The War on Pot: America's $42 Billion Annual Boondoggle
Submitted by lastmovement on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 05:32
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....
..................
"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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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!
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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
.
.
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.
Sarge, honest "I only held it in my hand"
the smoke that left my mouth back in the day was because it was cold on that particular day. Should I run for office now?
PS. What the hell is scrunched? lol
Become a fan: www.facebook.com/dailypaul
Wondering the same:
What the heck is "scrunched?"
Bob W., Naples, FL
Laugh
Thats what I was wonderin', about scrunched.
How many people fit into a Volkswagan Beatle I guess.
Correction
"Volkswagen Beetle"
scrunched
I think he means scootched.
Which begs the question
what is scootched (with respect to the righteous herb)?
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
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
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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
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THE MORE I LEARN ABOUT GOVERNMENT
THE MORE I LOVE MY GUNS
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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
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...
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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.
Legalize
Stop the drug war now. Currently, we are in 300 countries waging this draconian invasion. Legalize. Also, familiarize yourself with Codex and help the Canadians fight repression to access locally grown foods.
Same lies as war on drugs, they're calling "herbs" drugs across the board.
"Make food thy medicine, and medicine thy food", and your use of drugs of any kind will diminish because the body is not aggravated by raw foods as are cooked (altered) foods which are denatured.
Going raw, or at least 50 t0 80% raw, is a very powerful statement, and here I go, a sign of a superior understanding of health opposed to a cooked food regime. And I do used the word "cooked food regime" (agribusiness creating foods for longer shelf life) . They want the "patent" rights to our food, air and water.
Yes the government hates plants
because they can't patent them. That's the reason they add chemicals to plant-based medicines, so they can then patent them which then makes the plant toxic and gives side effects. What a waste.
It is said that within the plants in the rainforest there is a cure for everything.
Did anyone see the documentary on IFC about Russell Simmons' fight in New York to free the people imprisoned by Rockefeller's Drug laws? He did manage to get 1 person free...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-papa/ifc-filmrussell-s...
Stop the drug war?
What? you know that the mob loves the "war (a tax-free monopoly), the Narcs love it (jobs, jobs, grants and jobs!), the whiskey industry love the war (no need to have a competitor for getting relaxation), the pols love the war (a ready made issue for further control over the folks who simply can't control themselves), the prison industry loves the war (jobs, etc.), and all those people, likely the majority, of our Nanny-minded citizens, who find nothing more upsetting than someone, somewhere, enjoying themselves). Drugs will never be legalized, let alone decriminalized. Too many people lose too much for them to be concerned about a few "pot-heads".
Stirner.
you broke the code!!!
exactly........it's called job creation
In my pessimistic mindset I would agree, but...
What gives me hope is that the concern of all of those you just mentioned who profit off the war is not merely a few potheads anymore. I totally agree they don't give a rat's ass about people who are calling for recreational use, but the issue is part of something bigger and much more anathema to their current policies: state's rights. Patient's rights. The complete PR nightmare that is medical marijuana patients denied their medicine and made criminals in the eyes of the feds. Not to mention the continued strategic fuck-ups concerning attempts to demonize marijuana to high schoolers (pot ads, those delightful comedic shorts). Not to mention the majority of the American public does not believe pot is all that dangerous. Education and the assertion of state's rights are probably what's going to win this thing in the long run, assuming our country doesn't fuck itself up its own ass before imploding in a brilliant dark blaze of economic disaster and overseas hyper-extension.
Uh, oh. Here it comes on the left-hand side...
For liberty!! *gong*
For liberty!! *gong*
Your Number Is Too Low
10.7 billion must be the federal cost, not state or local. You can't arrest and incarcerate 800,000 people for 10 billion - at least not the way government spends money. It must be the federal cost and doesn't include the state of Illinois' cost, or Cook county's cost, or the city of Chicago's cost.
Where does the other 31 billion come from? Lost taxes from the incarcerated doesn't count the lost taxes of people who have tired of peeing in cups and have gone to cash work or low paying jobs (or both).
Does it factor in those who've lost federal aid in the course of a pot conviction and had to drop out of college? This is about 150,000 students a year who must take low wage jobs for lack of a degree.
Does that figure include the costs of prison building, or associated costs of letting real criminals out of prison. For every pothead in prison, there is a child molester, robber, or murderer who is let out early to make the space.
Does it back figure the 8-10 billion in annual property seizures? Remember a pot conviction can result in the loss of your home, your car(s), your bank accounts - not to mention your children.
Needless to say, I think the marijuana laws in the country are absolutely stupid. They are based on nothing, are are no more than an excuse to persecute those who's lifestyles aren't in sync with being a good corporate worker drone, and an excuse to shred the 4th amendment.
42 billion is just the tip of the iceberg.
