Marijuana USA on CNBC tonight at 10.00pm

[malaise]

Looks like the 'legalize it' push is on in earnest as medical ganja is the new economy.

I can see the day when JA will import ganja from the US - for ages I've been telling hubby I will live to see that day. Peter Tosh was right!

[sarcasmo]

1. Helped balance Colorado's budget, you would think that would be enough for the Federal dummies.

The war on drugs must keep a lot of people in comfy jobs.

[salvorhardin]

2. At the end of the Rachel Maddow show the other night...

They played an old newsreel from the end of prohibition where the reporter said ending prohibition would create an estimated 500,000 jobs. Obviously, this is pre-automation so it'd be nowhere near as many today but at a time when so many jobs have been lost, I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder what nation wide legalization of cannabis would mean for the economy. Both in terms of increased tax revenues and jobs.

Of course, cannabis legalization would also result in a loss of jobs in the prison industry so maybe it'd be a wash.

[RZM]

3. I don't know if it's coming as soon as some people think

But it's definitely coming. It'll probably be a graduated process. Medical marijuana first, followed by decriminalization of small amounts, followed finally by full legalization.

On a related note, our debts (at the federal and state levels) are so astronomical that marijuana legalization would be a tiny drop in the bucket. But tiny drops will matter when people are asked to make sacrifices in their medicare, medicaid, SS, etc. Once bedrock benefits come under the axe, large numbers of people will start demanding new revenue streams and other types of cuts anywhere and everywhere they can be found. That's when we'll start to see the necessary sea change in public opinion.

The legalization movement can only get bigger. You already have a core of left liberals and right libertarians that support it. Right now that's not nearly enough people to make real changes, but they aren't going anywhere. Once those who could go either way are asked to make sacrifices, they will suddenly care, leaving only the hardcore anti-drug folks, who will eventually be too small in number to stop it.

[Earth_First]

4. 'The Unrec Army' will deploy in 3...2...1...n/t