Article today by Lou Dobbs which, at least on the surface, seems against legalizing Marijuana. But he presents arguments that, to me at any rate, seem more convincing the other way.
"Another Nobel laureate, Gary S. Becker, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, told me: "It (legalization) would certainly save a lot of resources for society. We could tax drug use so it could even lead to government revenue. . We would be able to able to greatly cut the number of people in prison, which would save resources for state and local government."
But the cost of drug abuse goes well beyond the expense to control supply and demand. Drug users cost the country $160 billion each year in lost productivity. Parental substance abuse is responsible for $10 billion of the $14 billion spent nationally each year on child welfare costs. And drugs are involved in seven out of every 10 cases of child abuse and neglect."
As for those questions in the second paragraph, I'd love to see those figures matched up against alcohol. Mr. Dobbs. How much productivity do we lose because of alcohol? How many broken homes have alcohol inside them? Another question is how much of that 160% is caused by Marijauna and how much by harder drugs that would remain illegal?
At any rate, Mr. Dobbs need not worry--legalized drugs are't on the table anytime soon.
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