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153 Comments
- vacax, on 02/20/2009, -5/+60Quit trying to tax my beer and start taxing religion
- ohplease, on 02/20/2009, -2/+53
OMG you can't legalize pot! Look at Amsterdam, do you want your cities like that?
Zombie attacks, fire breathing narwhals, the street lights coming alive at night to feed on the blood of the pious? - inactive, on 02/20/2009, -3/+44Quit wasting tax money & jailing nonviolent people and start taxing this plant NOW. The ONLY way it will get legal -- taxing it -- will also keep it away from kids.
- kp998, on 02/20/2009, -2/+41It will increase revenue and create jobs across the board.
- ScienceDoc, on 02/20/2009, -3/+38It would also help several hundred people in Mexico to keep their heads attached.
- rrouse, on 02/20/2009, -3/+31I'll start smoking pot again if it will help us get out of the Recession.
- subliminalurge, on 02/20/2009, -1/+20Prohibition doesn't keep it out of their hands either, so the "think about the children" argument is pretty much moot....
- Frankyfan3, on 02/20/2009, -3/+21Educate yourself & those around you about the rights and responsibilities of the jury.
http://www.fija.org//index.php?page=displaytxt& ...
You can find someone NOT GUILTY of a crime if you deem the law to be more harmful than the defendant's "criminal" acts.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/z ...
Judges routinely instruct jurors that they are not to determine the justness of the law in question, only whether the defendant is guilty of breaking it. This is simply not true. - CrackyJSquirrel, on 02/20/2009, -2/+19Actually think how much easier it is to get pot as a kid than it is to get cigarettes or booze. Sure it is possible to get booze and smokes, but when I was under age I could get a bag of weed within minutes of wanting it. To get cigarettes or booze I either had to know the store clerk (if they were even willing to risk selling to minors) or get someone older to buy it for me, which we all know isn't the easiest thing to do.
Its funny because I was just thinking about this the other day. Seriously legalized pot would make it harder for minors to obtain it. The legalization would take the sales away from dealers so they couldn't just buy it off the corner any more. SO you would find kids trying to peg people for pot just like you see them trying to peg people for booze and smokes. - CloNe817, on 02/20/2009, -1/+17And make non toxic fuel for cars (more fuel per acre than corn)
And feed hungry people with the seeds (More protein than red meat)
And make clothes from it (Stronger and softer than cotton)
And make paper from it (10 times the pulp as trees per acre) - awtripp, on 02/20/2009, -2/+18Way to be reactionary and refuse to comprehend the actual point.
- ygeoff419, on 02/20/2009, -0/+15I second that! No more tax exemption for religions!
- ygeoff419, on 02/20/2009, -2/+15lol, higher taxes.... this isn't like an income tax that's across the board
you don't HAVE to pay! you don't want to pay the tax grow your own or just don't smoke it!
Good article, most sensible view point I have seen lately - inactive, on 02/20/2009, -0/+121. I think for myself, so you'd have to ask him. All I can tell you is what _I_ think.
2. Probably something like "look at the last time there was prohibition stupidity in this country. It ended -- but not because of freedom or liberty or the constitution or democracy or (especially) political ***** admitting they're wrong. Prohibition of alcohol ONLY ended because of lost potential revenue during a fiscal ***** looking too ***** stupid for it to continue politically. Other alleged reasons for its demise are political *****. Hell, the government (despite what J. Edgar Hoover said) didn't really mind the Prohibition fueled advent of drive-by shootings all that much, because it supplied them with a handy gun-control excuse.
I don't see why the hysterical-about-pot types are so against taxation and regulation. When I was 16 it was MUCH harder to get taxed/regulated alcohol than pot. It sometimes seems like the prohibitionist side secretly WANTS kids to use drugs.
Plus, the hysterical side is generally clueless about farming. This cluelessness means that they don't understand the nightmare it would mean to the hippie pothead types if one day the air gets filled with male low potency hemp pollen. All that energy that went to buds would go to producing seeds. They'd probably go back to growing pot for smoking indoors, in fits of hippie desperation. As long as I don't have to pay to put them in cages anymore, I don't give a *****. The superior fiber & fuel oil and the various other hemp benefits are the point, and just like the stuff that's smoked, all that ***** eventually gets taxed instead of costing taxes.
PS What gets to me is how people who are hysterical, literally jumping out of their ***** skins, over stupid newsletters can be blind to the BLATANTLY ***** OBVIOUS RACISM in both the history (whole *****' pedigree, get used to it or learn it for the first time, because high schools sure won't *****' teach it!) and present implementation of the tax and spend drugwar. It's fascinating, and must cause them much cognitive dissonance, because whenever I bring it up there's deafening silence. - BCPneumatics, on 02/20/2009, -3/+15In poor economic times sin taxes are some of the most logical places to increase revenue.
- Infowarsdotcom, on 02/20/2009, -1/+12The best part about profits from weed is that it would be profits from actual production instead of shifting numbers between bank accounts and pretending to produce...*austin powers pause*....products.
- jackdaniels06, on 02/20/2009, -9/+19TAX CIGARETTES 9000%
- ColonelJessup, on 02/20/2009, -1/+11Not a bad idea.
- D1Foley, on 02/20/2009, -0/+9Dugg, more people need to know about jury nullification.
- D1Foley, on 02/20/2009, -1/+10We just need a couple politicians brave enough to be labeled "soft on crime" to stand in favor of it and show how little sense it makes to keep it illegal.
