reverendjeremiah said: "The only problem is that big pharma and insurance will NEVER, EVER allow drugs to be legalised. Do you have any idea on how much big pharma makes off of pre-employment drug screening alone? 30 to 60 bucks a pop. Everytime I go in for one there is a constant line of 10 to 20 people waiting to take one."
The US gov could benefit from the taxation of legalized drugs. However, if we were to use Portugal as a model of things to come, that would tell us that there would be a loss of revenue in a short time. Pharmaceutical companies would suffer heavy losses, which will keep their lobbyists strictly opposed to the concept of legalization. Police Departments would get less money to operate, ( no longer having drug enforcement units), and the DEA agents would be out of their gov jobs! ( these are just a few effects that come to mind )
Whereas, they can continue to divert tax dollars to the "supposed" war on drugs, and keep billions of dollars drained from the taxes for the drug war. We all know that a large percentage of the tax dollars manage to fall into someones back pocket before they reach their supposed destination. This windfall would disappear if the drugs were legalized. Also, as the model predicts, rehab centers would start costing the gov 1000s% what they do now. The newly found tax revenue would probably not cover the cost, and as more people quit, the revenue would decrease even more, while the costs of rehab would sky rocket! I myself, believe that Darwin would eventually "take out the trash", and those hard core druggies would pass into the pages of history, leaving behind a legacy of failure, loss of self respect, and loss of other's respect. They would become the poster children for a new drugless society. Only this time around, it would be an individual's decision, not a gov one. Take away the risk, and there will be no thrill left to it. The "Bad Boys" of society would have to find something else to do to be "Bad".
Just as there were no more "Speak Easys" when prohibition ended, there would be no more dealers, or "crack houses" if it were legal. That is, as long as the gov supplied dope were the same quality as the cartel's, and it was in ample supply. Also, the central American, and south American cartels would be out of business, because we would now be free to grow and produce our own supplies locally. So now, what would THEY do? !!!
Our gov would probably start sending billions of dollars of aid to those poor out of work cartel personnel, and their decimated govs. ( More money we cannot afford to spend )
I would say go ahead and legalize, refuse to send aid to countries that supported themselves by selling dope here, keep the quality and quantity up, ( wiping out the competition ) and put ALL the taxed proceeds to the rehab facilities at first. The rehab need would dwindle down soon enough, with some help from Darwin, and everything would eventually level out. I predict that we would see a dramatic drop in drug use, as the only present model depicts, and we would save billions in the long run. Then they put that money to other uses, like border protection, since the illegal influx would grow exponentially, due to loss of work down south of the border.
Well, I said my piece, I hope it doesn't sound too much like rambling.
The US gov could benefit from the taxation of legalized drugs. However, if we were to use Portugal as a model of things to come, that would tell us that there would be a loss of revenue in a short time. Pharmaceutical companies would suffer heavy losses, which will keep their lobbyists strictly opposed to the concept of legalization. Police Departments would get less money to operate, ( no longer having drug enforcement units), and the DEA agents would be out of their gov jobs! ( these are just a few effects that come to mind )
Whereas, they can continue to divert tax dollars to the "supposed" war on drugs, and keep billions of dollars drained from the taxes for the drug war. We all know that a large percentage of the tax dollars manage to fall into someones back pocket before they reach their supposed destination. This windfall would disappear if the drugs were legalized. Also, as the model predicts, rehab centers would start costing the gov 1000s% what they do now. The newly found tax revenue would probably not cover the cost, and as more people quit, the revenue would decrease even more, while the costs of rehab would sky rocket! I myself, believe that Darwin would eventually "take out the trash", and those hard core druggies would pass into the pages of history, leaving behind a legacy of failure, loss of self respect, and loss of other's respect. They would become the poster children for a new drugless society. Only this time around, it would be an individual's decision, not a gov one. Take away the risk, and there will be no thrill left to it. The "Bad Boys" of society would have to find something else to do to be "Bad".
Just as there were no more "Speak Easys" when prohibition ended, there would be no more dealers, or "crack houses" if it were legal. That is, as long as the gov supplied dope were the same quality as the cartel's, and it was in ample supply. Also, the central American, and south American cartels would be out of business, because we would now be free to grow and produce our own supplies locally. So now, what would THEY do? !!!
Our gov would probably start sending billions of dollars of aid to those poor out of work cartel personnel, and their decimated govs. ( More money we cannot afford to spend )
I would say go ahead and legalize, refuse to send aid to countries that supported themselves by selling dope here, keep the quality and quantity up, ( wiping out the competition ) and put ALL the taxed proceeds to the rehab facilities at first. The rehab need would dwindle down soon enough, with some help from Darwin, and everything would eventually level out. I predict that we would see a dramatic drop in drug use, as the only present model depicts, and we would save billions in the long run. Then they put that money to other uses, like border protection, since the illegal influx would grow exponentially, due to loss of work down south of the border.
Well, I said my piece, I hope it doesn't sound too much like rambling.
"Why do they serve applesauce at church socials?" DocFNT
