Marijuana Prohibition: America’s $42 Billion Annual Failure

Legalization

KOMORN LAW

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Marijuana prohibition is a trillion dollar failure.

By Michael Komorn

If you were the leader of a nation, and you were given an extra $42 billion to spend, what might you do with it? Perhaps ensure that teachers had secure jobs, for higher wages? Maybe even feed and shelter the hungry? Or maybe even provide for all of those veterans that served their country in times of war…

(Read more: How Marijuana Affects Health – Educational Documentary)

It would be reasonable to expect that you pay the entire $7 billion annual increase in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. And since we’re focusing on the children, how about you hire 880,000 schoolteachers at the average U.S. teacher salary of $47,602 per year. Or even given our current teachers a 30 percent raise (at a cost of $15 billion, according to the American Federation of Teachers) and use what remains to take a $27 billion whack out of the federal deficit.

Or if we want to get crazy — use all $42 billion for a massive tax cut that would put an extra $140 in the pockets of every person in the county — $560 for a family of four.

Why $42 billion you ask? Well, that’s what our current marijuana prohibition cost American taxpayers each year — $10.7 billion in direct law enforcement costs, and $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues. And there’s reason to believe that may be an underestimate on the law enforcement side.

Basing calculations mainly on U.S. government statistics, researcher Jon Gettman, Ph.D. concludes that marijuana in the U.S. is a $113 billion dollar business. That’s a major piece of the economic pie that is unregulated untaxed because it’s close to entirely off the books.

(Related: Top 10 Reasons to Legalize Marijuana Now)

By consigning a very popular and user friendly product — one that’s been used by about 100 million Americans, according to government surveys — to the criminal underground, we’ve cut legitimate businesspeople out of the market and handed a monopoly to criminals and gangs.

This might make sense if marijuana were dangerous and needed to be banned at all costs, but science revealed long ago that the opposite if the case. Compared to alcohol, for example, marijuana is astonishingly safe. For one thing, marijuana is much less addictive than alcohol, with just nine percent of users becoming dependent, as opposed to 15 percent for booze. And marijuana is much less toxic.

(Related: Drug Legalization Called for by Ex-policeman, GOP Lawmaker at Rochester Town Hall)

Heavy drinking is well-documented to damage the brain and liver, and to increase the risk of many types of cancer. Marijuana, on the other hand, has never caused a medically documented overdose death, and scientists are still debating whether even heavy marijuana use causes any permanent harm at all. And then there’s violence. Again, the scientific findings are overwhelming: Booze incites violence and aggression; marijuana doesn’t.

(Related: Top 10 Health Benefits of Marijuana, Part 1)

Yet still we arrest one American every 38 seconds on marijuana charges. And we do so at a staggering cost in law enforcement expenses, lost tax revenues, and staggering profits for criminal gangs.

The alternative is clear: Regulate marijuana just as we do beer, wine, and liquor. The only thing lacking is the political will.

But as Bob Dylan said, “The times are a changin’.”

Let’s end marijuana prohibition.

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If you or someone you know is facing charges as a result of Medical Marijuana prescribed to you as a Medical Marijuana patient under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, contact Komorn Law and ensure your rights are protected.

Michael Komorn is recognized as a leading expert on the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marijuana patients, and caregiver rights. Michael is also the host of Planet Green Trees Radio, a marijuana reform based show, which is broadcast every Thursday night 8-10 pm EST. Follow Komorn on Twitter.

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