's something of a relaxed atmosphere about marijuana in Madison."

Still, Theune said, police are likely to confiscate marijuana, and, depending on the circumstances, could seek to press charges under state law. "There's not always a black-and-white answer to what will an officer do."

"It depends on who it is . . . on both sides," said Ben Masel, a fixture on the marijuana legalization front for decades.

Discretion ultimately rests with the district attorney's office, which determines whether to file charges under state law. In March, District Attorney Brian Blanchard, citing a lack of resources, said his office will no longer file criminal charges against individuals possessing less than 25 grams of marijuana - just under an ounce, or about 25 joints.

Public use has declined dramatically in Madison in the years since the passage of the city ordinance decriminalizing pot, as federal authorities have continued to crack down on marijuana as part of the "war on drugs," Storck said.

"Back then, Madison was a lot more free about cannabis," he said, adding that it was common to walk into the Memorial Union Rathskeller and find people smoking pot in a corner. "Everybody was doing it."

Anniversary

But not everybody agreed on its effect.

Despite a national task force report in 1972 that recommended decriminalizing pot for personal use, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has steadfastly opposed relaxing the law.

Such moves, the DEA said, would hurt children and public safety by creating increased dependency and treatment needs and open the door to the use of other drugs, while increasing health risks, delinquent behavior and impaired driving. It also argues that the potency of marijuana today is much greater than it was in the 1970s.

Advocates such as Storck counter that there was potent pot back then, and he likened responsible marijuana use by adults to using alcohol or tobacco.

Storck is hoping the anniversary of Madison's ordinance will renew debate, as well as support for changing state law.

About 50 people attended a 30th anniversary celebration of the ordinance last week at a Williamson Street cafe.

The commemoration was marked not with raucous chants or demonstrations, but with a PowerPoint presentation on events leading up to passage of the law. A band performed "cannabis tunes," including Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" with the popular refrain "everybody must get stoned" for the laid-back audience, some of whom stepped outside to smoke pot.

Despite federal prohibitions, other states and municipalities have followed in Madison's footsteps. Twelve states have now decriminalized marijuana for personal use, and 12 states - many of the same ones - have legalized marijuana for medical use.

There are now 29 bills pending in 19 states to decriminalize marijuana or allow its medical use, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML.

"Today is the busiest period ever in marijuana reform," St. Pierre said.

"Sky Has Not Fallen"

Madison's experience has played a role in the passage of marijuana reform in other cities and states, he said.

"The sky has not fallen," St. Pierre said. "They are still productive people. The children are born with 10 fingers and 10 toes."

A Zogby poll commissioned by NORML in March found that 49 percent of Americans supported removing criminal penalties for the personal use of marijuana by adults, while 48 percent were opposed. The telephone survey of 1,078 likely voters nationwide was conducted Feb. 22-24. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

In Wisconsin, Storck said, "There's some very hopeful things happening."

Last year, then-Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, introduced a medical marijuana bill after he was diagnosed with cancer, but the bill did not make it out of committee in the Republican-controlled chamber. This year, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said he plans to join Rep. Frank Boyle, D-Superior, in introducing similar legislation.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said he plans to hold a hearing on medical marijuana in the Democratic-led Senate this fall.

But Rep. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Health and Healthcare Reform, said she will continue her opposition to medical marijuana because of concerns about its safety.

Vukmir, a nurse, said she believes it is better for patients to use medications that have been approved or may soon be available than to have people grow their own marijuana.

"I will refuse to put members through the circus of a hearing for a bill that is not going to go anywhere," Vukmir said. "This is nothing more than a backdoor attempt to legalize marijuana, which is not going to happen on my watch."