NYT Kristoff: End the War on Pot

[chimpymustgo]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 27, 2010

LOS ANGELES

-edit-

Now there’s a significant chance that on Tuesday, California voters will choose to go further and broadly legalize marijuana.

I hope so. Our nearly century-long experiment in banning marijuana has failed as abysmally as Prohibition did, and California may now be pioneering a saner approach. Sure, there are risks if California legalizes pot. But our present drug policy has three catastrophic consequences.

First, it squanders billions of dollars that might be better used for education. California now spends more money on prisons than on higher education. It spends about $216,000 per year on each juvenile detainee, and just $8,000 on each child in the troubled Oakland public school system.

Each year, some 750,000 Americans are arrested for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Is that really the optimal use of our police force?

In contrast, legalizing and taxing marijuana would bring in substantial sums that could be used to pay for schools, libraries or early childhood education. A Harvard economist, Jeffrey A. Miron, calculates that marijuana could generate $8.7 billion in tax revenue each year if legalized nationally, while legalization would also save the same sum annually in enforcement costs.

That’s a $17 billion swing in the nation’s finances — enough to send every 3- and 4-year-old in a poor family to a high-quality preschool. And that’s an investment that would improve education outcomes and reduce crime and drug use in the future — with enough left over to pay for an extensive nationwide campaign to discourage drug use.

The second big problem with the drug war is that it has exacerbated poverty and devastated the family structure of African-Americans. Partly that’s because drug laws are enforced inequitably. Black and Latino men are much more likely than whites to be stopped and searched and, when drugs are found, prosecuted.

Here in Los Angeles, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at seven times the rate whites are, according to a study by the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors legalization. Yet surveys consistently find that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young blacks.

Partly because of drug laws, a black man now has a one-in-three chance of serving time in prison at some point in his life, according to the Sentencing Project, a group that seeks reform in the criminal justice system. This makes it more difficult for black men to find jobs, more difficult for black women to find suitable husbands, and less common for black children to grow up in stable families with black male role models. So, sure, drugs have devastated black communities — but the remedy of criminal sentencing has made the situation worse.

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One advantage of our federal system is that when we have a failed policy, we can grope for improvements by experimenting at the state level. I hope California will lead the way on Tuesday by legalizing marijuana.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/opinion/28kristof.html?_r=1&hp

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

[nebenaube]

2. It is time!

Too bad the democrats decided that the issue was not going to be addressed. For decades now the Democratic party has rolled out former pot heads (Clinton, Gore, Obama) to curry our vote; only to piss on us once they get in office. Notice how the other side is now behaving? How they are calling for an end to the madness that is marijuana prohibition? We have truly dropped the ball on this one. Too bad the ball has teeth because I think it's going to bite us in the ass!

[allisonjane75]

3. LEGALIZE IT.

Will read this whole article-   Some great points are made
here.  It really makes no sense for ANY state that has a prop
regarding marijuana to vote against it.  I have had to obtain
my medicine illegally for my whole life.  I have chronic pain
due to tumors on my spinal cord, multiple surgeries, arthritis
and arachniodosis--causing debilitating shooting pains down my
legs. 
 I'm here in Arizona hoping for the best-- and voting yes on
prop 203. This will legailze medicinal use and growing 12
mature plants/12 babie (no flowering)This plant has saved my
life and cut my pain significantly. Not worrying about going
to jail each week would be wonderful.  Help patients that
truly NEED medicinal marijuana in AZ.  It's not just people
getting high and silly. Not that there's anything wrong with
that- of course compared to alcohol - it is FAR less
dangerous. Not even close.  It's time to legalize it- reap the
benefits for all people…if you use or dont use, you will
someday know a dying cancer patient that can thrive on
marijuana.  It has been proven to shrink cancer cells and slow
their growth! Believe it cuz it's true.  I dont make my own
facts.  Also for cancer sufferers-  the cure for nausea
during/post chemo and an increase in appetite. 

The war on drugs has proven to be a failure from its
beginnings…so much wasteful government spending that if it
never existed we probably wouldnt be quite in this position we
are today, financially and globally.  I dont want to go to
jail because pot is the only thing that helps me…i dont want
doctors shoving opiates down my throat and telling me to get a
fentanyl patch.  By experience- all opiates are highly
obtainable, addictive and destroy your liver. I have been on
and off of them many times, and it's not fun, not easy.  More
studies have been conducted on marijuana than ANY
pharmaceutical known to man.  It has been proven that cannabis
is NOT an addicitve substance.  It is all natural, works
almost instantly and NO, I dont just lay on my couch eating
chips. I am a productive person that still needs to keep up
and i enjoy physical workouts especially running with my dogs!
 LEGALIZE IT !  Get my drift…. thank you.

[Tsiyu]

7. Welcome to DU allisonjane75

Glad to have you on our Side :fistbump:

Good luck there in AZ :hi:

[eShirl]

4. excellent piece. recommended.

[chimpymustgo]

5. And kick.

[cbc5g]

6. New high of 46% of Americans support legalization

http://www.gallup.com/poll/144086/New-High-Americans-Support-Legalizing-Marijuana.aspx

I like the trend

[mdmc]

8. ..