This Is What We Need!

Read this on CNN opinion today
"As a recent RAND study on California found, legalization of marijuana there would cut the price by as much as 80% and increase use from as little as 50% to as much as 100%. Just what California, just what our society, needs."

I agree


Link to article http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/30/bennett.drug.legalization/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9

When the only reason people don't do something is because its illegal, perhaps the law is going against our human nature

I'm going to remember that statistic. Every time some headline pops up on the front page about another drug bust that netted pounds upon pounds of marijuana, I'm going to use it as a factor to calculate out the amount of tax revenue that would be generated by adjusting the street price to a legal trade price, then levying a tax against that value. I'll use this recent example:

https://www.rollitup.org/content/197-over-50-pounds-marijuana-seized.html

Let's take that 50 lb. At an average price of $350/oz, that's:
50 lb X 16 oz/lb = 800 oz
800 oz X 350 $/oz = $280000 illicit value
$280000 X .20 $legal/$illicit = $56000 legal value
based on a 10% tax similar to distilled spirits and an average state sales tax, we get:
$56000 X .10 + $56000 X .05 = $8400 total tax revenue

That's $8400 that could be pumped into the state economy. What I'd love to be able to do is every time a drug bust hits the news, we run the confiscated weights through this equation and start keeping a running tab on how much money could have been generated. A pro 2nd ammendment website did something similar with resounding success. A commonly held belief among anti-gun control advocates is that news depicting armed law abiding citizens using their legally obtained guns to defend themselves is buried or downplayed by major media outlets. Keepandbeararms.com recruited a bunch of volunteers who search for articles and police blotters and submit links to form a database of armed self defense events. I don't believe that Operation Self Defense as they called it is still being actively updated, but when it was it amassed a staggering list of articles.

Edit to add: It's a keep prohibition article. I just noticed the article's author. William J. Bennett. So, Willie... You still have that little gambling problem nipping at your heels? I heard you went to a better's anonymous meeting and they gave you 2 to 1 that you relapse.