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The way I
Look at it, is.... The government is in bed with big business and the big pharmacutical companies. They dont want you to ease your pain or get a better nights sleep, or be stress free. They got pills for that they will sell you. Its all a racket. You have insurance, which rapes your pay check, they force you to see a doctor, (co-pay) then the doctor prescribes you the drug, which later could cause more problems to your health. You will go back to see the doc. Hell, half the stuff they prescribe causes more side effects than you can count. They got a system. They make more money by keeping it illegal, Cops, courts, judges, lawyers, bailsbondsman, counselers, doctors, jails, prisons, contracted jobs for prisons, advertising, media, ect. The list goes on and on. Still think they will legalize?
oh please, I think the big
oh please, I think the big pharm companies would love nothing more than to get a share of the pot pie.
It's still illegal because of a massive perception problem: Joe Lawmaker thinks that the pro-pot movement is a bunch of hippies who want to smoke their pot in peace, no credibility for changing the law.
There are dozens of good arguments for legalizing pot (prisons can focus on more dangerous criminals, people will get more legit jobs, cops can focus on more dangerous criminals, more money for the government from taxation & reduced enforcement).
I mean, it took a whole movement a decade to change the perception that blacks aren't inferior to whites, and it STILL persists today in some circles.
Are You Kidding?
Do you actually think the big pharmacutical companies want a plant which can be grown in your back yard, that has a multitude of uses, ie painkiller, anti-depressant, nerve medication, appetite stimulant, sexual enhancer, sleep aid, ect.. I dont think so. People might just stop taking the pharmacuticals poisons then. Why would people buy it from them anyway, when they could just grow it themselves? Plus, it would be hard to regulate and it would do away with the money making aspect of keeping it illegal as mentioned in the above post. The drug war is stupid. They call you a criminal if you smoke pot and lock you up and then guess what?... the prisons are full of drugs. If they cant keep the drugs out of the prisons, then whats the point?
it was origionally
Fortune Favors the Bold
The Dupont Corporation who pushed for the marijuana prohbition. They had patented a chemical process to make paper, and at the time, their biggest rival was hemp based paper.
Fortune Favors the Bold
I have to disagree with you
I have to disagree with you benkmann and here is my reasoning.
You can't grow prozac or demirol out of the ground. If pot were legal, you could grow it in your back yard making it harder to tax and much much harder for Big Pharma to get a slice of the pie.....just two of many reasons why it is illegal.
SAME REASON Vitamins, Hemp,&
SAME REASON Vitamins, Hemp,& Herbs will never be approved.
Hemp has COD witch blocks Thc. Its anti-weed. What are the uses of hemp? Clothes, Gas, ETC..
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Freedom For Life
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Freedom For Life
i respectfully disagree
hemp is the American word for marijuana which is Spanish.
don't let them fool you into thinking Washington and Jefferson were growing non-medicinal hemp. as far as i can tell hemp was hemp be it medical or industrial it was all called hemp!
“Speaking generally, the Commission are of the opinion that the moderate use of hemp drugs appears to cause no appreciable physical injury of any kind.” - Indian Hemp Drugs Commission 1893-1894
"Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere." George Washington
"Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." George Washington Diary Entry, May 12 , 1765
"Began to separate the Male from the Female hemp at Muddy hole-rather too late." George Washington Diary Entry, August 7, 1765
“Certainly no good reason can be assigned why the Hemp of New Zealand should not thrive with us, as that country lyes [sic] in about the same Southern lati-tude that our middle States do in the Northern. The Hemp of the East Indies grows well here from my own experience and I have no doubt of the Tea plant suc-ceeding in So. Carolina and Georgia.” LETTER FROM PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO JOHN SINCLAIR December 10, 1796
"Hemp is of the first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country." Thomas Jefferson
"If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny. " Thomas Jefferson
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Ron Paul Supporter Since 1997
“We have allowed our nation to be over taxed and over regulated and overrun by bureaucrats, the founders would be ashamed of us for what were putting up with” Ron Paul
----------------
Ron Paul Supporter Since 1997
"If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."
Thomas Jefferson
George was separating his
George was separating his males and females down at Muddy Hole because the males produce seeds. This is not smokable and not separating them can ruin an entire crop of smokable weed. There are several strains it just depends on what you're growing it for. If you grow it for the stalks you end up with a plant that is leafy but with few buds. It all depends on how you grow and the environment in which it's grown. The amount of light and the light cycles can change the plant dramatically. Any strain can be tailored to a particular use. The finest females will be good for medicinal use. The seed producing males good for bio-diesel. The stalks can be used to building materials, fabric, and paper. The remnants from whatever you grow can be fermented and used to make ethanol. The hemp nuts, that is the part inside of the seed contains everything the body needs to sustain nutritional diet
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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."