Losing The War On Drugs
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Drugs, Economy
So not only is marijuana a $35 billion cash crop, it’s reportedly our country’s largest.
A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion â€â€? far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.California is responsible for more than a third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state’s grapes, vegetables and hay combined â€â€? and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.
The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement.
Now to be fair, these numbers were put together by a group who seeks to re-classify the drug, and move it out of the category of heroin, but still…these numbers have gotta make one wonder. I mean, if this was a war fought over democracy, would we stay in it this long with these obvious losses?
The government’s response…
Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, cited examples of foreign countries that have struggled with big crops used to produce cocaine and heroin. “Coca is Colombia’s largest cash crop and that hasn’t worked out for them, and opium poppies are Afghanistan’s largest crop, and that has worked out disastrously for them,” Riley said. “I don’t know why we would venture down that road.”
Well, he’s right…but comparing those drugs is a pretty iffy proposition. Sure, some groups seek to decriminalize all of it, but entire states have voted to legalize marijuana for personal and medical use. So the situations are just not the same.
Also, concerning the coca plants and opium poppies…if we bought the crop from the farmers and turned it into pharmaceuticals instead of insisting that these plants need to be destroyed, maybe we could kill two birds with one stone.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 and is filed under Drugs, Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
December 18th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
So, um, do you have coordinates for that picture? I’d like to check it for oh, let’s say, accuracy.
December 18th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
No – it is incredibly ignorant. There is no justifiable reason for federal criminalization of anything to do with marijuana. It is a dangerous and deadly waste of manpower, creates more problems than it can ever solve. It is and should be a state issue. All the federalization of marijuana and any drug does is consolidate the means of production and distribution to the worst of humanity. Crime is the result of vulnerability. The Drug War puts the people most likely to take advantage of the vulnerable in a position of power over people. Bad deal, not good, not smart — it is like these people are on drugs.
December 18th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
For a light-hearted view (uniquely Kiwi!).
Seriously though, I am not in favour of legalisation. I never have been.
I do regretfully acknowledge that we have reached the point with marihuana in this country (and it seems in the US as well) where the law is about as effective as prohibition was in the early 1900’s. That is sad indeed.
December 19th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I guess I just don’t see the downside. Sure, legalizing marijuana will require government involvement, but it could also prove to be a valuable source of revenue. If the unholy trinity (alcohol, tobacco, gambling) can provide billions annually, then why not reap the rewards? There is no comparison between heroin/cocaine and marijuana. Don’t give me the “Gateway Drug” line. The ONLY way marijuana can be considered such is if kids hear how bad it is, try it, see their parents have been lying when it doesn’t kill them, then think maybe coke isn’t so bad either.
Marijuana is lethal only in that it causes lung cancer, but that’s something we’re already dealing wth. We are also losing that battle. More and more teenagers are smoking despite our government’s best efforts to curb the appeal. Anyone born since 1970 is well aware of the risks posed by smoking, but they do it anyway. I say, legalize marijuana, tax it, and focus the money toward aiding those who probably didn’t make a self-destructive decision: homeless, hungry children. You know, the ones here in our own country.
December 19th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Marijuana is also one of the lifelines of organized crime…by removing it we remove a huge source of income from them, and make it far easier to concentrate on their remaining (and far more harmful) revenue streams, thus eventually starving them to death.
One question sometimes wonder about marijuana and legalization is whether any degree of tracking and quotas should be attached to it…though I suppose that alcohol causes just about as much of a mental impairment, and that has no such restrictions. So I guess I’d come down on the side of requiring ID’s and age 21 to buy, just like alcohol, and having similar rules on usage/provision.
Another interesting question – would bars be allowed to provide pot? Or would it have to be separate establishments? I would guess the latter since, unlike alcohol, you can get high from smokers’ breath and second hand smoke.
December 19th, 2006 at 6:20 pm
I am sick and tired of so-called Christian people blaspheming God’s creation! My Bible says that on the day God created the plant kingdom, He took a look and declared it all good.
Not just good, but PERFECT.
That includes the plant, cannabis and its varieties.
It was created for the benefit of mankind.
It truly is a remarkable, incredibly complex and beneficial botanical.
It is not “Devilweed”.
WHAT!?… was Satan the Devil a Co-Creator?!
That’s not in my Bible.
The denigration of this creation of God, cannabis, is over the top – just unbelievably ignorant – and to prohibit its use in what is claimed to be a democracy with all the ‘freedom of’ laws…
and to actually put a fellow man or woman who chooses to use this plant in a cage like a wild and dangerous animal- it makes you think just WHO are the ones engaging in criminal behavior…
December 20th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
That’s a bit of a specious argument, because if you say God made everything, and everything is perfect, then you have to account for things like hurricanes, arsenic in groundwater, mad cow disease, black mambas, Republicans, and various other evils in the world. Of course you could blame Satan, but supposedly he’s a destroyer or corruptor, not a creator…
I believe that anything can be either good or bad, if used appropriately. Some lean more strongly in one direction or another, but most fall somewhere in the middle. Pot (in my opinion) leans towards the good, but does have its darker side as well.
