THE WAR ON POT: AMERICA'S $42 BILLION ANNUAL BOONDOGGLE

What else could we spend $42 billion each year on? Health insurance for kids? Better paid teachers? It's our choice. 
What would you buy if you had an extra $42 billion to spend every year? What might our government buy if it suddenly had that much money dropped onto its lap every year?
For one thing, it might pay for the entire $7 billion annual increase in the State Children's Health Insurance Program that President Bush is threatening to veto because of its cost -- and there'd still be $35 billion left over. 
Or perhaps you'd hire 880,000 schoolteachers at the average U.S.  teacher salary of $47,602 per year. 
Or give every one of our current teachers a 30 percent raise ( at a cost of $15 billion, according to the American Federation of Teachers ) and use what's left to take a $27 billion whack out of the federal deficit. 
Or use all $42 billion for a massive tax cut that would put an extra $140 in the pockets of every person in the country -- $560 for a family of four. 

The mind reels at the ways such a massive sum of money could be put to use. 

Why $42 billion? Because that's what our current marijuana laws cost American taxpayers each year, according to a new study by researcher Jon Gettman, Ph.D.  -- $10.7 billion in direct law enforcement costs, and $31.1 billion in lost tax revenues.  And that may be an underestimate, at least on the law enforcement side, since Gettman made his calculations before the FBI released its latest arrest statistics in late September.  The new FBI stats show an all-time record 829,627 marijuana arrests in 2006, 43,000 more than in 2005. 
That's like arresting every man, woman and child in the state of North Dakota plus every man, woman, and child in Des Moines, Iowa on marijuana charges ...  every year.  Arrests for marijuana possession -- not sales or trafficking, just possession -- totaled 738,916.  By comparison, there were 611,523 arrests last year for all violent crimes combined. 
Basing his calculations mainly on U.S.  government statistics, Gettman concludes that marijuana in the U.S.  is a $113 billion dollar business.  That's a huge chunk of economic activity that is unregulated and untaxed because it's almost entirely off the books. 
Of course, the cost of our marijuana laws goes far beyond lost tax revenues and money spent on law enforcement.  By consigning a very popular product -- one that's been used by about 100 million Americans, according to government surveys -- to the criminal underground, we've effectively cut legitimate businesspeople out of the market and handed a monopoly to criminals and gangs. 
Strangely, government officials love to warn us that some unsavory characters profit off of marijuana sales, while ignoring the obvious: Our prohibitionist laws handed them the marijuana business in the first place, effectively giving marijuana dealers a $113 billion free ride. 
All this might make some sense if marijuana were so terribly dangerous that it needed to be banned at all costs, but science long ago came to precisely the opposite conclusion.  Compared to alcohol, for example, marijuana is astonishingly safe.  For one thing, marijuana is much less addictive than alcohol, with just nine percent of users becoming dependent, as opposed to 15 percent for booze.  And marijuana is much less toxic.  Heavy drinking is well-documented to damage the brain and liver, and to increase the risk of many types of cancer.  Marijuana, on the other hand, has never caused a medically documented overdose death, and scientists are still debating whether even heavy marijuana use causes any permanent harm at all.  And then there's violence.  Again, the scientific findings are overwhelming: Booze incites violence and aggression; marijuana doesn't. 

Despite all that, we now arrest one American every 38 seconds on marijuana charges.  And we do so at a staggering cost in law enforcement expenses, lost tax revenues, and staggering profits for criminal gangs. 

The alternative is clear: Regulate marijuana just as we do beer, wine, and liquor.  The only thing lacking is the political will.

Executive Summary

• Government prohibition of marijuana is the subject of ongoing debate.

• One issue in this debate is the effect of marijuana prohibition on government budgets. Prohibition entails direct enforcement costs and prevents taxation of marijuana production and sale.

• This report examines the budgetary implications of legalizing marijuana – taxing and regulating it like other goods – in all fifty states and at the federal level.

