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Milton Friedman: Legalize It! (The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition)
Forbes.Com ^ | June 2, 2005

Posted on 06/02/2005 4:40:30 AM PDT by Wolfie

Milton Friedman: Legalize It!

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A founding father of the Reagan Revolution has put his John Hancock on a pro-pot report.

Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition and the potential revenue gains from the U.S. government instead legalizing it and taxing its sale. Ending prohibition enforcement would save $7.7 billion in combined state and federal spending, the report says, while taxation would yield up to $6.2 billion a year.

The report, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," ( available at www.prohibitioncosts.org ) was written by Jeffrey A. Miron, a professor at Harvard , and largely paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project ( MPP ), a Washington, D.C., group advocating the review and liberalization of marijuana laws.

At times the report uses some debatable assumptions: For instance, Miron assumes a single figure for every type of arrest, for example, but the average pot bust is likely cheaper than bringing in a murder or kidnapping suspect. Friedman and other economists, however, say the overall work is some of the best yet done on the costs of the war on marijuana.

At 92, Friedman is revered as one of the great champions of free-market capitalism during the years of U.S. rivalry with Communism. He is also passionate about the need to legalize marijuana, among other drugs, for both financial and moral reasons.

"There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana," the economist says, "$7.7 billion is a lot of money, but that is one of the lesser evils. Our failure to successfully enforce these laws is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in Colombia. I haven't even included the harm to young people. It's absolutely disgraceful to think of picking up a 22-year-old for smoking pot. More disgraceful is the denial of marijuana for medical purposes."

Securing the signatures of Friedman, along with economists from Cornell, Stanford and Yale universities, among others, is a coup for the MPP, a group largely interested in widening and publicizing debate over the usefulness of laws against pot.

If the laws change, large beneficiaries might include large agricultural groups like Archer Daniels Midland and ConAgra Foods as potential growers or distributors and liquor businesses like Constellation Brands and Allied Domecq, which understand the distribution of intoxicants. Surprisingly, Home Depot and other home gardening centers would not particularly benefit, according to the report, which projects that few people would grow their own marijuana, the same way few people distill whiskey at home. Canada's large-scale domestic marijuana growing industry ( see "Inside Dope" ) suggests otherwise, however.

The report will likely not sway all minds. The White House Office of Drug Control Policy recently published an analysis of marijuana incarceration that states that "most people in prison for marijuana are violent criminals, repeat offenders, traffickers or all of the above." The office declined to comment on the marijuana economics study, however, without first analyzing the study's methodology.

Friedman's advocacy on the issue is limited--the nonagenarian prefers to write these days on the need for school choice, calling U.S. literacy levels "absolutely criminal...only sustained because of the power of the teachers' unions." Yet his thinking on legalizing drugs extends well past any MPP debate or the kind of liberalization favored by most advocates.

"I've long been in favor of legalizing all drugs," he says, but not because of the standard libertarian arguments for unrestricted personal freedom. "Look at the factual consequences: The harm done and the corruption created by these laws...the costs are one of the lesser evils."

Not that a man of his years expects reason to triumph. Any added revenues from taxing legal marijuana would almost certainly be more than spent, by this or any other Congress.

"Deficits are the only thing that keeps this Congress from spending more" says Friedman. "Republicans are no different from Democrats. Spending is the easiest way to buy votes." A sober assessment indeed.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: bongbrigade; cary; donutwatch; miltonfriedman; wodlist
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To: Know your rights

Hey, there are fewer junkies there too.


281 posted on 06/04/2005 4:45:50 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: mugs99
The best solution I've come up with is legalize it but let users (and their parents, spouses, children, siblings) have standing to sue suppliers for damages.

And you may as well give neighborhood action agencies standing as well.

282 posted on 06/04/2005 4:46:59 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: getsoutalive
http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2001/vinylalco/ And no, alcohol can be produced by a variety of means, not just by bacteria and/or yeast.

My bowels, for example, produce a quart a day if I eat an ordinary American diet.

283 posted on 06/04/2005 4:47:26 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: mugs99
You are forgetting to count all the prisoners in China, first of all, and the folks in slavery in Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, and other intriguing spots around the world.

The only reason you think the US has 25% of the prisoners is that the USA is the ONLY country that counts all its prisoners and publicizes the number.

So, you think for a few moments about what it means to live in a country that does not actually count its prisoners, and does not report how many there are.

Then go live there.

284 posted on 06/04/2005 4:49:28 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: Know your rights
You're a real head case I can see. In GW's time they didn't know the cause of many of the ills that happened to them. I stipulated that if they'd known, they'd had federal regulation of the materials and practices.

In fact, given the opportunity George Washington voted for a constitution that established that the control of standards of measurement was at the federal, not the state, level.

I've always thought that interesting.