Incidentally, marijuana as it exists today is significantly different from the plants of a century ago, selective breeding has enhanced the THC content many fold.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:33 am
[...] Losing The War On Drugs Donklephant – Dec 18, 2006 I mean, if this was a war fought over democracy, would we stay in it this Well, he s right but comparing those drugs is a pretty iffy proposition, not only [...]
June 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
honestly if your against Weed, you deserve a nose bleed, Cigs is killing more people then murders, STOP the ADDictive shit, and blaze up the damn bluntz.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Well, finally people are starting to realize that our so called “war on drugs” is a losing battle! Not only is it unjust, it unfair to the people that have a drug problem to put them in prison! I think it’s time to rethink our approach to the situation and instead of prison how about helping these people get threw and above the addiction. And to put marijuanna in the same class as coke and herion is the most absurb thing I think I have ever heard in my life. I for one, know a lot of people ,that smoke pot and what all of them have in common is the fact that they are all hard working citizens that vote and make this country run smoothly. So why are we still putting pot smokers in prison? That ,I believe ,is real question at hand!!
December 24th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Majority knows that it is unethical to have this very mystic plant that should be cherished be illegal. What did cig’s and alcohol do to become a “wiser” choice. Thank you America for making the joy of life be the wrong choice. I will not change my ways as others will never either. Nobody should have to go hang out with murderer’s, rapist’s, and actual drug addicts in prison for trying to bring a little peace into their lives.(by the way, the little time I was there the inmates were actually nicer than the officers.) They stole from me, disrespected me, and imprisoned me for what? This is not life, we are all brainwashed cattle known as Americans, as long as theres man there will be plenty of drugs and lots war, it is what it is and its not changing.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Marijuana has been on earth for so long, and I like to think or imagine how high was Isaac Newton when the apple fell on his head .. making him realize about gravity and stuff haha but well… the only thing I do not like about the United States is that they always want to take a spoon of food out of every country. Go thank Anslinger for making the life of hundreds a nightmare. People should stop watching so much TV because everything you see there is intended to brainwash you. Don’t believe me? Go watch the funny adds your great-grand parents saw when they were kids about “MARIJUANA KILLS” I mean.. if I grew up watching that sort of garbage I would definitely believe it and raise my children with the same attitude and so on. My recommendation to my fellow pot smokers is to educate your friends and relatives, it is not fair for anybody to live a lie. As said before on this Web site, the money coming from Marijuana crops can be invested in so many GOOD ways, not only pot itself but all the products you can make with hemp.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:12 am
OK THEN SERIOUSLY WHERE ARE ALL OF US AT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO VOTE ON THIS?! I KNOW THERE ARE ENOUGH OF US NOW TO GET THIS LEGALIZED?!?!? COME ON GUYES RUNNING FOR OFFICE GET THIS DONE!
May 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
why dont you all just grow hemp in your back yards? its not marijuana and provides most of what the female plant does, mabey not the biofuels and medicines or the animal feed stock, or the nutrient rich and cheaply produced cereal type seeds, which are delicious when baked like pumpkin seeds w/ salt, but hey its something. also if you do grow the hemp give it medical grade nitroglycerine solution in the fertilizer and stress it out by pruning.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Why not legalize it?
Prices would go down and guess what
problem solved..
true that more people will use pot but it is relatively harmless compared to alcohol but yet i see booze everywhere..
The world these days just turns me inside out.. so backwards and everything has to have a conflict
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
You CAN NOT get high from “smokers’ breath and second hand smoke.” and testing is sensitive enough to detect the difference between inhaled and second hand. And by the way, to refer to hurricanes, black mambas, mad cow disease, and arsenic as, “evil” is just to fall into the same old judeo-christian rut that this country’s leadership has had the american people spinning their wheels in for the last 8 years.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I agree with many of you, i don’t see why weed should be illegal. there
are far more drugs out there that are just as lethal and deadly such as alchohol. So why is it that alchohol is legal and marijuna is’nt. Its proven that people can NOT overdose on marijuna and yet the goverments ok with the selling and use of alchohol which can causes liver cancer, killing of brain cells, and besides many people overdose on it and die. I really just don’t understand the reasoning behind it. I know for shure that if alchohol becomes illegal they would have the same problem with it as much as they would with pot, cocaine, and others. I’m for the legalization of weed, if anything they should make it legal. It could very well help the economy and its uses help people who are in pain or have other problems like brain tumors or have severe back problems. The goverment can gain from it, if they were to sell it they could use the money for some good use……..and to all my fellow potheads keep on keeping on
October 12th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
the only thing the “war on drugs” is, is cops busting down teens on the street, thats all. if the aw would see the time they waste on this, things would be better. smokeweed and stop whining
November 16th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Why doesn’t everyone just grow pot in their yards or wherever? They can’t arrest everyone.
I say they make everything legal, even coke and heroin. It would eliminate the vast majority of organized crime, and, if sold at safe places for a decent price, would provide a much cleaner, safer environment for addicts to get off their drug. They started providing a program for heroin addicts in Vancouver where they are given their fix and a room to do it in. Eventually, they’re weened off the drug and so far the results have been excellent.