• The report estimates that legalizing marijuana would save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. $5.3 billion of this savings would accrue to state and local governments, while $2.4 billion would accrue to the federal government.

• The report also estimates that marijuana legalization would yield tax revenue of $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like all other goods and $6.2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco.

• Whether marijuana legalization is a desirable policy depends on many factors other than the budgetary impacts discussed here. But these impacts should be included in a rational debate about marijuana policy.

Why doctors won’t prescribe medical marijuana?

The large majority of doctors refuse to prescribe Medical Marijuana even if it would benefit the patient. It’s all about corruption and money. You see doctors go to school for a long time. They also deal with a lot of crap from stupid uneducated patients. Think about it for one minute, as a doctor you go to school during the prime of your youth, study 24-7, and when you have finished you’re stuck working long hours until retirement. The entire world revolves around money, and doctors think they deserve more of it. The easiest way for doctors to do this is through kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. If a doctor prescribes a large amount of xyz brand drugs, xyz will pay for the doctor to fly to the Bahamas, for fully paid all-inclusive vacation “drug related seminar”. The seminar has to exist to prevent any frauds charges (usually one hour) over a period of 1-2 weeks. Other ways doctors make money is using stupid people as guinea pigs. The next time your doctor asks you to try a new drug, be wary. The doctor is getting paid huge kickbacks for taking notes on your reactions to the new drug. I have seen this a million times. My ex girlfriend was given new birth control pills. The doctor said it was supposed to be the Holy Grail with no side effects. Sure enough it was a disaster. He wanted to follow up with her ever week, and encouraged her to continue taking the new drug even though it had horrible side effects. Why would he endanger her life? For $50 per weekly check-up. The drug companies are allowed to pay “kickback” doctors for their time to fill out forms. The doctor’s can sometime get as many as 3 daily visits from guinea pigs. This is an extra $150 in their back pockets every single working day. This money adds up over time. And the peer pressure from other doctors is over whelming. They are all involved in the kickback scandals as well, and they don’t want to lose any money by prescribing anyone medical marijuana. Doctors want it to be illegal and not available medically to anyone who needs it.

The thing with medical marijuana is that it involves a lot of paper work. And the government does not pay the doctor to fill out all these forms. The doctor will then be plagued with more forms since marijuana is so carefully scrutinized. The doctor would just be creating more work for himself with no financial gain. Of course he is going to deny you medical marijuana. Then he’ll tell you made up specifications that marijuana is bad because you cannot measure its dosage like pharmaceuticals. He said there is too large of an error getting the same amount of drug into your system each dose. This is completely wrong. It’s a simply lie. Almost all pharmaceutical drugs are manufactured with plants and they can control the amount of drug perfectly right? What’s the difference? There is no difference. Marijuana is grown with different genetics that are all controlled in laboratories for THC content. No different than any other medication. As for consumption, you can bake with it to attain an exact dosage every time. And you can inhale a marijuana cigarette that is controlled by weight. There are no dangers overdosing with marijuana, yet for pain management doctors want to prescribe strong opiates. I am currently using the Duragesic Patch otherwise known as fentanyl transdermal system. This stuff is stronger than Methadone, the drug they give to heroine users to wean them off the junk. Methadone is stronger than morphine. This patch is one step down from heroin. The patch contains enough drugs to last 72 hours (3 days) and if the patch leaks (which does happen) you can soak up enough drugs through your skin and possibly die. This fentanyl patch was used to commit murder in a CSI episode (television series). The problem with this patch is that it takes a good 5-9 hours for your body to absorb enough drugs when applying a new patch. So your waiting in pain for what seems an eternity. Marijuana is instant pain relief when inhaled. The patch also runs out early after about 60 hours depending on the outdoor temperatures and you activity levels. When the temperatures rise outside, the patch will transmit more opiates into your bloodstream. You can easily overdose. You cannot go into saunas or hot tubs and shower quickly. It also hurts my kidneys making it difficult to urinate, dry mouth, and seriously horrible headaches. You also can just stop taking this drug cold turkey, you’ll go through horrible withdrawal symptoms similar to those quitting heroin. Marijuana on the other hand is more controllable. If you have something important to do like drive a car, you can lower your dose. The patch doesn’t allow for this. Also, the patch transmits all night while you are sleeping, so when you wake up in the morning you have a lot of opiates in your systems, and it’s very hard to get moving. Marijuana can be used to help kill the pain before sleep. Once asleep the marijuana leaves your system after 2 hours and you can wake up refreshed in the morning ready to go to work and be productive. I just want to enlighten you about how evil doctors can be, and to help you get the medical marijuana you need. Since doctors are financially motivated rather than motivated to help those in pain, offer your doctor $200 dollars to fill out the initial medical marihuana forms, and $50 dollars for each subsequent form. A random gift would also help speed along the process like gift certificates to a fine restaurant for “Christmas” or a “birthday”. You have to lower yourself to the level of the pharmaceuticals companies.

