The War on Pot: America's $42 Billion Annual Boondoggle
What would you buy if you had an extra $42 billion to spend every year? What might our government buy if it suddenly had that much money dropped onto its lap every year?
For one thing, it might pay for the entire $7 billion annual increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program that President Bush is threatening to veto because of its cost -- and there'd still be $35 billion left over.
Or perhaps you'd hire 880,000 schoolteachers at the average U.S. teacher salary of $47,602 per year.
Or give every one of our current teachers a 30 percent raise (at a cost of $15 billion, according to the American Federation of Teachers) and use what's left to take a $27 billion whack out of the federal deficit.
Or use all $42 billion for a massive tax cut that would put an extra $140 in the pockets of every person in the country -- $560 for a family of four.
The mind reels at the ways such a massive sum of money could be put to use.
Why $42 billion? Because that's what our current marijuana laws cost American taxpayers each year, according to a new study by researcher Jon Gettman, Ph.D. -- $10.7 billion in direct law enforcement costs, and $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues. And that may be an underestimate, at least on the law enforcement side, since Gettman made his calculations before the FBI released its latest arrest statistics in late September. The new FBI stats show an all-time record 829,627 marijuana arrests in 2006, 43,000 more than in 2005.
http://ronpaulforum.info/index.php?topic=282.new#new
Sure, sure
Don't worry, friends. President Obama will decriminalize it in his first 100 days. It's a top, top, TOP priority item! And after all, he smoked it in his youth, as did our current and previous president.
Hey, if it's good enough for the President....
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"The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic..." —Alan Moore
Kind of reminds me of 2006
Kind of reminds me of 2006 when Dems called for an end to the Iraq war and impeachment.... It's almost believable but not quite.
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"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it."
First, and formost,
kill the taxes and let us keep our own money.
Second, get the feds out of our schools! They have been dumbing down our kids AND teachers for years by way of regulations.
Third, let freedom ring all over the nation. The prisons are huge momeymakers for corporations friendly to fed govt. THAT's why the laws were created. Shut 'em down except for "real" criminals and for some reason I believe we could all name the "newbees".
Fourth, the fed govt is the biggest drug dealer and this whole system was designed around that.
All theses ideas for how *government* might use that money!
Just don't spend it at all. It's our money, let us keep it!
New Hampshire and Ecuador
Ah...but you forgot to factor in forfeiture
.
Your Skin Produces Marijuana-Like Substance
Marijuana-like substances made by the skin are necessary for a healthy complexion, a new study concludes.
Back up. We've got pot growing out of our skin?
http://waronyou.com/forums/index.php?topic=468.0
http://myspace.com/staxbrix
http://www.mrmusicworld.com/?q=audio/user/2
.
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Ron Paul or no one at all!
Did it include jail costs?
Does the $42 billion include the cost of jailing all the non-violent drug offenders who didn't sell to minors? Turning them all loose would save a lot of bucks.
What would happen
if they turned all those people loose? Un-employment would go up, prison guards would be laid off and prisoners wouldn't be able to get a job due to their record.
Maybe, we could replace the prisoners with all the corrupt officials that have put us in this predicament...
They could get a job
if the records were wiped clean. Maybe, they would take some of the jobs the illegals are taking? I like the part of throwing the corrupt traitors in prison, hey, I got it! Put ALL the prisoners making ROPE. Got rope?
Two Links
I've posted these before, but I'll trot 'em out again for this thread:
Hemp for Victory
A great little short put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, touting all the benefits of hemp and urging farmers to grow more of this crop. (Did I mention it was put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture?)
And here's a bouncy little tune to dance to as you practice your goose step:
Drug War
I post these as I finish off my perfectly legal tumbler of rum and cranberry juice at home...
Just one puff to make the
Just one puff to make the worry go away.
I
Have never toked,smoked,puffed, nor scrunched. Never got into Maryjane. Don't really care for the stuff. Have not touched any drug's. Guess then where my stance on illegal marijuanas is......OK I'll tell. I am all for legalization of the good stuff. Why? Individual responsibility. Just because I don't want to partake in the high times should affect others. That why I like Ron Paul.
Another thing. Why if the stuff is illegal is it then paraded in major media and films as the coolest thing to do? Another plot against the sheep. Dumbing down America with good times.
Did a search on YouTube and found this
Was searching YouTube for ron paul marijuana and found this amongst the normal stuff.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I03RYoa5qKk
The People's President
Ron Paul R[̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦̲̅]ution 2012
Pot questions for our candidates
While society has a self-evident interest to discourage abuse, what is the rationale for punishing a responsible adult using marijuana in the privacy of their own home and what should the penalty be?
If you make a distinction that the responsible use of alcohol is different than abuse, why can't you make the same distinction with marijuana?
Al Gore, John Kerry Barak Obama, and George Bush all smoked pot in their past, would society been better served had we arrested them for their youthful indiscretions involving pot? If not, should others people that have been arrested for pot use be pardoned or released from jail?
Tobacco use has dropped in half since 1970, without arresting a single smoker and not using the criminal justice system. Why can't a similar policy be instituted for pot, where we discourage it's use by young people will allowing responsible adult use?
What is specifically wrong with legally treating pot like alcohol, with similar age and use restrictions?
