Economic Policy

I have noticed a significant drop in readership since the last post on drugs, but that has not affected my decision to write on the topic.  I would like to begin the article by stating plainly that I am discussing the economic argument for legalizing not just pot but all drugs.  I do not really want to hear about the health issues or the safety issues because we do not know them.  Everybody knows someone who uses drugs.  I do too.  A lot of my friends know how to control their habits and are perfectly normal, some are not.  However, since tobacco and alcohol are legal I don't want to hear about safety or health.  Thanks.  On to economics.

Have you ever stopped to think about what this country was really founded for?  This country was founded on the principle that free men can make their own choices and their own money and that as long as they have the right to voice their opinions in government they didn't mind paying taxes on any and all goods.  Now the government tells us what we can and can't eat, drink, inhale, inject, own, and marry.  Doesn't sound very free to me.

If Congress legalized drugs there would be several ECONOMIC benefits.  I'm going to start at the production phase and move on through the line.  First you have people growing or otherwise manufacturing drugs.  They have to own land to grow the plants that drugs come from, there's both land purchasing and property tax.  They have to sell their raw materials to processers, there's sales tax and income tax.  The processers have to own buildings to use as factories, there's even more land purchasing and property tax.  The processers sell the finished product to stores, once again you have sales tax and income tax.  The stores sell the product, and we have a third round of sales and income taxes.

Now that we've looked at taxes, let's look at jobs.  You now need farmers, construction workers for the processing facilities, processing plant owners, processing plant workers, store owners, and store employees.  That's a whole lot of jobs whose taxes have already been discussed.

Now that you have people using any drugs they want, you have to think about what happens after they use them.  Police have to keep our streets safe from those people who break the regulations and go out driving, or stealing, or breaking other existing laws (sounds like alcohol).  Drug rehabilitation facilities will have to be built and staffed.  Research into the actual affects of many newer drugs will have to be built and staffed.  New companies selling 'the patch' or 'the gum' for whatever drug you want will have to be created after research finds ways to glean people off these now legal drugs (sounds like tobacco).  That's a whole lot more jobs, property taxes, and income taxes.  Also, for people who break the regulations that are to be set up, they have to pay the fines and court fees.  There's even more money coming in.

Okay, I think I've covered all of the possible government incomes from legalizing drugs, how about the savings?  Half, yes one in two, of all federal prisoners are in prison because of NONVIOLENT drug-related crimes.  They all get let out.  Wow, we don't need nearly as many jails do we?  Tax money doesn't get wasted on the unfortunate enough to get caught doing something studies have shown 8 in 10 young people try does it?  The 7 BILLION dollars that have been spent year to date in the war on drugs is now unnecessary.  That's to date, it's only February.  In 2003, the government spent 19 BILLION dollars on the war on drugs.  That's one year.  How much money have they spent all time?  Go look it up, it's more than Iraq and Afghanistan combined, and I think it's probably greater than the new stimulus bill.  We also lower the case load for public defenders, jailers, bailiffs, judges, and police who can now focus on murderers, rapists, and other VIOLENT offenders.

Wow, more money coming in, less money going out, can this get any better?  Yes it can.  We also can improve trade relations with Mexico, Brazil, Afghanistan, and most if not all of Central America.  Now all of the money that we're getting in income and taxes is spread to these other nations as well.  Sounds great doesn't it?  What's the only drawback?  The government has less control on the private lives of its citizenry.