Saving the Budget: The Case for Legalizing Marijuana

Imagine this: a plant with dozens of medicinal benefits which range from treating afflictions such as Alzheimer’s, migraines, ADHD, chronic pain and cancer. Amazingly, consumption of this plant has directly caused zero deaths in the thousands of years it has existed and has been used. The plant’s most common side effects typically include a strong desire to eat and then seriously consider taking a nap. However, since the most common method of consuming this incredible plant typically is by smoking it, it’s been deemed a serious hazard to us all.

I, of course, am speaking about marijuana, and that was just a brief highlight of the arguments in favor of medical marijuana, but we shouldn’t have to settle for medical marijuana. If you look closely, you’ll see that it could be one of the largest cash crops in America. Clearly as a nation, we should be pretty alright with it.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of the millions of dollars that this single plant attracts each and every year went into our communities and states? Instead the money goes down into the depths of the black market, never to return. The amount revenue that can be generated simply by abolishing a law that was proven to be entirely ineffective back in the 1930s is astonishing. Anyone who enjoys alcohol, no matter the quantity, should already be aware of that.

Just think about the millions we spend in taxpayer money on the failed “war on drugs.” Why are our schools, public works, and pensions suddenly on the fiscal chopping block, but nothing is being done about the atrocious waste of spending associated with enforcing these laws?

Prisons across the country would need significantly less funding, since they could stop detaining over one-eighth of the national prison population. One-eighth, that’s 45,000 Americans, the majority of which are non-violent offenders, yet we give them government funded housing for years at a time while at the same time ruining their chances at a real future.

So that’s just a quick glance at the national picture, now let’s consider our local communities. Think about the small businesses that can bloom from it, which we can already see taking place in states across the country that have already figured this all out.

Local farmers could prosper again (I read about us doing that once, many years ago) by granting the use of a single plant. Not only because of harvesting the flower but because the senseless ban on hemp could also be removed. Aside from the farmers, there’s the shops to sell it, the glass shops and artists (you can’t go to one of those shops and tell me what they do is not art) and yes, probably a bit of a boom in the sales at your local eateries.

This next part can’t be stressed enough, Tax it. Tax it at a high rate and please don’t hold back because there’s a lot of money to be made from it, and there is no reason there shouldn’t be. Tax it, I can’t say it enough. Tax it and put the money into the schools and public domain. Fix the busted roads with it, rebuild the state’s economy with it, because even taxed, it will still cost less to buy than it would cost on the black market.

Just look at Colorado, which last year collected more than 2 million dollars in sales tax from medical marijuana dispensaries. If we kept the money that was going into the black market, we would take away nearly 60 percent of the Mexican drug cartel’s total income. There are parts around the country now where minor possession is the equivalent to a parking ticket.

Now think about what just the tax revenue can do around our towns. We could fix the busted streets and sidewalks around the neighborhoods. Consider that vital road that has been closed for way too long can finally be finished or the slow weather response when that next big snow storm rolls around.

If every state had a new source of income, maybe they could stop resorting to creative income measures such as putting up orange cones on the highways just to label it a “work zone” in order to place speed cameras all over the place or building new highways with taxpayer dollars just to make a new toll to drive through or taxing snack foods or killing services that scores of people rely on in their daily lives.

Now I’m not saying that we should do away with drug education and give joints to children. I’m also not condemning anyone who smokes tobacco or drinks alcohol, and I'm not saying that there are not substances out there that are a serious hazard and should be kept away from society.

If you don’t want it around you and yours or maybe it’s just not for you, that is fine, but that does not give you the right to oppress other people who might not have that same stance. It is currently easily accessible to minors because it’s not legitimately regulated by anyone.

Seriously though, what deems this simple flower so much more heinous that it can’t be treated in the same manner as alcohol or tobacco (when both of which are massively more malicious to your health)? Why can’t responsible adults have the freedom to make educated decisions about what they put into their own bodies?

John Boehner, our new Speaker of the House, was recently asked about his tobacco use, and said, “I choose to smoke it. Leave me alone.” That’s an oddly respectable statement, but how come his choices about what he consumes any more valuable than any of ours?

So, there you have it, the secret to reviving the nation’s budget. It’s already here and it is ready to save the economy.