Posted on 02/03/2012 10:57:07 AM PST by gabriellah
In 2011, Gallup reported that 62% of 18-29 year olds and 50% of the general public supports the legalization of marijuana; 69% of liberals and even 34% of conservatives also support such measures. Obviously the pro-pot movement has taken root in the American populace and especially in the minds of Millennials (even managing to infiltrate the minds of the most conservative among us).
Myth #1: Legalization Would bring in Enormous Tax Revenues
The Heritage Foundation’s Charles Stimson published an extensive legal memorandum urging for the failure of the RCTC Act of 2010, which would have legalized pot in California. This memorandum debunks the myth that legalization would eliminate the black market for marijuana and would bring in enormous revenue, therefore stimulating the economy.
Dr. Rosalie Pacula, a drug policy expert at the RAND Corporation for over 15 years, testified that under the California law: “There would be tremendous profit motive for the existing black market providers to stay in the market. The only way California could effectively eliminate the black market for marijuana is to take away the substantial profits in the market and allow the price of marijuana to fall to an amount close to the cost of production. Doing so, however, will mean substantially smaller tax revenue”(Stimson 9).
In other words, simple economics expose the assumption that drug dealers would voluntarily enter the legal market, when the cost of production is virtually zero. In fact, it was calculated that “an individual will be able to produce 24,000 to 240,000 joints legally each year” (Stimson 9). This is more than any individual could possibly consume, and it is encouraging individuals to sell pot on the side, subverting taxation. Why would anyone buy marijuana legally when they would have to pay a higher price for it? It would be a much higher price considering California proposed a $50/ounce tax on top of the list price. Why would drug dealers leave the black market when they don’t have to?
Fiscal conservatives should not be lured into such intellectual inconsistency. We are not going to solve the budget crises and pay off our $15 trillion debt with whatever change is left from a feeble government attempt to tax the un-taxable.
Myth #2: Marijuana is a Victimless Drug
Marijuana has a history of being linked to crime in the United States and throughout the world. “60% of arrestees test positive for marijuana use in the United States, England, and Australia” (Stimson 6). And while many pro-legalization advocates argue that most of these marijuana users are people arrested for non-violent crimes, they fail to note that marijuana usage is strongly correlated with cocaine and other more serious drugs, as well as murder, assault, money laundering, and smuggling (Stimson 5-6). Surely, legalization advocates do not believe that all marijuana users are little angels?
In fact, in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s most violent cities, pot is legal and a prevalent aspect of society (Stimson 6). Heritage reports that “Officials are in the process of closing marijuana dispensaries, or ‘coffee shops,’ because of the crime associated with their operation” (Stimson 6).
California’s partial legalization via usage of “medical marijuana” is beginning to show the same effects. LAPD reports that areas surrounding cannabis clubs have seen a 200% increase in robberies and a 130.8% increase in aggravated assault (Stimson 6). A drug that increases crime doesn’t exactly qualify as “victimless.”
In addition to this, local communities where neighborhoods and residential housing are dominant will be adversely affected. Residents who live in areas with extensive marijuana usage have repeatedly complained about the incredible smell put off by the plants. Even worse than the smell though, is the growing crime rate in residential areas which is induced by theft of marijuana from yards where it is grown (Stimson 6).
It may be ideologically convenient for some to oversimplify the issue as a violation against individual liberty, but when all the facts are presented, it is obvious that the only liberty being violated is the blatant disregard for property rights, law, and order.
Myth #3: Marijuana = Alcohol
Legalization advocates link marijuana and alcohol as equally mild intoxicants, suggesting that they deserve equal treatment under the law. However, as the above research suggests, marijuana is more dangerous to the health and safety of society.
For better or for worse, alcohol as been part of human history for millennia. Typically, individuals responsibly self-monitor their consumption thereof. Alcohol has also been regulated by cultural norms rather than by government. Society, culture, and religion have proven to be the best regulators of alcoholic consumption. The same cannot be said of marijuana – as seen in the information presented earlier.