285 posted on 06/04/2005 4:51:30 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: numberonepal
Nearly a $14 billion swing.

I have to put up with small MJ possession cases every day. Eliminating them from my caseload would let me focus more on OWIs, batteries, and thefts. I do wonder, however, if legalization would materially increase the number of those who drive while stoned.
286 posted on 06/04/2005 4:52:17 PM PDT by hispanichoosier
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To: mugs99
There's no evidence whatsoever that MJ use declined in Nederland. On the other hand, there is evidence that it has grown, as has the use of other drugs, and that roaving bands of drug-crazed foreigners have become a problem in the country.

Here's the deal in Nederland ~ you become a junkie, or a chronic pot user, and you're gonna' fall in a canal or sluice.

They don't pull you out. Darned things are greasy and full of muck ~ mess up your clothes, and you will never get your shoes cleaned.

They have one of the world's greater death by drowning rates.

My suspicion is that the "pragmatic" Dutch tradition of leaving you alone to your own devices actually provides a rough sort of death penalty justice for those who refuse to go along with the flow.

287 posted on 06/04/2005 4:55:18 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: Ken H
At the moment the three junkies I've known that we had in this neighborhood over the years ARE IN JAIL and they are NOT GETTING OUT.

So is the worst alcoholic. You should see the tumors all over his body though from over pickling!

The WOD works here!~

288 posted on 06/04/2005 4:56:36 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: vigilo

You should have them move into your neighborhood. In fact, if you have enough money (to pay for the moves), your local police will tell you were they have a bunch of them.


289 posted on 06/04/2005 4:58:40 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: muawiyah
The only reason you think the US has 25% of the prisoners is that the USA is the ONLY country that counts all its prisoners and publicizes the number

ROFL!
Those aren't my figures. Those figures are conservative and are not refuted by our own government. Apparently you didn't read the link I responded to.
You want to talk about China? China has executed over two million drug addicts since 1949. They are still executing them today. They still have the highest addiction rate on the planet. Heroin addiction is Chinas number one problem today.
Can you show one single country where a drug war has decreased drug use or violent crime? Even the US government has been unable to do that!
Please, post your data. I'd sure like to see it and I'm sure many others would too.
...
290 posted on 06/04/2005 5:13:08 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: mugs99
China continues to execute junkies because junkies are stupid. But I wouldn't believe that 2 million figure. It's probably more like 20 mil, even 30 mil, and all that's on top of the Little Red Book killings, etc.

Do you want to see that sort of thing have to happen here?

If you don't, give up dope today.

291 posted on 06/04/2005 5:15:30 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: Tribune7
The best solution I've come up with is legalize it but let users (and their parents, spouses, children, siblings) have standing to sue suppliers for damages. And you may as well give neighborhood action agencies standing as well

You don't even have to legalize. Just decriminalize...There is a difference. Prosecute those who commit a crime against another and leave those who do not harm others alone. Take it out of the hands of the underworld that is causing the violence and addicting the young.
...
292 posted on 06/04/2005 5:22:29 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: muawiyah
They [the Dutch] have one of the world's greater death by drowning rates.

Ranked 49th in accidental drownings. From Nationmaster.com:

49. Netherlands 15.85 deaths per 1 million people
50. United States 15.85 deaths per 1 million people

In addition, the Netherlands has about one third the abortion rate of the US, and half the heroin addiction rate. Who'd a thunk it.

293 posted on 06/04/2005 5:50:16 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: Ken H

The Dutch don't report everything, and the overwhelming majority of canal and sluice deaths are reported as some other cause, e.g. heart attack, seizure, etc.


294 posted on 06/04/2005 5:53:47 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: Ken H

The Dutch ALSO don't count all abortions as abortions.


295 posted on 06/04/2005 5:55:37 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: muawiyah
I left one out. When the EU Constitution was put to a vote, the Dutch said, "NEE!"
296 posted on 06/04/2005 5:57:59 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: muawiyah
When are you going to post data to back up your claims? So far, all I've seen from you is hot air.
...
297 posted on 06/04/2005 6:15:38 PM PDT by mugs99
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To: mugs99

Look, you had your say. You've demonstrated nothing new about your position. I have no obligation to address any of your objections. Just keep your junkie frieds out of my neighborhood and we'll be OK, God and the Second Amendment willing!


298 posted on 06/04/2005 6:17:36 PM PDT by muawiyah (q)
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To: Ken H

Spains drug laws are as liberal as the Netherlands. Spain has the higest rate of robberies out of any country. It's about 8 times as high as the U.S..


299 posted on 06/04/2005 6:34:48 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: muawiyah
If you don't, give up dope today

I don't use drugs or alcohol. I'm still waiting for you to post the name of one single country that has reduced drug use or violent crime with a drug war. When are you going to do that?
...
300 posted on 06/04/2005 6:38:33 PM PDT by mugs99
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