Survey Reveals Majority Want Marijuana Legalized

[Jim Finnel]

An over-whelming majority favor the legalization of marijuana, according to a new Headline Press survey. The new poll found that 86% of all those surveyed favor the decriminalization of pot.

The online survey, conducted over the last two weeks of October, found that only 14% of those surveyed do not want the use of marijuana legalized. Studies indicate that the medicinal use of marijuana aids in the healing or prevention of cataracts, broken bones, a variety of cancers and other ailments.

Opponents of the legalization of marijuana argue that since the use of alcohol is already legal in all states the usage of marijuana should continue to be outlawed. Controversy surrounds the usage of marijuana, despite increasing scientific evidence that its long term damage effects are limited. A state law in California allows the legal dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes.

Those who favor its legalization point to the lack of law enforcement in many other areas, criticizing lawmakers and other government leaders for allowing the growth of white collar crime, which helped to damage the national economy with the credit crisis through actions on Wall Street.

Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs American taxpayers roughly $10 billion annually and results in more than 829,000 arrests a year, far more than the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined. The arrests are much easier to obtain by police than the time and effort required to produce arrests in many other areas of law enforcement.


News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The American Chronicle
Author: Mike Colpitts
Copyright: 2008 The American Chronicle
Contact: Americanchronicle.com
Website: American Chronicle | Survey Reveals Majority Want Marijuana Legalized

 

[wordsworm]

10 billion is a low estimate. If one includes other factors, such as lost work, and lost opportunities for a lifetime, certainly 829,000 compounded annually would amount to a greater amount of lost tax revenue. If each individual earned an average of 25,000 per year, then we're talking about $2 billion compounded each year. You might say, "But that's the entire income that those individuals are likely to make, on average." However, people tend to spend most of their money. That spent money contributes to others' income as it's spent, which then also turns into tax money. Whether or not those people are in jail is irrelevant, since their opportunities for an honest wage or a decent job and education are all stripped with the criminal conviction, not to mention their democratic privilege. If we assume that the average person loses about 10-15 productive years (being a conservative guess), then we're talking about a loss in tax revenue of about $20 billion per year. So, add that to the court costs, jails, lawyers, police, etc, that's about $30 billion annually. That's some serious cash.