In addition to its lack of historical precedent in America’s historical experience, marijuana also has much more severe health effects than alcohol. 1) marijuana is far more likely than alcohol to be cause addiction, 2) it is usually consumed to the point of intoxication, 3) it has no known intrinsically healthful properties (it can only relieve pain –and artificially at that), 4) it has toxins that can result in birth defects, pain, respiratory damage, brain damage, and stroke, 5) it increases heart rate by 20% to 100% elevating the risk of heart attack (Stimson 4).
In relation to history, economics, and health, marijuana is nothing like alcohol.
Conclusion: Conservatives should not be afraid to combat the growing sentiment that supports the legalization of marijuana. Economics, historical precedent, and conservative principles are all on our side. It is up to unashamed, unapologetic young conservatives to articulate that message and continue to stand for ordered liberty.
Inert metabolic byproducts are what stay in the system; if it was the active ingredient, users would stay high for 30 days.
Symptoms of overdose may include:
drowsiness
inappropriate happiness
sharper senses than usual
changed awareness of time
red eyes
fast heartbeat
memory problems
feeling that you are outside of your body
mood changes
difficulty urinating
constipation
decreased coordination
extreme tiredness
difficulty speaking clearly
dizziness or fainting when standing up too fast
So you support an end to alcohol taxes?
Many of Oregon's legal growers have quit becuase pot became so cheap that they couldn't cover their electrical bills.
There are fewer side effects from this drug then there are on my thyroid meds.
OK you be scared and pony up the funds. That kind of hand-wringing is way down on my list of priorities about what threatens the Republic.
Where is the corresponding increase in addiction, violence, disorder and death in California from the time it went widely available in legal shops?
Speaking of being short of facts.....
I personally have never met a Pot Head who did not have a scrambled brain. They have the Medical shops all over in California, set outside one for awhile and observe the consumers. Very enlighting.
Laughable BS. As a first-year econ student could have predicted, when the drug alcohol was legalized, legally-operating suppliers sprung up, and illegal supply was rapidly relegated to a footnote.
She lit up a cigarette..and got busted big time. All the while...people were burning weed at the same time. Ha!!
Maybe that was a one-time event. I dunno.
First, I think you mean RE-legalize.
Second, why haven't all those horrible things happened in countries where marijuana is legal or decriminalized?
Heck, in Ohio you can have up to 100 grams personal possession and all you get is a minor misdemeanor (like a jaywalking ticket).
Somehow, Ohio has not cracked to the point of falling into Lake Erie, though.
That's easily explained: the ones with unscrambled brains are able to hid their use.
Competition is a good thing - price comes down and efficiency goes up.
just imagine how many people will die due to some pot head stoned and driving.
it happens now it will only get worse.
Hard to believe someone would be able to smell tobacco if everyone was burning weed around them. But like I wrote, I haven’t seen anyone smoke anything at a concert in years.
California has defacto legalized it. It is for sale in more shops than Starbucks around here. All you need is $30 and to tell a Dr. you think it helps with stress or whatnot, and then you can shop at the corner store for it.
Where is the corresponding increase in addiction, violence, disorder and death in California from the time it went widely available in legal shops?
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Really? Are you that clueless? You ask “Where is the corresponding increase ...”
Do you just skim by the many articles that show how these pot shops have created more crimes in the areas they are located? Locals are getting tired of them and are pressuring officials to run these dopers out.
it happens now it will only get worse.
People die now due to someone drunk and driving. Is that sufficient reason to ban alcohol?
The real question would be the state of the illegal marijuana trade once the government figures out a way to tax marijuana.
Smuggling is a crime that really comes down to two factors; a price difference, and a geo-political boundary. A perfect example is the trafficking of cigarettes from North Carolina (low tax) to New York (high tax). That market is much smaller than the illegal marijuana trade, but it still exists.
If the price point was big enough, it might make the current cartel marijuana trade still a profitable one. If anybody here thinks that California is going to put a modest tax on legal marijuana, they are already smoking something.
One thing that has been really overlooked, while Janet Napolitano has been preaching "secure as it has ever been," is that the cartels are taking over domestic transshipment routes and marijuana production. The state and national forests in California are no longer safe because armed Mexicans are tending huge marijuana grows. The coke trade north to Canada used to be conducted by Americans and Canadians. Now that business is being done more by illegal Mexicans. Illegal aliens that the Obama administration won't deport until they have an extensive criminal record.
THC?
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