Madison NORML

Unfortunately, a sentence that makes the letter a little clearer was edited out to make it fit: "Last week, a new study reported that marijuana is our nation's largest cash crop. "

As submitted, the first paragraph originally read:

"Recent articles and letters about a proposal to further raise Wisconsin's cigarette tax got me thinking. Last week, a new study reported that marijuana is our nation's largest cash crop. Despite almost 70 years of marijuana prohibition and nearly 800,000 arrests per year, most for simple possession, the cannabis market continues to grow. The report concluded cannabis should be taxed and regulated, like we do now with tobacco and alcohol."

The report referred to was John Gettman's study that was widely covered by the media via the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press, Pot Is Called Biggest Cash Crop, click here. Read Gettman's full report: click here.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Pubdate: December 31, 2006
Author: Gary Storck

TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA AND TAX IT

Recent articles and letters about a proposal to further raise Wisconsin's cigarette tax got me thinking.

Despite almost 70 years of marijuana prohibition and nearly 800,000 arrests per year, most for simple possession, the cannabis market continues to grow. The report concluded cannabis should be taxed and regulated, like we do now with tobacco and alcohol.

This is not a new idea, and coincidentally, the report comes just days after the death of former Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond Shafer.

A conservative Republican, Shafer had chaired President Richard Nixon's commission on marijuana. The commission concluded marijuana users "are essentially indistinguishable from their nonmarijuana using peers by any fundamental criterion other than their marijuana use."

They also found, "Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety."

Unfortunately, as we all know, Nixon's response was to reject the report and launch a full-blown war on pot smokers now in its fourth decade.

Today, we are still trodding down Nixon's dark road. Our prisons are jammed, our civil liberties are under siege, and even sick people are fair game in what has been for years our longest war. Still, as far down this wrong road as we are today, it is never too late to turn back.

In a world facing global warming, natural disasters, pandemics, terrorism, poverty and starvation, how can anyone say pot prohibition should be any kind of priority? Not only does it offer economic benefits and the creation of new jobs from farmers to cannabis baristas, but also safer communities with cannabis as a safer substitute for alcohol.

Tax and regulate and let the cannabis industry blossom.

- Gary Storck, co-founder of Madison NORML Wisconsin State Journal