Too much money to be made for them to legalize marijuana. Plus the USA can use the war on drugs to interfere with other countries internal affairs.
Too much money to be lost for the tobacco industry and big pharma. Not to mention paper/publishing industry, clothes,etc. NONE of the big industries wants to legalize it because it is the most industrial plant aviable... Who would spend money on tobacco, when you can grow it for yourself free? Big pharma would lose even more, when they couldn't charge you $200 a month for your medication....
who is "THEM" ?? if you are refering to the US government..the only way i see them making money is making it legal and taxing it...aside from that...how else would "THEM" make money from illegal pot?
You are certainly entitled to disagree. But all my family and friends/co-workers of that age are predominantely republican, and I do not see them supporting the legalization of Mary Jane any time soon. Not everyone was in a "make love, not war" crowd.
Sure, but its only the biggest cash crop........... based on "official" estimates of street prices. Decriminalisation for limited personal production/consumption, would DESTROY the cartels overnight, simple. Besides, if they "know" how much is being produced, and hence how much its worth, then................................................ **sound of thinking**...........
I'm glad I finished college when I did. It looks like the penalities have increased 10x. Wow, these penalities are insane. Are there really people spending 5 years in prison for 1 ounce of dope in North Dakota? No wonder there is an insane premium charged. (puerto rico, any amount ==> 3 years. Yikes!) http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4516
Here i was thinking you were a shocking right wing ideologue pattersb, but you cant argue with the facts here, and i beleive it has to boil down to common sense. Is marijuana , "more" dangerous, or worse, than locking people up for years, destroying the social integration of people who may have "tried" it, worse than gun weilding murdering drug cartels, worse than the complete absence of ANY functional treatment/addiction programs (not faith based) , worse than one arm bandits, alcoholism, TOBACCO or the COMPLETE monopoly of big pharma-in "treating" these things, or coming up with "cures" for the very same social problems?
yeah... I have had my shocking moments on these forums. Election season is over, and it seems I've discovered the power of ignoring stupidty and to avoid going into a fits of rage. Although, insane prison sentences aren't necessarily a right-wing idealogues viewpoint either, there are plenty of conservatives in favor of legalization or at least decriminilization. yeah, I agree. 5 years for an ounce of pot is pure insanity. It would be interesting to see a comphrensive breakdown of the actual time being spent for the amount possessed. It still seems law enforcement turns a blind eye towards possession. http://www.madisonnorml.org/blog/archives/000030.php this fest probably still attracts 10s of thousands. ' It's the old "slippery slope" argument, If you legalize marijuana, than hash is next, then mushrooms, etc ... The feds probably don't want to get into the business of regulating recreational drugs. Considering what can be cooked up in the kitchen sinks now-a-days, you can't really blame them. Actually, they've chosen to regulate it via the criminal justice system.... I've always found pot, up until a certain point,to be very cathartic, and that probably doesn't need explaining.
An issue with legalization not brought up here so far is the amount of money that law enforcement agencies, especially local police departments, recieve each year from drug related property siezures. It is quite staggereing.