WNB

Legalize it?
The Arizona Daily Wildcat | Norml.org | 10/3/2005

BLAME DRUG SUPPLIERS, NOT USERS.

Marijuana shouldn't be illegal because it is dangerous ( it's not ), and it shouldn't be illegal because it's a "gateway drug" ( it's not ). It should be illegal because of what it does to Latin America.

It is an undeniable fact that every time someone buys marijuana, they are helping to fund a horrifically bloody civil war in Latin America that's been going on for decades. Thanks to Americans' drug money, it shows no signs of stopping.

Tom O'Connor, a prominent criminal justice professor at North Carolina Wesleyan College, states on his Web site that 90 percent of the marijuana in the United States is from Latin America.

This high demand has given rise to several suppliers, the most vile of those being the FARC ( Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia ).

FARC is a drug-funded terrorist organization that is so out of control that, according to O'Connor, they don't even try to conceal their kidnappings anymore; they simply refer to them as "taxes. " This is what America's quest to get high has wrought.

One could make the argument that if marijuana were legal, it would be sold by legitimate businesses who wouldn't buy it from Latin American drug cartels, but this is incorrect for two reasons.

First, legalization wouldn't stop the flow of illegal marijuana into the United States; if anything, it would make it flow faster and harder.

This is because legitimate businesses, if allowed to sell marijuana in America, would have to follow all of the U.S. business laws that the drug cartels laugh at. The price of legal marijuana would then skyrocket compared to its illegal counterpart.

For example, would you buy American-made marijuana from RJ Reynolds at $300 an ounce, or would you buy illegal Latin American marijuana from RJ the drug dealer at a tiny fraction of that price?

Enough people would choose RJ the drug dealer over RJ Reynolds that it would make legally selling marijuana a non-profitable venture and the drug lords would keep on laughing maniacally all the way to the bank.

Second, this argument assumes that the companies who choose to go into the marijuana business ( and I'm not talking about landscaping ) will refuse to purchase their product from the cartels. This is giving profit-driven entities way too much credit.

The history of Americans buying products from companies who procured their wares in less than savory ways ( oil, coffee, cotton, et al. ) is long and disgraceful. Just as Exxon and Unocal buy oil from Saudi Arabia and pretend not to notice the decapitations, marijuana companies will buy from Latin America without a second thought.

Marijuana should stay illegal because America shouldn't throw in the towel in the War on Drugs, not when that would be a huge boon to some of the most despicable people on earth.

Instead it should end its futile and punitive war against drug consumers in the north and take the war to the real enemies - the drug suppliers down south.

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THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IS LONG OVERDUE.

The mere fact that there is no reason to keep the drug illegal is reason enough to legalize it. Just look at the most common arguments put forth by the "marijuana is the devil's harvest" enthusiasts.

First, it is contended that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that often leads to heroin, cocaine or other, harder drugs. Anti-drug advocates use the fact that most users of heavier drugs have tried marijuana as proof.

Ridiculous. By this logic, the same argument could be made to make alcohol illegal, because a vast majority of heavier-drug users consumed alcohol before moving on to harder drugs.

Second, physical damage done to users that abuse the drug and other dangers would be increased.

Hypocritical. According to the editors of the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet, "It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat ... than alcohol or tobacco."

Furthermore, a federally commissioned report by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine states, "Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications." Cigarettes are legal in this country, so clearly the effects of the smoke are not enough to justify prohibition.

The strongest case for marijuana legalization, however, is sheer economics. According to the NORML Report on Sixty Years of Marijuana Prohibition in the U.S., the arrest and prosecution of more than 700,000 people on marijuana charges ( close to 90 percent of which for possession alone ) cost taxpayers between $7.5 billion and $10 billion annually.

If marijuana were legalized, not only would taxpayers no longer have to pay for such needless processes, but private firms would also spring up, sell marijuana, turn a profit and return tax revenues to the government. Just as cigarettes and alcohol generate enormous tax revenues, marijuana would do the same.

And for those concerned profits are going back to drug lords in Colombia, don't be. As it stands, marijuana bought today already drives demand that supports Latin American terrorist organizations such as FARC, but legalized marijuana will curtail this demand.

Think of legalized marijuana in terms of the oil trade. Currently, the United States is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, which is widely seen as a huge problem. But had the Middle East been, say, Canada, no such problem would exist, and instead of constantly seeking to diversify, America would have been satisfied in dealing with its laid back neighbor to the north.

The same goes for marijuana. As new companies emerge, of course they will look first to Latin America, but the political consequences of such an action will soon catch up to them.

The result: a massive search to diversify, which, unlike oil, is accomplished much easier in the field of marijuana. Then, over time, marijuana will be produced domestically, and the power of the Latin American drug cartels will diminish.