Why specifically, when alcohol and tobacco are taxed and legal for adults is marijuana still illegal?
Alcohol prohibition was a public policy disaster which resulted in an increase of crime, violence and public corruption, we have the same results yet prohibition remains in place after almost 70 years?
If alcohol prohibition didn't work, why do you believe marijuana prohibition will work?
Personal experience tells me
that the powers that be do not want people using marijuana becasue it mellows them out. The powers that be would rather have us jacked up on speed (sugar, caffeine, nicotine, methamphetamine, etc.) because it puts us in a more agitated state, whereby they can get us fighting amongst ourselves. I also believe that the large-scale cultivation of hemp would wean us from being depenent on oil and petrochemical products, which is one of the industries that facilitates the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
We need to draft L.E.A.P. into the RPR
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
These guys were on the front lines of "the drug war" and have seen what a farce it is. Some of their testimonies make very powerful arguments.
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"My role in the revolution is to wake up the lemmings of this country, who sit back and accept the pablum the media feeds them"
Jesse Ventura
Ventura/Paul 2008
http://www.gopetition.com/online/19815.html
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The Second Amendment
The ORIGINAL Homeland Security
bookmarked
Cool and woah... $27,167,397,898
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
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"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it."
good article
The Perils of Potent Pot
Is better marijuana really worse for you?
Jacob Sullum | June 18, 2008
According to federal drug czar John Walters, the marijuana available in the United States is better than ever. Well, that's not quite the way he put it, but it's closer to the truth.
read the rest here: http://www.reason.com/news/show/127058.html
THE MORE I LEARN ABOUT GOVERNMENT
THE MORE I LOVE MY GUNS
FourWindsTradingPost
THE MORE I LEARN ABOUT GOVERNMENT
THE MORE I LOVE MY GUNS
FourWindsTradingPost
this music video
Fortune Favors the Bold
on the subject always makes me tear up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaMBEIM0kM
Fortune Favors the Bold
Hemp oil
Cure for cancer ?
http://www.phoenixtearsmovie.com/
I think once we dare connect all the dots we will overcome and triumph
"Obamney care," Nuff said.
My wife and I were watching
My wife and I were watching a show last night about Gangs and Drugs inside prisons. She made a very good connection. "If we can't keep drugs out of maximum security prison, how can we expect to keep them off the streets. The 'war on drugs' is so damned stupid."
What a failure
The war on drugs is lost. We put non-violent criminals such as drug offenders into a violent society and force them to use violence to survive, we release them back into our society and expect that to be beneficial. I mean please can't the majority of the public see the ills in this madness. I say we stop punishing them and start helping them. We totally screw up their lives and then wonder why they keep going through the cycle. I live in central Pa we have a local radio station wkok 1070 AM. The' On The Mark' morning talk show from 9am to 10am allows us to voice our opinions on issues like these. I call in all the time I think I'm gaining ground on this issue. Please help me defend these issues if you live in central Pa.
Im from central PA. Lock
Im from central PA. Lock Haven area. We should protest outside a prison or something...
it's for your own good...
really
Yeah
Right.
I've never touched drugs in
I've never touched drugs in my life, but I basically despise the drug laws. That's probably because I love freedom so much. Who are they to tell others what they can and can't consume into their bodies.
Prison should be for people who hurt other people, not for people who hurt themselves. In "the land of the free" people ought to be able to hurt themselves if they choose to do so.
Regarding the billions in expenses saved, that should be returned to the taxpayers in the form of tax cuts. The people who earn it should be the ones to decide how they spend it.
...
Drugs?
The sad thing is, we're talking about Drug laws, and mixing it up with a naturally growing God given plant for humanity. It's one thing for man to make horrible chemicals that kill, its a completely different story when it is a God given plant that hasn't directly caused any deaths. Tobacco kills hundreds of thousands, Alcohol kills a few less I'm sure, Pot? Well it doesn't kill anyone, but it gives the government one more enemy to lock up. I think if your driving stoned then it should still be Driving Under the Influence, or DUI in Oklahoma, but in your own home, on your own property? Ridiculous.
If God says it is good, then I believe that it is good.
Genesis
1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Pretty crazy
We can buy toxic food, alcohol, dangerous pharms, all from these very big and powerful corporations........but nothing natural; insane! I'm starting to think that they want people sick.............hmmmmmmmmmm. One can't get a patent on a natural product......wonder if that has something to do with it.
Bob W., Naples, FL
What is really
disgusting is anyone can go home from work and drink a six pack or maybe more, or do many other hard drugs on the weekend and pass a drug test Monday morning. But if you smoke a couple joints on vacation or take a toke after work on occasion they can be tested and lose their job a month later. Maybe pot stays in the system so long because it is natural an the body does not react to it as a toxin therefore does not try to expell it. I am on prescription drugs for epilepsy that unpredictably give me, blurred vision, speech problems,and all kinda fun stuff. If pot would fix it. I would do it . I mean Cmon alchohal causes a multitude of health, domestic, and dangers to society. Putting pot in the same category with other drugs is ridiculous. You just don't see pot feinds running around robbing and killing for their next fix. Most of the time they don't even want to drive. They would rather chill out listen to music munch out and take nap.Some people are running around out there with caffiene madness.