But there is hope, Moses Znaimer is quitting is career in television to start up a Medical Marijuana company, Cannsat Pharmaceuticals Inc. If anyone can get this done right, it’s Moses.

If you have any personal Medical Marijuana experiences, please contact us so we can share your story and help our readers.

DEPRESSION AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Depression can be a result of a hormonal change, or chemical imbalance, or can be situational—such as loss of spouse, job, pet, or physical/mental function.  Because of the hormonal connection, depression is twice as likely to affect women then men.  18 million Americans are affected.   It can range from mild to severe, temporary to chronic.  It is the leading cause of disability in America costing just under 50 Billion dollars annually in health care and lost job productivity.
Symptoms of depression include:
· Prolonged sadness. Bouts of crying
· Sleeplessness or excessive sleeping
· Loss of appetite or excessive overeating
· Sexual dysfunction
· The loss of pleasure in everyday activities
· Feelings of hopelessness
· Feelings of low self esteem, or self loathing
· Thoughts of suicide
· Lack of energy unrelated to any physical illness
· Chronic pain that doesn’t improve with treatment
· Excessive Anxiety and irritability
· An inability to concentrate

Typically prescription drugs are used when a depression lasts longer than several weeks. The most common drugs used are called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors—known more commonly as SSRI’s—are the treatment of choice.   Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft are the most common SSRI’s.  One of the drawbacks is that these medications usually take up to four weeks and can have many side effects.  These complications can include anxiety, sexual dysfunction, and sleep disorders.   Older drugs, such as Elavil, are also still used although the severity of side effects is much higher than the SSRI’s. A new group of drugs have recently been introduced, such as, Serzone, that act on both the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. Symptoms from these drugs may include nausea, dry mouth and constipation.

Those patients who have used marijuana have seen a significant mood improvement without the side effects from the regularly prescribed drugs.  Even those suffering with bi-polar disease were able to claim improvement when they combined the use of marijuana with therapy sessions.  They found that they had fewer episodes of repeating the ‘cycle’ of manic and depression.
Many patients with anxiety disorder who use marijuana to relax, also reap benefits.  It aids in insomnia which is one of the biggest complaints of those with depression and increases appetite for those who have lost their interest in food.
Studies have shown an approved level of functionality in patients who have added the use of medical marijuana to their treatment program.  Their work attendance has improved, they show an interest in life, start caring for themselves, cognitive skills return along with an ability to concentrate, social interactions resume, and normal sleeping patterns replace sleepless nights. 
Patients appreciate the fact that if they are not also on any of the other medications for Depression, that they have virtually no side effects.  They can take a few puffs of marijuana before going to bed, have a restful nights sleep and wake up refreshed and not groggy.  Other sleep medication leaves people in a ‘morning fog’ that could be dangerous to them. But probably the biggest benefit is that it works within a few minutes, rather than the conventional drugs which take up to 4 weeks.  This is significant for someone who is suicidal or non-responsive.

