A 'Modest Proposal'

Russ Smith writes, in SpliceToday.com, that the case for legalizing marijuana makes more sense today than ever.

With the recession getting worse by the day, it's a legitimate point to raise.

As Smith points out, the government, if it legalized marijuana, could "regulate the potency and purity," prohibit sales to anyone under 21, insist that "requisite health warnings would be prominently placed on each unit sold" and realize a significant windfall from the taxes on sales of the substance.

In the process, the black market would be virtually wiped out, and law enforcement could be much more efficient, focusing more of its attention on investigating and pursuing suspects in violent crimes. Last year, observes Smith, nearly 900,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations. Nearly 90% of them were "nabbed for 'personal use.'"

How many murderers or rapists slipped through law enforcement's fingers because the officers were too busy, as Smith puts it, needlessly disrupting lives?

"Violent crime ebbs and flows, often depending on locale, but someone please explain to me why people who favor smoking pot, which is arguably much less dangerous than excessive consumption of alcohol, are the prey of police officers across the country?" Smith writes.

"Maybe it’s a matter of low-hanging fruit, but the waste of time in arresting offenders, court appearances and in many instances, incarceration, is a crime in and of itself."

Even so, Smith acknowledges that legalization is unlikely.

"[T]he political bureaucracy ... would take years to implement such a dramatic change," he writes. "[A]ny economic windfall is in the future. Which is a shame, since given today’s perilous financial climate, a new infusion of cash, every single day, would help shorten a recession.

"Then again, if legislators acted now the benefits could be realized in time for the next, and inevitable, economic downturn."

Of course, there is an historical precedent for this. In the 1930s, less than a year after Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as president, the United States ended Prohibition. Organized crime lost its black market profits on alcohol while society gained jobs and tax revenue.

Smith says the legalization proposal is worth considering.

"[C]orrecting the travesty of arresting harmless and nonviolent citizens, plus the monetary gain, is extraordinarily compelling," he writes. "All that’s needed is a group of politicians with vision and guts to bring the issue to the forefront of debate in the United States."