Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jan 2014
Source: Union Leader (Manchester, NH)
Copyright: 2014 The Union Leader Corp.
Contact:  http://www.unionleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/761
Note: Out-of-state letters are seldom published.
Author: Bill Walker
Note: Bill Walker of Plainfield is a member of the Sullivan County 
Republican Committee.

NH NEEDS TO END THE PROHIBITION OF MARIJUANA

The United States had no drug laws until 1914. Yet somehow our
pioneering ancestors managed to build railroads across the continent,
invent the airplane and electric light, and build the biggest economy
in history.

America before the Drug Enforcement Administration had no drug gangs,
no drug violence, and low crime. Adult drug users just went to the
drug store and bought drugs without drama. No one sold drugs in
schools. There were no huge drug profits, no overseas terrorist drug
lords, and no wrong-address SWAT team raids at 3 a.m.

This week the New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote on a return to
personal responsibility. House Bill 492, cosponsored by three
Republicans and two Democrats, would decriminalize possession of small
amounts of marijuana. The vote is scheduled for today.

The bill is opposed by New Hampshire police chiefs. Perhaps they fear
(correctly) that legalization would empty prisons and lower crime
rates, just as happened after Prohibition was repealed. It is also
opposed by Gov. Maggie Hassan, who, like Gov. John Lynch before her,
prefers to tax New Hampshire property owners to pay for prohibition
rather than tax marijuana.

Nearly everyone else in the state supports legalizing and taxing
marijuana. Most New Hampshire taxpayers are tired of paying to
imprison their neighbors for use of a mild drug. I've never used
marijuana, but I've paid a lot of taxes for prohibition.

Our economy can't afford to pay for basics, let alone for failed
programs like the drug war. The U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2013 was
more than $640 billion, bringing us to more than $17 trillion in
(on-budget) debt. Our GDP is only $16.7 trillion. We can't just keep
adding programs forever. Once something has failed for a few decades,
it's time to let it go.

The Cato Institute estimated in September 2010 that the direct cost of
drug prohibition nationwide is "roughly $41.3 billion per year in
government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition, $25.7 billion
spent by state and local governments, $15.6 billion by the federal
government."

Their report also estimated that drug legalization would yield tax
revenue of $46.7 billion annually.

The indirect costs are hard to calculate, but they clearly are many
times larger. The 1.7 million people arrested for drug offenses every
year lose tens of billions of dollars in lost work time and future
employability. The crimes committed to get money for overpriced
illegal drugs make American cities dangerous and unfriendly places.

Internationally, the Taliban, the FARC in Colombia, the Mexican drug
cartels, and many other terrorist groups exist on the funds from
selling artificially expensive drugs. According to the Mexican
government, drug turf wars killed 28,000 people in that country from
2006-10. None of these groups would get a dollar from legal drugs.

Legalizing marijuana would have other practical benefits. As has been
seen in other states, people who don't use drugs aren't going to run
out and start using marijuana. What will happen is "drug switching."
People who now may be binge drinkers or OxyContin users will switch to
the safer and milder drug.

No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose, and it doesn't have the
severe physical effects of many other drugs of abuse. While HB 492
will keep it illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, THC,
the active ingredient in mariuana, when in the blood doesn't affect
traffic safety as severely as alcohol does.

In addition to the economic and health benefits, ending prohibition is
simply part of "Live free or die." New Hampshire doesn't need federal
agencies to run our lives for us.

Bill Walker of Plainfield is a member of the Sullivan County
Republican Committee.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D