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chefmike
01-01-2007, 12:16 AM
Merry New Year!


Marijuana Called Top U.S. Cash Crop

Marijuana Takes the Pot as Most Valuable Cash Crop in the Country

Dec. 18, 2006 — Weeding through the value of the nation's cash crops, a study released today states that marijuana is the U.S.'s most valuable crop and promotes the drug's legalization and taxation.

Drug enforcement officials say the equation is not that simple.

The report, "Marijuana Production in the United States," by marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, concludes that despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy."

In the report, Gettman, a marijuana-reform activist and leader of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, champions a system of legal regulation.

Contrasting government figures for traditional crops — like corn and wheat — against the study's projections for marijuana production, the report cites marijuana as the top cash crop in 12 states and among the top three cash crops in 30.

The study estimates that marijuana production, at a value of $35.8 billion, exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion).


Pot Tax?

To activists for marijuana legalization, the study confirms a position they've held for years, and uses government stats to support their claim.

"The fact that marijuana is America's No. 1 cash crop after more than three decades of governmental eradication efforts is the clearest illustration that our present marijuana laws are a complete failure," says Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington D.C., a group that focuses on removing criminal penalties for marijuana use.

Kampia, whose comments were included in the study's press release, adds, "Our nation's laws guarantee that 100 percent of the proceeds from marijuana sales go to unregulated criminals rather than to legitimate businesses that pay taxes to support schools, police and roads."

A 2005 analysis by Harvard visiting professor Jeffrey Miron estimates that if the United States legalized marijuana, the country would save $7.7 billion in law enforcement costs and could generated as much as $6.2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.

Miron's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition was signed by more than 500 leading economists, most notably the late Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, who served as an economist in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations.

Continued-
full article here-
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2735017&page=1&Business=true

BeardedOne
01-01-2007, 12:42 AM
Pot Tax?

Hey, the IRS and the BEP were ready a long time ago.

Somedude21
01-01-2007, 12:46 AM
You know, I really don't see why weed isn't legalized. It would be a win-win situation for the government, because not only would it lower the inmate population in the country (because all these people who would be busted for marijuana won't be), and give the government something else to tax all to hell--which I'm in full agreement with.

Smog Boy
01-01-2007, 01:10 AM
I'll smoke to that!

HungDevil
01-01-2007, 04:12 AM
"You can't tax a Mexican drug trafficking group," Courtney explains. "That's the side a lot of people don't focus on."


The idea is to put Mexican drug groups out of business. Legalizing marijuana would see a steep drop in the price of the drug. After all, people would start growing it in their backyards like tomatoes. Not only that; taxes can be levied on the drug and age restrictions kept in place.