Marijuana Should Be Legalized, Taxed Like alcohol

By Friday, the War on Drugs has cost taxpayers more than $11 billion, according to drugsense.org. In an economy where every penny counts, I suggest we divert the money being allocated to arresting citizens for possession of small amounts of marijuana to increasing teachers’ salaries. Not only do we pay enormous amounts of money to support the multi-decade War on Drugs, but we also pay to house those who are detained because of minor marijuana-related charges.

Since the prohibition of marijuana has proven to be extremely ineffective, the government should take the opportunity to capitalize on America’s fascination with marijuana rather than spend more taxpayer dollars fighting the losing battle. A study called “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition” was conducted by more than 530 distinguished economists. Their results prompted them to sign an open letter to President Bush stating they believed marijuana should be “legal, but taxed and regulated like other goods.”

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