The way to fund all the bailouts!

 

The way to….

Fund all the Bailouts

 

                The great thing about this country is everyone can have an opinion. You don’t have to worry about the secret police on the street corner pulling you into a van if you yell, “The government sucks rocks!” Say what you want about America, (and you could say a lot because we do tend to mess up something as simple as boiling water or making ice) but for the most part we get to do pretty much what we want.

                What I want to exercise my freedom of speech on today is a topic that needs to be discussed again because let’s face it, our governments, both state and local, couldn’t manage money if their lives depended on it. (Unfortunately, ours do…) Our coffers need cash, our citizens need healthcare and in some cases food. Our children need education, we all need jobs or better ones,  and while many of our citizens much smarter than me can come up with a dozen different ideas, the one I want to revisit is the legalizing of marijuana.

                Wow! I can already hear the uproar of the masses. The stoner’s yelling “yeah!” The moral majority screaming “Hang him!” Listen, I am (barely) a middle class, middle age, white guy with two teenagers and a mortgage. It’s been 25 years since I was at the frat house looking for a doobie, but I do have a friend that has not grown up and listening to him I know the finance of the current market. Here is my argument for legalization.

                An ounce of marijuana, depending on the quality, goes for anywhere from $350.00 to $550.00. I’m sure there are different price ranges out there around the country and also for different potency, but for this discussion, we will use $450.00 as my example. Now I know that the THC is a lot higher than it was in the 80’s but that does not explain the reason that the cost is that high and inflation also doesn’t explain why I could buy an ounce for $50.00 back then. The cost is so high for a weed because the government drove up the price trying to fight it. Let’s be real people, if you are going to smoke it, you can find it. There is no possible way the government can win this battle. I know, I know. Some official will read this and comment on how the U.S. is winning the war on marijuana growers. Sure they are, but the rational minds question is… Will it take 40 more years and billions of more dollars that we could have used to help hungry children in Appalachia? Perhaps the money is better spent tracking down a weed than helping a homeless person in the city with their curable illness they are carrying around because they can’t afford the meds. Maybe something really radical, like funding an upgrade of our nations electrical grid!

                C’mon! Regulate it like you did tobacco for years. Tax the crap out of it! At $450.00 an oz, you could drop the price to $200.00 and still have a 50% tax rate on it. Bye, bye budget deficit. Hello surplus! Worried about impaired drivers? Driving under the influence is not just for drinking you know. Think about the good that would come from this:

1)      Crime would definitely take a hit. (No pun intended) Illegal aliens growing in our national forest and endangering our citizens using them would end. What need is there for a dangerous trafficking organization when the herb in question is now legal?

2)      Imagine the funds saved arresting, prosecuting, and housing marijuana offenders in jail where we the tax payer have to feed them and give them medical care. Wouldn’t you rather the police presence in your neighborhood be looking for home invaders, corner store robbers and violent criminals? (Hey, if you find a violent pot smoker take them out. I just think that does not fit the profile of the person looking to “get mellow”)

3)      We’ve already talked about the huge increases the public budget would receive from taxation. Making the politicians spend it wisely I’m sorry to say is a whole other issue.

4)      Research. Is it beneficial medically? How about any industrial uses? I mean other than clothing or rope? Check out this link to an article I found on a NORML site. http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7002

5)      I personally believe that if people had access to a legal alternative that would mellow them out, they would be less inclined to try something harder and more dangerous. A lot of people cannot stomach alcohol.

6)      Forest conservation. Did you know that the Department of Agriculture found that an acre of hemp produces the same amount of “pulp” that 4 acres of trees do? Consider the amount of paper products we use and do the math.

7)      Alternative fuels. Corn is for food people, hemp has 4 to 40 times the cellulose that corn stock does. Can you say methanol, and who knows what other kind of “nol” waits to be discovered.

I could continue to list reasons and you could too. We all know that in addition to never being able to “win the war on marijuana”; the American people are in far more danger from alcoholism and the pharmaceutical companies cranking out the pain killers that can be abused. 

Once again I have run out of steam from my soap box. There is much more to say but I’m sure my friends, co workers, and church family members will have an apoplexy when they find out I wrote this. I just get tired of my government spending money on stupid things and then telling me that there is not enough for education or healthcare for those people that need it. I’m not talking about universal coverage or socialism. I’m just talking about those that are unfortunate enough to need some help and can’t get it because we spent that block of money trying to track down Jose’s plot in the national forest.

Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax the crap out of it!