An obvious step towards reducing the drug-related murders in Mexico and, in the process, fixing our own economy -- is legalizing the growing of pot in the U.S., and then significantly taxing the sales.
Whenever there is a bust of a U.S.-based grower, all this does is re-funnel the same money into the hands of the Mexican drug cartel, money that would otherwise remain in the U.S.
Pot is a self-regulating drug. Those for whom cannibus acts as an herbal tranquilizer use it. Others do not do well with pot, and choose not to use it. I wonder if prisons should consider growing cannibus on the grounds, inmates could do the growing, and the prison could then offer the harvested crop to inmates at no cost to the taxpayers. Pot heads tend to be non-violent. Some argue that pot causes users to lack motivation and/or memory, but perhaps the use of cannibus by prison inmates could possibly reduce violence in prison.
I ask my readers -- what harms the U.S. society more: Pot? or unregulated Wall Street mavins, managers of the fuzzy world of hedge funds and the derivatives industry?
Those who knowingly profited hugely from the sub-prime lending debt being bundled into derivatives and other funds have gone completely unpunished. Many "good citizens" lost their life savings and retirement funds as a result of the unregulated and mostly unpunished abusers of Wall Street infrastructure. Yet, someone growing pot in the U.S. -- an industry that could be taxed and alleviate some of the burden on the taxpyers -- is treated as a criminal, usually resulting in incarceration, also at great cost to the taxpayer.
The war on the Mexican drug cartel is costing us all big money. Why not fight fire with fire...and alleviate some of the burden on the U.S. tax payer?
LATE BREAKING NEWS: Just heard tonight (6/17) on TV news: The federal budget for the "War on Drugs" has ballooned from $151 million in 1971, to more than $15 billion. At the least, legalize and regulate the growing of marijuana. The same new story reported that the number of people jailed for drug violations has also grown exponentially. Again...all at the taxpayers' expense. Granted, some of these are dangerous and violent individuals who are dealing in arms as well as addictive substances. But have we not enabled some of these dangerous people to gain power and wealth due to our short-sighted drug policies?
An extreme concept that might sound shocking -- what if the government made hard drugs available for free, and let those who are stupid enough to get hooked can self-destruct. Just take away their drivers' licenses. It sounds pretty harsh. But really....not unlike cigarettes and alcohol, those who play with fire know they might get burned. Why should we waste so much of the taxpayer dollars in fighting a war that cannot be won; a war that each individual really needs to fight for himself. I believe it's called self-discipline.
At the very least, approach the "War Against Drugs" with economic common sense. Keep the money in the U.S. and allow more jobs through the benign industry of medical marijuana.