- boheme, on 02/20/2009, -1/+10There are quite a few 'perscription meds' that are used recreationally. When these medications are taken for pleasure, or for any other reason other than treating a diagnosed medical condition, they are a vice. If we can turn a blind eye to someone who's 'back pain' doesn't really warrant an Ocycotin prescription we should be at least willing to consider the regulated sale of something as harmless as weed.
- inactive, on 02/20/2009, -1/+9I'm surprised no one mentioned how big pharma is the main roadblock to legalization of marijuana as it means the death of their industries, and they fund anti-legalization efforts.
These pharmaceutical companies earn many many billions off of poor and suffering Americans for their side-effect ridden pain-killers. Marijuana does a better job at pain-killing with minimal side effects, and could be made for cheaper, and taxed at a far better rate than prescription meds, even with a 200% tax it would still be far cheaper than most prescription meds.
Not to mention, the article writer did not explain that law enforcement right now wastes more time and money pursuing drug crimes than they do REAL crimes, like murder, rape, and theft.
The benefit to our economy merely from police redirection would be immense. There would be more cops on the corners, and more cops taking the real criminals like murderers and thieves off our street.
It would also shut down the drug dealing business, drying up their major sources of income that they use to fund the weapons trade, order hits, turf wars, and help end sex trafficking. Then due to the decreased number of criminals and criminal funding, but INCREASED focus on cops on the important crimes, we could see violent crime and financial crimes like theft go down substantially!
Imagine! Get everyone you know to support legalization! This is an imperative issue! I managed to convince my fundamentalist evangelical and conservative father to support legalization, so no excuses from any of you! - Frankyfan3, on 02/20/2009, -2/+9LMAO
- worseforwine, on 02/20/2009, -0/+6If you care that much about booze taxes I'm sure you regularly rampage through the ***** streets already. Hell, I love drinking but I can see how taxing vices is a fantastic idea.
- tuseau, on 02/20/2009, -0/+6Virtually every developed country in the world taxes alcohol.
- hootie233, on 02/20/2009, -2/+8HAHA i totally agree, Israel really needs a bong hit or 2.
- lisaawesome, on 02/20/2009, -0/+6Just never mention jury nullification during the selection process or you'll get booted real fast!
- bartofdahammer, on 02/20/2009, -2/+8They have been taxing the ***** out of alcohol in Canada since forever
- kgdoom, on 02/20/2009, -2/+8Obama has said loud and clear he's down with going green!
- D1Foley, on 02/20/2009, -3/+9"and pay for the damages caused by legalization."
ummm and what would those be? - rxbudian, on 02/20/2009, -1/+6If they really want to steal the business from the drug dealers, the government should also tax the pot.
- NotYourProdigy, on 02/20/2009, -0/+5Sadly, it is the right thing to do. You cannot defend booze, and shun the green.
- SPLASTiK, on 02/20/2009, -2/+7And then everyone quits because they can't afford it and the tobacco tax cash cow disappears... good idea.
- insanebrain, on 02/20/2009, -0/+5Pot : Legalize it, so you can control it... but even better... so you can tax it.
- rotundo, on 02/20/2009, -0/+5That's the same as prohibition, dude. The taxes have to be low enough to prevent the formation of a viable black market. Cigarette taxes are close to that threshold already.
- nofx1510, on 02/20/2009, -1/+6Only 9000% you haven't been to Chicago recently have you?
- TheXboxReview, on 02/20/2009, -0/+5Our government is pretty deep in debt, which devalues the dollar.
- PeppermintPig, on 02/20/2009, -0/+4"You shall not pass!!!!" ??
- defektiv, on 02/20/2009, -1/+5My God, it makes so much sense it's almost aggravating there are so many people who don't see this as the ONLY answer.
- tuseau, on 02/20/2009, -0/+4(a) It's an optional tax.
(b) Actually, higher taxes would help the situation since the government needs increased revenue. - TheXboxReview, on 02/20/2009, -0/+4You can make fuel from Hemp? Had no idea
- NotYourProdigy, on 02/20/2009, -1/+5^^ "It doesn't exactly make you the shining beacon of brilliance."
No, it doesn't. But being a dumbass, and not smoking dope = still a dumbass.
And it's relatively harmless relative to anything we can put in our body. - rmxz, on 02/20/2009, -1/+5I wonder how much the CIA, various classified pentagon projects and similar organizations make on illegal drug trade.
It may very well be the case that the illegal drug trade already brings in far more money to the government than taxes every could.
Perhaps that's the main reason they're reluctant to legalize&tax it. - NotYourProdigy, on 02/20/2009, -0/+4All plants can be compressed into oil, and all oil contains flammable properties.
- CloNe817, on 02/20/2009, -0/+3You take the oil from the seeds, and run it in a diesel engine. Its just another biofuel like corn. and it burns with no toxic emisions. Check out the book "The emperor wears no clothes" by Jack Herer
- dotnetwebdev, on 02/20/2009, -1/+4I can see that as a reality. Seriously.
- CrackyJSquirrel, on 02/20/2009, -0/+3So you are saying the government makes more money off busting me (if they EVER do) than if they were regularly taxing my consumption? I highly doubt that. I have been smoking regularly for 18 years and never once got busted or received a fine for possession. So if they were taxing me for those 18 years, they would have actually made money off me, where right now they have gotten zilch.
- inactive, on 02/20/2009, -1/+4Did you ever notice that no matter how bad the economy is people will still find money for alcohol and drugs
- dotnetwebdev, on 02/20/2009, -1/+4Hamas could use some as well. Matter of fact, there's plenty of idiots 'round the world who should be hittin the pipe on a regular basis.
- smylod, on 02/20/2009, -2/+5Amen!
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