U.S. Drug Policy: Archiac, Destructive and Embarssing

[Atomic_Piggy]

Agreed.

 

[Solaris]

How can the government tax something that's so easy to produce? Marijuana can be grown in a closet or a bathtub for crying out loud, and drugs like meth and crack can easily be made by anyone. Not that I'd know how. :upstare:

Well then they make no money either way, which means the tax argument doesn't stand up.

If they were motivated by pure tax greed; they would still legalise and tax retail sails etc. which I'm sure wouldn't be negligable.

You can grow vegetables in your own garden, why don't they therefore legislate against that?

The reason is that they arent motivated by tax, its a stupid argument.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

How can the government tax something that's so easy to produce? Marijuana can be grown in a closet or a bathtub for crying out loud, and drugs like meth and crack can easily be made by anyone. Not that I'd know how. :upstare:

Are you serious? You think that just because it's relatively easy to grow a cannabis plant that just anyone can harvest and treat mass quantities and distribute the ready-to-smoke product? Lots of things are easy as hell to grow or produce (Beer, for instance), that doesn't mean there isn't a big money business involved. Companies like Phillip Morris, Miller and Kraft aren't brilliant in their ability to create fine products -- oh no no, it's the fact that they produce massive quantities for dirt cheap and shove them back up our obese, cancer infested asses for double, triple, nay quadruple (and upwards) profit margins. Uncle Sam turns it's head for even the slightest taste of those profits, go figure. It's not about ethics, it never has been. It's about control, convenience (in bold because I doubt you pay 3x the price for organic, farm raised food or all natural cigarettes), regulation and profits. Follow the money.

God forbid Phillip Morris be the primary distributor of Marijuana, though. Sometimes we have to be careful what we wish for, eh? The process isn't as simple as "legalize it", it would require a great deal of fine print and a reworking of our entire stance on drugs. What is important is opening up a dialogue amongst the so called "Obama generation" so that the gears begin to move.

Never question the government's ability to tax anything, no matter how easy it is to manufacture, for ****s sake we pay sales tax on everything from salt to stamps, there's no reason marijuana couldn't be regulated, grown be local farmers (supporting domestic industry) and sold through coffee shops and bars. Your argument falls through on the simple basis of not knowing how industry works in our country. I suggest researching the prohibition of alcohol, for starters.

 

[Eejit]

Uh I suspect he just meant people home-growing their own.

 

[Warped]

it seems to me that when one person gets punished and thrown into prison....everyone gets punished including the tax payer. also children with no fathers, women who have to work 2 jobs and possibly lead to prostitution or other nasty jobs just to keep the kids. also the welfare system hurts big time. drugs are bad but the laws that govern are even worse imo

 

[Kadayi]

I'm for decriminalisation at a consumer level with a view to full legalisation maybe down the road.