
Saturday, December 23, 2006 revealed preference: pot beats corn and wheat that's right. the top US cash crop is marijuana (PDF). notwithstanding my skepticism regarding accuracy figures from an illegal substance (and note the report's source), this is interesting. it makes me wonder why the government doesn't just make it legal and tax the hell out of it. i'm sure that would curb its use a million times more than their prohibition. some quotes from the ABC article: "Just because it's a good cash crop doesn't mean you should legalize and tax it." -- DEA despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy." 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). 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. perhaps this report will make people wonder: if pot is such a huge industry, and so many people do it, is it really that deleterious? so why not legalize? here are just a few reasons. we have an entire governmental industry and propaganda machine built to serve the drug war. an entire governmental industry = lots of jobs, and it's hard to muster support for such a huge cut. this propaganda machine funded a lot of scientists and government officials to say lots of crazy things, which brings egos into the equation. and at the risk of sounding like a paranoid nut, many privacy infringements are rationalized by the drug war that would be made less justifiable if it were no more. although, the patriot act may be able to substitute now... Labels: drugs, political permalink \| comments (2) \| 2 Comments: Some libertarian... Merry Christmas, Nikki! I miss you! By Greg Newburn, at Mon Dec 25, 11:41:00 AM :P merry Christmas to you down in FL!! come to chicago. the weather's great. By ns, at Tue Dec 26, 12:43:00 AM Post a Comment the trackback URL for "revealed preference: pot beats corn and wheat" is: http://haloscan.com/tb/sullifred/116685613412168122 trackbacks for this post temporarily listed here	recent posts more to come after finals, but... broadcast isn't the same, but what does that mean?... where fun comes to die i think sue scheff is a "crook," a "con artist" an... neurotheology don't stress, just trust. today in the news self-fulfilling prophesy, what? government = terrorist cell? averse to loss? categories well being social political personal neuroscience misc. science misc. psych links internet ideology economics drugs decision making search posts powered by free find blogrolling recommended books get posts via email enter your address: archives 03.2004 04.2004 06.2004 07.2004 08.2004 09.2004 10.2004 11.2004 12.2004 01.2005 02.2005 03.2005 04.2005 05.2005 06.2005 07.2005 08.2005 09.2005 10.2005 11.2005 12.2005 01.2006 02.2006 03.2006 04.2006 05.2006 06.2006 07.2006 08.2006 10.2006 11.2006 12.2006 01.2007 02.2007 07.2007 08.2007 01.2008 03.2008 04.2008 05.2008 06.2008 07.2008 feeds & etc. feed options: main posts only current events only main posts and current events (also in rss) my posts at neuroeconomics.com creepy visitor map why no caps? the fox or the hedgehog? current events
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Saturday, December 23, 2006

revealed preference: pot beats corn and wheat

that's right. the top US cash crop is marijuana (PDF). notwithstanding my skepticism regarding accuracy figures from an illegal substance (and note the report's source), this is interesting. it makes me wonder why the government doesn't just make it legal and tax the hell out of it. i'm sure that would curb its use a million times more than their prohibition.

some quotes from the ABC article:

"Just because it's a good cash crop doesn't mean you should legalize and tax it." -- DEA
despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy."
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).
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.

perhaps this report will make people wonder: if pot is such a huge industry, and so many people do it, is it really that deleterious?

so why not legalize? here are just a few reasons. we have an entire governmental industry and propaganda machine built to serve the drug war. an entire governmental industry = lots of jobs, and it's hard to muster support for such a huge cut. this propaganda machine funded a lot of scientists and government officials to say lots of crazy things, which brings egos into the equation. and at the risk of sounding like a paranoid nut, many privacy infringements are rationalized by the drug war that would be made less justifiable if it were no more. although, the patriot act may be able to substitute now...

Labels: drugs, political