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Marijuana: Time to Tax

GenericMind

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 30, 2005
Messages
39,948
Location
Western New York
Howdy All,

I'm sure most of you have heard, and probably even defended at one point, the arguments for legalization of Marijuana. The list of potential benefits is long and I'm sure none of you need to be reminded of them, so I'll get right to the point.

The current Economic turmoil America is facing has provided Pro-Legalization activists an unprecedented opportunity to influence Marijuana policy in this country. We have a Liberal majority Congress, a liberal majority Senate, and a liberal Democrat int he Whitehouse. With the country's GDP contracting, people losing their jobs, and the economy struggling to keep a pulse, the United States desperately needs a shot in the arm. Something, ANYTHING, to contribute to GDP and generate tax revenues. The noise about legalizing Marijuana has been ramping up lately because of this. CNBC has been dedicating hour-long blocks of primetime air to discuss the issue. Several State Representatives have recently made comments that they support legalization. Being that they're elected by US to represent US, and that elected officials the country over are growing increasingly worried about the public's discontent with how they're handling the economic situation, there probably hasn't ever been a better time to let them know your opinion on the matter. As one of their Constituents, their duty by law is to represent your opinions for you. Ask them to accurately represent you by supporting legislation to legalize and tax Marijuana.

You can use the following link to look up your representatives in Congress and the Senate as well as obtain their contact information. They even have a form on the webpage you can use to automatically send them an email. Written mailed letters work too.

http://capwiz.com/norml2/dbq/officials/


Some things you may want to consider while writing your letter:

-Economic concerns because of the Great Depression were one of the contributing factors to the decision to repeal Alcohol Prohibition in 1933.

-More Marijuana is sold within the United States than Vegetables and Corn combined. It is, statistically, the country's largest cash crop.

-The Marijuana Industry generates tens of billions of dollars every year.

-The Marijuana Industry accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity in some Northern California counties.

-The State of California collected over $11 million in tax revenue from Medicinal Marijuana last year.

-Marijuana could generate billions of dollars in Local, State, and Federal tax revenue every year.

-The DEA spent over $10 billion last year in fighting Marijuana-and only Marijuana-in the United States

-The DEA has recently announced that it will halt raids on Marijuana farms in California where the State Law allows such growing of Marijuana.

-13 States have decriminalized Marijuana

-You have a voice ;)
 
Thank you for putting this here GM, quite frankly I'm surprised it hadn't been done sooner.

I think anyone [U.S. citizens] with a registered account on here, as responsible citizens have a duty to help get this ball rolling, regardless of your personal taste for the plant.
 
I do not think the California legalization bill will pass the state legislature, and if it miraculously does, you can be sure Arnie won't sign it into law. So I believe within a year of it failing it will be introduced to the people via state proposition, after a year long dialogue of the subject it will pass, I am sure of it. Within 5 years the rest of the west coast will file suit and then like the domino effect legalization bills will start popping up nationwide. I hope I am not being too optimistic but I think there is going to be legal weed in this country by 2020.
 
thank you for putting this here gm, quite frankly i'm surprised it hadn't been done sooner.

I think anyone [u.s. Citizens] with a registered account on here, as responsible citizens have a duty to help get this ball rolling, regardless of your personal taste for the plant.

+ 1
 
I been working on a letter to senator Brown for a few days now, but I keep second guessing myself on phrasing my key points and not getting any further.

If anyone would like to see the letter once I get it in "more finished" state, I'll gladly PM it you.
 
I think it would help this country pay back its debt

i dont know about that it might help a little bit but lets be realistic here, last week in this country we created 1 trillion dollars outta thin air.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/18/business/fed.php

dont get me wrong it would be awesome if we could get this passed. but you still have to look at what happens after its legalized and taxed it will only fix a certain percentage of the economic problem. I mean what do we do to get this country back to a clean slate even after taken such a drastic action(i dont think legalizing it would be, just thats what majority may think).
 
I can't believe it needed to get bumped. It really is true that this the best shot we've had to get it legalized so we should all try to help the cause!
 
hell yea good points...

In massachusetts and Cali legalization bills have been introuduced so this should make u very happy it makes me so ^^.
 
Yeah, NORML makes it insanely easy. You basically just have to make a few clicks and you're done. I'm sure you guys can spare 5 minutes for a good cause. ;)
 
-The Marijuana Industry accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity in some Northern California counties.

Yeah. And legalization will absolutely destroy the emerald triangle. Not saying that's a valid reason to object because I can't, but I know a ton of people who would likely end up out of work. Very possible for real unemployment to be at 75% or above in Humboldt afterward. Seems likely we'd trade in our small businesses for factory farms in the central valley. Time marches on though.
 
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