Pubdate: Sat, 18 Apr 2009
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Ralph W. Conner
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n380/a01.html

DRUG LEGALIZATION

A Cure For Budget Deficit?

Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. agrees with Law Enforcement Against 
Prohibition (LEAP), a collection of retired FBI, DEA, cops, 
prosecutors and judges, that America should abandon the ineffective 
war on drugs and consider legalization, regulation and taxation 
instead ["Let's begin the discussion about legalizing drugs," 
seattletimes.com, Opinion, April 2).

Faced with a billion-dollar budget deficit, Washington could benefit 
financially from LEAP's proposal. Illegal drugs constitute 
substantial cash-crop opportunities for cash-starved state budgets.

In December 2006, Seattle Times reporter Emily Heffter wrote that 
Virginia-based researcher Jon Gettman found pot rivals apples as the 
state's biggest cash crop ["Analyst finds that pot rivals apples as 
state's biggest cash crop," seattletimes.com, Dec. 23, 2006].

According to Gettman, marijuana has become the biggest cash crop in 
the United States, bringing in more annually than corn and wheat 
combined. And Washington is the nation's fifth-largest producer, 
behind California, Tennessee, Kentucky and Hawaii.

Rather than forfeiting millions in potential tax revenue every year 
by criminalizing marijuana, Washington should consider legalization 
since marijuana is, as Gettman said, a "pervasive and ineradicable 
part of the national economy."

- -- Ralph W. Conner, Chicago
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom