Pompo

Smoking Dope, Drinking Wine and Paying 90% Income Taxes
3/20/09|Huffington Post| by Michael B. Laskoff



The power of ideas is nothing against the power of the purse.

Those of us born in the mid-Sixties can be forgiven for not understanding this. I was seven years old when the oil-embargo started; I was thirteen when Iran seized the hostages. My formative years were spent watching the Republican revolution in action -- Reagan, Bush (the elder), Clinton (Democrat but not leftist) and and Bush (the prodigal son). Throughout that period, the Republican playbook set the rules: the Laffer Curve, family values, No Child Left Behind and mission accomplished. If you were a fundamentalist -- someone who believes in making what you dislike illegal -- or a fiscal conservative -- someone who does not understand that taxes a necessity of free society, then this was the golden age. Of course, it was also a house of cards built on dogma.

Liberal thinking is not going to remedy any of that, but the requirement for change brought upon by economic collapse will make a difference. Naturally, this will be in the name of counter-counter-revolution; and it won't be linear or always produce a sensible outcome. Just watch the farce in action. Hence, the very same Republicans that complain about a war on the rich on Fox News joined Democrats to pass a ridiculously piece of legislation to punish the AIG bonus recipients. The intent is right, but Congressional action at this point is all about finding a scapegoat, other than Barney Frank. If Congress wants to make a grand gesture, I'd suggest mass resignation.

What we need to do is get realistic, which will be fun in some ways. Cannabis is on the verge of legality: not because of its proven medical benefits for cancer patients nor its limited harm (when compared to alcohol). Not even Bill Maher's begging and pleading can be credited. The reason that this overdue, sensible change to national mores will occur is that the country needs the tax receipts. Fortunately, fuller coffers won't be the only benefit: we'll suspend one segment of the drug war, which will save a whole lot of wasted money and effort. Of course, smugglers will require fewer illegal arms! Meanwhile, the very same people who are already smoking black market weed will be forced to switch to more expensive, safer marijuana, which is produced in regulated conditions. "Conservative" prejudices aside, does all of this really sound so bad? (And no, legalizing pot does not mean that heroin is next.)

And from there, we're only a short-step to other practical steps like the lowering of the drinking age. I hadn't thought much about this until I watched the Colbert Report last night and saw John McCardell, the former president of Middlebury College talk intelligently about the fact that raising the Legal Drinking Age did a lot of harm. Yet, it lowered the number of teens who drive while drinking, which is good thing. (MADD is to be credited with the pragmatic idea of the designated driver.) But it also drove the problem under ground, making teen drinking just as prevalent but less regulated and perhaps even more risky. And so, it's perhaps time to admit that changing the law didn't eradicate the problem; it made it just made it harder to see. Perhaps there is a better way. Maybe we should discuss it.

Change is always scary, but if confronting reality is one of the outcomes, we may end up better off.

SleepyJohn

It's kinda scary, When Money Walks, and Science Talks. The dollar bill:"In God We Trust". I guess We know what they meant by that.On the usual Posts, they lump marijuana in to the deadly Narcotics bin. Now they've put it in there with alcohol. Well that, higher taxes, and a bottle of cheap wine,marijuana, and a little grub,makes life more endurable. Forget the harmless prisoners.Drunk driving,as long as We can have some vino,pot,and a Tax relief, how bad could life get? (A War In Iraq?)

SleepyJohn

I've changed. Booo are You scared? In Posts that usually lump marijuana,in to the narcotics bin, Now we got an almost positive one(1) putting it in the Safe Money Taxation file. What's with good taxes, on a harmless plant, that puts harmless people in prison, for it's use. BUT, with an OK with some wine,some heavy taxes, some of these ex politicians are going for a bill, that will be vetoed, even though it's presenter, was voted out of office,and,the Governor will make it go away.

Buzzby

I guess he just didn't think it through. 90% of the cost of black market marijuana is due to its illegality. If they charged more for legal marijuana, the black market would go on supplying illegal marijuana, perhaps at a discount (which it could well afford).

If it's ridiculous to tax AIG executives 90% of their ill-gotten bonuses, why isn't it ridiculous to tax marijuana users 90% on their weed?

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marcusJay

And if legal weed is the same price as black market weed, how then do you get rid of the criminal element?
As far as the AIG bonuses, if the people who got the bonuses had already negotiated that bonus into their contracts in a legit manner, then they deserve it.

Frylok

I guess the author doesn't understand the principles of a free market society. If black market weed were cheaper than the weed I can buy at the store, I'm buying the black market weed. Or better yet, I'm growing my own and not paying squat.

I didn't like the tone of this article much, it made me feel like I was being talked down to. I don't like that.

quickie

Someone correct me if I am wrong here BUT if they made pot legal it doesn't necessarily mean it would be legal to grow. I know for a fact that tobacco is legal but I can't go out and just start planting tobacco. The gov't regulates the production. I live in a tobacco producing state and can tell you you have to get gov't permission to grow. They only allocate X number of acres to tobacco production. Once those acres are parceled out to the farmers no one else is permitted to grow it.

marcusJay

You have to have the tobacco allotment in order to produce tobacco commercially.

Frylok

Well, running a still is illegal too, but there are thousands in operation. And lets say you got caught growing pot in a legalized pot world, how hard do you think the law would come down on you? Better yet, what would be the motivation for Law Enforcement to go out and look for grow ops in the first place? If it's legalized we will grow it, and even if the original law said no personal cultivation, it'd just be a matter of time before that was overturned through appeal or law.

If I can legally grow opium poppies and tobacco, tell me why I can't grow my own cannabis...