In the spirit of newfound left-right anti-drug-war togetherness I discovered in the post below (me and Freepers agree on something!), I bring news of this new report from the Marijuana Policy Project. Conservative economist Milton Friedman, longtime opponent of prohibition, has signed on to a new Harvard study and letter to President Bush to bring an end to marijuana prohibition:

Milton Friedman, 500+ Economists Call for Marijuana Regulation Debate; New Report Projects $10-14 Billion Annual Savings and Revenues

Savings/Revenues Projected in New Study by Harvard Economist Could Pay For:
**Implementing Required Port Security Plans in Just One Year
**Securing Soviet-Era “Loose Nukes” in Under Three Years

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — In a report released today, Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year. In response, a group of more than 500 distinguished economists — led by Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman — released an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for “an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition,” adding, “We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods.”

Using data from a variety of federal and state government sources, Miron’s paper, “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” concludes:

**Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement-$2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels.

**Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.

It just seems so imminently logical, doesn’t it? Locking up potheads is a waste of time and resources. Pot doesn’t harm society and causes negligible harm to its users. The economic benefits of legal hemp in the textile, fuel, and food industries aren’t even included in that $14B figure! When looked at from an economic, medical, social policy, or criminal justice perspective, marijuana prohibition just doesn’t make sense.

So why do we keep locking up potheads? Why is the herb still forbidden? Follow the money. Who benefits from illegal weed? Alcohol companies, petrochemical companies, cotton producers, and pharmaceutical companies not wanting a competitor is one possible answer. Police, prosecutors, attorneys, constructors of prisons, prison guard unions, and industries and communities benefitting from prisons is another good answer. Politicians, religious leaders, and pundits who want to appear “tough on crime” and equate responsible marijuana use with some sort of moral failure is yet another good answer. Along those lines, I found this great comment from a post on TalkLeft in their post about nonSense’n’bluster’s Snitch Bill:

One aspect of our drug laws that needs more attention is the way they help to create a parasite society. The overwhelming majority of those who are locked up are poor and/or minorities, who tend to vote Democratic. They are sent to and provide jobs in prisons in white rural counties, which tend to vote Republican. While there, these counties can count prisoners for census purposes, allowing these counties to get more federal funds and in some cases preventing these underpopulated counties from having to be reapportioned.

In a parasite society you want to live off the host but not kill the host. Harsher drug laws are perfect for this purpose in that they ensure a constant supply of prisoners because of the popularity of recreational drug use.

Decriminalization of our drug laws would cause these parasites to have to go cold turkey on their dependence on these repressive laws. However, I think they should take the cure because in the long run it would do them and the rest of us some good.

Or as I always say: The War on (Some American Citizens With Certain Non-Pharmaceutical) Drugs is fueled by the prohibition of marijuana, because so many people use it. Potheads are grist for the prison/industrial mill. There’s not enough hard drug users to sustain the status quo, because those users are few in number and have an annoying tendency to die