Yes!
It is time to repeal The prohibitions on recreational drug use in this country.
I'm sorry if this idea offends anyone but I am offended by the waste of resources trying to stop people from altering their consciousness. We have been getting high since the stone age and as a society we have survived.
I have heard most of the arguments but they just don't hold water when you consider the time, money and lives wasted trying to legislate this morality. At a time when we could use as many different ways to create jobs and stimulate our economy this seems like a no-brainer.
We even have the example of alcohol prohibition to show us the flaws in trying to outlaw drug use. We are wasting billions of dollars every year and funding some of the worst criminals we have ever seen. At the same time drug use is not going down.
By taxing the growth,processing,distribution and the usage of the full range of recreational drugs we create a huge new revenue stream. At the same time we deprive a whole range of bad guys of their income. Seems like a win-win situation.
I know this is radical, but what do we have to lose. A certain population is going to be addicted(legal or not) and a certain population is going to ruin their lives(legal or not). By bringing the problem out of the judicial process more people would receive treatment and treatment wouldn't carry as much of a stigma.
I would like to have all the facts and figures on the amount of money and time wasted on trying to stop drug use, but you won't be convinced by a dollar amount. The argument is simple: Let the criminals profit from our appetites or let the country use the power of regulation to reduce our appetites.
It's a simple matter of economics. The market is there and totally unregulated and untaxed. We simply step in, regulate it and benefit from the revenue.
Thank you for your time.