The case for a domestic marijuana industry

[Danascot]

Violence in Mexico is getting worse by the day. There are reports of beheadings, killings in the several thousands, and an environment of fear that makes it impossible for Mexican officials to do their work. The country's very stability may be threatened.

It's time to put an end to U.S. policies that subsidize these murderous drug gangs. The first step, as a growing chorus of voices is arguing, is to end the quixotic policy of prohibition, a proven failure. But the United States can do even better; by empowering a domestic marijuana industry, the United States would squeeze Mexican cartels' profits, cutting off the financial lifeline that sustains organized narcocrime.

According to U.S. and Mexican officials, some 60 percent of the profits that fuel Mexican narcotrafficking come from just one drug: marijuana. Although such estimates are inherently imprecise, there is no doubt that marijuana is the cash cow that makes these gangs the powerful, dangerous force they are -- both in Mexico and in the 230 U.S. cities where cartels are thought to operate. The chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Mexico and Central America Section recently told the New York Times that marijuana is the "king crop" for Mexican cartels, because it "consistently sustains its marketability and profitability."

<snip>

Like it or not, marijuana is a massive industry. One hundred million Americans admit to government survey-takers that they've used it, with nearly 15 million acknowledging use in the past month. That's a huge market -- exceeding the number of Americans who will buy a new car or truck this year, or who bought one last year. Estimates based on U.S. government figures have pegged marijuana as the No. 1 cash crop in the United States, with a value exceeding corn and wheat combined.

Current U.S. policies are based on the fantasy that Americans can somehow make this massive industry go away. But prohibition hasn't stopped marijuana use. Although marijuana use hits peaks and troughs over time, overall consumption of the drug in the United States has risen roughly 4,000 percent rise since the first national ban took effect in 1937. In other words, for 72 years, the U.S. government has in effect granted criminals, including those brutal Mexican gangs, a monopoly on production, distribution, and profits.

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/17/the_case_for_a_domestic_marijuana_industry

[blue neen]

1. The time is right.

The medicinal purposes are also important. I work in a pharmacy...we have a customer who has terminal cancer and who is now in hospice. He could be getting some badly needed pain relief if not for the archaic marijuana laws. We had to order him morphine instead...the drug industry just keeps benefitting from people's misery.

[MrMickeysMom]

2. That alone should open the door for legalization of cannabis ...

I can think (based on the past) of several markets that would boom. No hard data, just anecdotal...

I personally think it's viagra for most women (maybe men, too) though it seems to lower sperm counts.

The nutrition of the seeds are valuable. Personally, it's a pretty plant, and a substitute for fibers other than cotton in cloth.

Oh, the days of listening to Firesign Theater after work and the occasional joint.

The dirty fucking hippies were right.

[NinetySix]

3. Use legalization as 'economic warfare'

First of all, decriminalization should be a non-starter. The same people who unethically and ruthlessly run the illicit industry right now would be poised to maintain their dominance as legitimate players. No rewards for past criminal activity, particularly involving violence. Take away the drug cartels' fundamental ability to maintain such a steady, highly profitable source of income, and you take away their motive to commit violence in order to defend it; they are not powerful enough to go on an offensive against a monolithic Government, and following legalization, their source of funding for any attempt to do so would have run dry.

But more importantly, Government must not only legalize the manufacture, sale and distribution of cannabis; Government must operate all aspects of the process. The state may contract out the growing of the plant, but its price must be set by the government, as well as must its preparation and packaging. There should be no private companies involved in its profitable sale. Cannabis may be sold in State-Government-operated outlets, and in Government liquor stores where those are operated. There must be no marketing, no advertising, no logos on packaging, other than plain print describing its contents.

In short, it must be made safe to buy as well as nonexploitative. And it should be inexpensive enough so that cartels would lose an unsustainable amount of their profits, while at the same time collecting a modest revenue for the Government. Other, more potent or addictive drugs should be legalized and medicalized.

[spindrifter]

4. Jobs, baby, jobs!

We already have a talented sales force--locked up or on parole in every state. Many would be happy to sign on.

[FreakinDJ]

5. Obama did say a "Green Economy"

[PJPhreak]

6. The current Weed laws are stupid...

I grew and sold good grass for years,made good money too.(And ended up in a shitload of trouble after being busted,but thats another story for another time) What did I do with all that cash I made,you ask? What most folks do with their income...Groceries,Gas.Rent.Utilities,Insurance,Medical Care,Clothes...You get the Idea.
Not one cent went to Mexico,Drug lords,for bribes,Weapons of ANY Kind or Payoffs of any kind to a Politician or Law Enforcement Officer.
All my "Drug Money" was spent locally, it never left the county I lived in.

As I have said for Thirty years...."You want to get rid of the Criminals in the Weed Biz? Get rid of the Money!!" Prohibition Didn't work then,It won't work now. if it ain't worth shit then folk won't pay shit for it,I mean its JUST a FREAKIN WEED!!!

[Zhade]

7. How about -- it's a medically-proven beneficial herb and should be legal for adults.

NT!