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.
Then the states and the federal government sue the companies that sell it, pricing the MJ so high that a black market is reborn...
Mark
When Friedman was a young man, marijuana was legal in this country. He's witnessed the entire history of modern Drug Prohibition in this country, from an elevated position to see the real costs it has on society.
Few living souls in this country can better comment on this public policy.
A lesson cigarette smokers are learning now. Kind of fun to watch, actually.
The war on drugs is so silly as to be a joke of multi-billion dollar proportions. The recent Mexican-commandoes-turned-drug-czar guards is the most hillarious example. I'm not pro drug, but I am Anti-terrorist. I worry more about people bringing in bombs and white powder anthrax than people bringing in bongs and white powder nose candy.......the gov't should just forget the drugs and concentrate on the real bad guys......
Can you imagine a new org in the future? "Mothers Against Stoned Teachers"?
Yup. He was around when the evil black jazz singers were seducing the innocent young white girls with that nasty stuff. /s
Better yet, people should just quit smoking the stuff. That will save billions too, and free up law enforcement for other tasks.
We don't need legalized mj, there are enough pot heads walking around in a daze as it is, we don't need to encourage it.
Obsessed? How did you arrive at that adjective?
It could be, but not on the basis of information in your post.
The one statement was about people receiving prison sentences, while the other is about arrests.
Just about every day I read 5-6 people being picked up on pot possession, and I don't imagine hardly any of them end up getting prison sentences, usually a fine and probation.
If they get picked up again, then they are a "repeat offender", and fall under the description of imprisoned persons in the first statement.
Essentially, the first statement simply says that nobody gets thrown in prison the FIRST TIME they get arrested for smoking pot.
Same can be said for tobacco. Use of drugs as a recreational vice is bad for your body, but it's your body. I won't tell you what to do with yours and you can't tell me what to do with mine. Alcohol and tobacco have been around for a long time and they won't go away tomorrow, or next century. Drugs are not going away either. If we spend so much time and effort fighting a losing battle, the real bad guys will take advantage and strike us in the gut again. Take the TAX DOLLARS and spend them looking for terrorists not drugs.........
I sat in on one college education course as long as I could stand it. I thought they WERE stoned. Too much time spent on touchy-feely, PC BS.
I say teach to the brightest and let the rest go to technical schools. Raise the denominator, raise the society; lower it and get what we have now.
There's a bill in Congress right now that would MANDATE a 5 year Federal prison term for passing a joint to someone who's been in drug rehab. MANDATORY 2 years for knowing someone was dealing pot and not reporting it.
Finally! Some logical thinking! I don't think it's anyone's business what I choose to do in the privacy of my own home - as long as I'm not hurting anyone else & paying my taxes. Marijuana is an herb, with medicinal & other useful qualities like any other herb. I'd much rather partake of it in the evening when I want to relax than drink a cocktail or pop a Paxil. You can use it in the form God gave it to us.
All the resources that we waste in trying to keep people away from it is ridiculous!
The reason many violent offenders are caught with pot is because it is illegal & sold on the black market. High profit motives bring unsavory people into the business - forcing the poor, peaceful pothead to have to deal with society's worst to get their harmless buzz.
Regulate it like alchohol & cigarettes, let responsible adults consume it - tax it - let people grow it for God's sake. Nobody should be stoned on the job, or while driving, but at home - give me a break!
There are all kinds of things you could argue that people shouldn't do - tobacco, too much caffiene or chocolate, bacon, french fries, soda pop - but do we really want to live in a society like that?
Well, I just can't wait till the school bus driver negotiates our steep hills and curves while on pot.
Will also : Create a new three-year mandatory minimum for parents who witness or learn about drug trafficking activities, targeting or even near their children, if they do not report it to law enforcement authorities within 24 hours and do not provide full assistance investigating, apprehending, and prosecuting the offender.
I guess that depends on what kind of work you do.
I guess that depends on what kind of work you do.
i can't stand marijuana, but legalizing it would eliminate much of the drug cartels and crime on the border.
mexico would collapse.
The gubmint is dumb as dirt, and pot prohibition illuminates this fact fully.
So stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
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