Thus, keeping marijuana illegal is absurd. We must legalize marijuana immediately and begin "reefing" the benefits today.

__________________
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

medicineman

I think they should legalize it or at least grant doctors the right to prescribe it

Tokamak

First, legalization wouldn't stop the flow of illegal marijuana into the United States; if anything, it would make it flow faster and harder.

This is because legitimate businesses, if allowed to sell marijuana in America, would have to follow all of the U.S. business laws that the drug cartels laugh at. The price of legal marijuana would then skyrocket compared to its illegal counterpart.

For example, would you buy American-made marijuana from RJ Reynolds at $300 an ounce, or would you buy illegal Latin American marijuana from RJ the drug dealer at a tiny fraction of that price?

Enough people would choose RJ the drug dealer over RJ Reynolds that it would make legally selling marijuana a non-profitable venture and the drug lords would keep on laughing maniacally all the way to the bank.

This argument is total bullsh*t. Marijuana costs $300 an oz. BECAUSE IT IS ILLEGAL! The inflated price is a side effect of pot's black market status. If it were legalized, the price would drop almost instantly for several reasons:

1) Increased production: There wouldn't be anymore 30 plant covert grow-ops. You would buy pot grown in vast 1000-acre fields in Kansas or huge industrial hydroponic greenhouses. Pot is the dried flowers of a weed. Fresh long stem roses, which are much harder to grow and transport, are still less that $20 per dozen at your local grocery store.

2) The laws of supply and demand: Demand is very high right now, but supply is relatively low due to the fact that pot must be grown and transported in secret. As per reason #1 above, legalization would saturate the market with cheap, commercially grown pot, thus increasing the supply. Competition among producers will force the price down. All one needs to look at for an example of this is wheat or corn. Anyone ever pay $300 an oz. for some Unbleached Whole Wheat Flour? I don't think so.

3) Government business regulations: Pot is currently supplied by people who can engage in price gouging, extortion, monopolization, and other business practices that will be done away with (to some extent) once pot is a legal commodity. Plus, Joe Potfarmer won't need a militia of Mexican guerillas with AK-47s to protect his fields and the trucks that transport his produce. Is plant theft a large problem in tobacco fields? No.

Whoever wrote this piece of garbage obviously never paid attention in his high school economics class. Or maybe he was just too stoned to remember any of it?

Peace.

__________________
"He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know."
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

self_medicator

Of course everyone on this site will not agree with the Pro-Prohibitionist, Tom O'Connor, but I want to comment on one item: his claim that "90 percent of the marijuana in the United States is from Latin America". Where does he get these figures?

I found the article mentioned on his web site ()http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/pol/495lect06.htm . If you read further down the page, he says that for 40 years, 95% of pot in the US came from Mexico (Latin America). He then says that number was cut in half since 1990 due to good 'ol American domestic cultivation (so it would be about 47.5%). Then he says the Columbians never really got into pot due to its bulk and that most of the imported pot still comes from Mexico and some from Canada.

So, where does he get this 90% figure stated at the beginning of his article??


And, who would pay his hypothetical price of $300/ounce from RJ Reynolds when you could plant a few seeds in your back yard and easily get several ounces for the price of watering and fertilizing? If pot was produced commercially and processed in a factory, there's NO WAY, it would cost $300/ounce.

PotShot

90% of U.S. pot comes from south american cartels? Dude, WTF???

And legalization will INCREASE the price of pot? Once again, Dude, WTF???

People need to remember that cannabis is a PLANT, which can be grown almost ANYWHERE. It is not some exotic drug that needs to produced in south american cartel factories.
Even if "90%" of the pot consumed in the U.S. came from Latin America, full legalization would mean that every U.S. citizen who enjoys pot could just GROW IT THEMSELVES. This would completely undercut foriegn importers.

Of course I do not believe we get most of our pot from foriegn importers, I believe that we supply most of our pot ourselves. This has been a increasing trend as indoor growing methods become more and more sophisticated. Personal growing of pot would certainly reduce the cost dramatically lower than current black market levels. And if legal pot was, as this dimwit projects, 300/oz due to government hinderances and regulations, that would be something that the government would have to change.

LEGALIZE IT!!!!!11!!!oneoneone((4*3/2)-5)eleventyone!!!!

__________________

Carl Sagan Goodness Richard Dawkins Goodness

rydenatty

This is why people need to smoke sticky sensimilla. No one ever heard of heady nuggets coming from latin america... only brown brick stems and seeds. Every time you buy headiez you are not funding a civil war in any foreign country... Unless there is one going on in Canada that we don't know about.
rydenatty
organicsLab.com

"the more herb man smoke, the more babylon will fall" -bob marley