Reply #17: here are some links [View All]

[RainDog]

Philly saved 2 million on softer cannabis laws

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/09/softer-pot-laws-saved-philadelphia-2-million-in-2010/

Here's a report from economist Jeffrey Mirons, a libertarian at Harvard and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12169

500 economists sign a petition in support of legal cannabis

http://economics.about.com/od/incometaxestaxcuts/a/legalize_pot.htm

Time Magazine - Why Legalization Makes Sense

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1889166,00.html

...there are big issues here, issues of economy and simple justice, especially on the sentencing side. As Webb pointed out in a cover story in Parade magazine, the U.S. is, by far, the most "criminal" country in the world, with 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. We spend about $150 billion on policing and courts, and 47.5% of all drug arrests are marijuana-related. That is an awful lot of money, most of it nonfederal, that could be spent on better schools or infrastructure — or simply returned to the public.

At the same time, there is an enormous potential windfall in the taxation of marijuana. It is estimated that pot is the largest cash crop in California, with annual revenues approaching $14 billion. A 10% pot tax would yield $1.4 billion in California alone. And that's probably a fraction of the revenues that would be available — and of the economic impact, with thousands of new jobs in agriculture, packaging, marketing and advertising...

In 2009, the American Medical Asso. called for rescheduling hearings.

http://www.theweeklyconstitutional.com/news/headlines/334-ama-calls-for-marijuana-rescheduling

iow, Obama is IGNORING the advice of medical professionals who are far more educated about the possible costs/benefits of this substance than the DEA. He ignores this by REFUSING to have his administration hold rescheduling hearings.