CAN DRUGS SOLVE THE DEFICIT AND CRIME?

After receiving feedback from my last post, the readers actually prefer hot button issues, instead of hearing about me making a complete jerk of myself. I have also had the chance to read my previous posts and all of the opinions expressed by the author might make the reader believe that my views are too far to the left. Not true. I am an equal opportunity basher and think both sides of the aisle are completely ridiculous. Let us just simply refer to my political affiliations as Amok. Let me prove it to you. But how?

What about my opinion on the war on drugs? Sounds good to me.

Yes, I smoked pot in high school. However, I got the brilliant idea of becoming a police officer, so that stopped after my junior year and I have yet, and never will return. So rest assured this post comes from a completely clear, albeit, sometimes crazy head.

In my second post, we came up with a figure for the national deficit, 11.8 trillion dollars. No one on Capitol Hill seems to be able to come up with a way to solve the ever growing budgetary crisis that faces our great nation. Let’s explore one possible solution.

The U.S. spends 44.1 billion dollars on the infamous “War on Drugs” every year. What if we were to just completely do away with this supposed war and make drugs legal? Talk about a win-win situation on both sides of the aisle. Think about it, the extreme right libertarians would be thrilled that the people are once again imbued with a new freedom. The leftists would be thrilled that they now have a new stream of tax revenue.

What about the increased drug use one might ask? Let me ask you a question. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that if you smoke pot or shoot heroin now, you are going to continue after it becomes legal? Of course.

I think that the reverse is also true. We may see some rise in the use of marijuana, but is this really any worse than drinking too much beer? I can’t imagine that if you are not sticking a needle in your arm and shooting heroin now, that you will after it becomes legal.

Now, let’s get to the benefits. As previously mentioned, the nation's deficit is 11.8 trillion dollars, and the war on drugs costs the tax payers 44.1 billion dollars every year. 30.3 Billion of that is supplied by state governments and 13.8 billion is supplied by the fed. If we only factor the 13.8 billion increased revenue to the fed after ending the war on drugs, it would take 85 years to pay off our national debt. But what about the tax revenue created by the legalization of drugs? This is estimated at 32.7 billion per year. If we also apply this to the national debt, we could pay it off within 25 years. So this country could be debt free by the time I am 53. Pretty sweet to think about isn’t it?

Source: Jeffrey A. Miron, Department of Economics, Harvard University: "The Budgetary Implications of Drug Prohibition," December 2008 (He supplied the figures, I did the math.)

Also, each state would now have an extra 606 million dollars in revenue. The states could use a fraction of that and rehire all of the law enforcement officers laid off by ending the war on drugs. They would also have the revenue to hire new officers. These new officers could now be re-tasked to handle other crimes that actually matter. This would be a big step toward the domestic safety of this country.

I am a pragmatist, so I realize that not all of the money from ending the war on drugs will be applied to our debt. Hell, it would probably all be spent on useless programs, but I think it is a nice thought.

What do you guys think?


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That’s it for today’s post of:
Chuck Amok on the World, Life, and Living Fat

I can be reached on facebook or email me at sorrellcharles@yahoo.com