Economic Downturn is PRIME TIME for pushing legalization!

[Biscanna]

Yep. Maybe not for you, but much of the country is frantic about the economy taking a steeper nosedive and this is PRIME TIME for us to take another step up. We need folks to ramp up the talks about how cannabis legalization can contribute HUGELY toward recovering the US economy. ALL government is concerned and scrambling for answers like an idiot in the dark.

Have you noticed how cannabis prices really aren't affected? Yep. That's the wasteful WAR ON DRUGS exerting it's effect. We have this commodity that is WIDELY available, ubiquitous, and the price is inflated ONLY because of its contraband status. Black market items are highly resistant to the short-term influences of the stock market.

I'm no expert...be great if some heady economists could chime in and get this going properly. The point is, no matter how much you know about stocks or money or finance, every head and patient out there can be reminding their politicians (easy email task) that even decriminalization would go a long way toward pulling in extra tax dollars to help save our asses. Economists have known this for years, since before prohibition. Why will no one come forth? Quit being so afraid to speak up. Familiarize.

Are your parents or grandparents freaked out because they have lost tens of thousands of their retirement accounts? Yeah, decriminalization could make it all right again. A 10% "sin-tax" on legal/decriminalized cannabis would positively change the face of our economy AND drop the price >50%. If we can get the ball rolling in NUMBERS, people VOICING their desires to officials and suit-wearing men, then we OVERGROW the current system. OVERGROW is not about plants, it's a mentality, a GOAL to make unfamiliar and afraid people more and more familiar with these ideas. Once they get used to hearing it, they will start to at least consider new arguments.

AGAIN: THE MARKET PRICE OF CANNABIS IS STABLE

What do you think?

Here's another perspective - your parents are less likely to keep giving you spending money when the economy is down. What does that mean for you? What can you do about it? Start by Googling [~your state.gov] and find the email forms for writing several politicians all on one page... Doesn't matter if they disagree, YOU MUST BE HEARD. Speak up, please!!!

OVERGROW=FAMILIARITY=LEGALIZATION

 

[Keith Lake]

Wise words Biscanna

I think prohibition continues only because all of us that are against it, either don't or won't speak our minds about it.

It's a smart strategy to use every opportunity that presents itself to encourage others to speak out against the war on drugs.

i.e. the current financial mess, where revenue could be raised by taxing and where spending could be reduced by halting prohibition.

[I was going to say call for change, but I think that after this election that phrase needs to be retired]

 

[PermaFried]

You have to put it in terms they (the Gov) can understand. $$$$$$ Reroute the "war on drugs" money into "Homeland sustainability". Fuck the DEA lets spend it on REAL research and projects for Fuel, building materials, medicine, and recreation. $50 a yr from EVERY pot smoker, discounts for MMJ, would generate alot of money. Maybe then we could cash in on the Cash Crop of the World, by exporting the new materials and meds.Not even concidering the ease of prisons, law enforcment bugets and court systems. Sounds like a no brainer to me but i am just a pot smoker........

 

[PermaFried]

I cant even get a response from the Okla NORML...........so ill be damned if i send them money!

 

[RooRman]

Is this not a double edged sword? If marijuana were legal it's value would almost certainly be much more effected by our fluctuating economic situation, as then it would be a commodity taxable by the government. Higher taxes forced in tough times on the growers equates directly into more expense for the end user.

The government weighs the potential funds they will recieve from legalizing and taxing the sale/manufacture of cannabis against the revenue obtained through fines and other subsequent major legal fees for sale, possesion, and manufacture of an illegal substance. They always seem to side with the latter situation, as in thier eyes, it is more profitable for them to keep marijuana illegal despite the huge cost of jailing and housing non-violent drug offenders. However, all those people working for the DEA need jobs right?

Either way, this was never the intention of our founding fathers... no taxation without representation, and thus far we have been represented poorly.

 

[PermaFried]

For every bed they have filled (they being prisons and jails) they get a set amount of $$ per day or month or year......its a buisiness to them. If you get picked up on fines, or anything else that requires a stay, they they will charge you per day! So im here against my will and now I have to pay? thats fucked up. But Prisons get like so many thousands per month per inmate, $$$$$$ THATS WHY YOU GET 20-LIFE!! Financial security! if they could make money off of it they would, i mean they are. So we just have to find a way to hit them where it counts, the account balance.