Medical Marijuana, Alzheimer’s & Memory

For several centuries marijuana was utilized as an analgesic for pain relief.  Up until the 1940’s marijuana was a legal substance and often used to alleviate a variety of ailments—much like the advocates of the use of medical marijuana are saying today.  The federal government of the United States classifies marijuana as a high risk substance. Yet the proponents of medical marijuana state that it is rarely an addictive drug.  In addition, there has never been a death by overdose on cannabis!
One of the medical areas that have benefited the most has been with Alzheimer’s patients.  This form of dementia can leave an individual trapped in a healthy body with a memory that spans previous decades but can’t remember the most recent of events. The regression is gradual with an individual first feeling ‘forgetful’ yet it is much more than just forgetting where one left their car keys—it’s more of an inability to recognize how those keys are used.  Eventually, the disease also takes the healthy body and turns it into a shell of its former self.  Many times Alzheimer’s victims lose their appetite, or even forget how to feed themselves at the most severe stages.
On any given Alzheimer’s ward at a nursing home, you can see patients walking up and down the corridor hundreds of times during the course of the day.  As, the disease progresses, they will get to the end of the corridor and just stand there—forgetting that they need to turn around!  There is even a time of day when this activity becomes more active—it’s when the sun starts to set and is referred to clinically as ‘sun downing’.  The patient is nervous, very agitated, can become aggressive or very emotional. 
Individual studies have found that when a patient drinks a tea made from the marijuana leaves that their agitation dissipates and they are able to settle down for a peaceful evening.  Their whole mood changes. Their appetite increases and meal time is no longer a fight to get some nourishment in to them.
As a result of studies done by scientists at Madrid’s Complutense University they were able to publish in the Journal of Neuroscience that cannabinoids, a compound found in marijuana, reduces the ‘pathological processes’ associated with Alzheimer’s disease.  It appears that there may be a strong link to these cannabinoids that can help with new drug development.  Apparently, the cannabinoid receptors that we all have in our brains were much lower than those with healthy brains. These cannabinoid receptors work in conjunction with microglia cells to keep the immune system healthy.  When these cells perceive themselves to be under attack, they cause an inflammation in the brain.  The introduction of cannabinoids prevents that inflammation from taking place.
Medical Marijuana has not been proven to improve one’s short or long term memory, many would argue it is destructive to one or both, but it clearly has a positive effect on the disease of Alzheimer’s.  First, it can delay the progression of the disease by preventing the inflammation to take place within the brain. Second, it can help with weight gain since food refusal is a very big problem for those with Alzheimer’s. Third, it helps with easing the symptoms of depression, acting as a mood enhancer. And fourth, it can ease that sense of agitation and aggressive behavior that often goes hand in hand with the disease.

Medical Marijuana and Arthritis

More than one in ten Americans suffer with arthritis.   The two most common forms of arthritis are Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid—they are similar in that they are both forms of an insufficient immune system which starts attacking itself causing inflammation.  With Rheumatoid arthritis over activity of the B cells cause antibodies to attack tissues found in the joints.  The joints swell, become increasingly painful, range of motion becomes limited and this will continue to deteriorate with time.

Osteoarthritis is the same malfunction of the immune system—thought to be brought on by a virus-but it manifests in the bones causing the bones to erode and cartilage to break down till the bone is on top of bone, with nothing to ‘cushion’ the daily activities.  Many Americans have hip or knee replacements as a result of it.

Sometimes steroids are used to maintain present function and to lessen discomfort.  But this comes at a high physical price.  Steroids, used over a prolonged time, can cause kidney failure, heart attacks, and basically all the organs to become tissue paper thin.  This can in turn add more medical maladies than not.  Imagine a bowel that bursts because the wall of the intestine had become so thin that the waste broke through the wall.  This is not uncommon with prolonged steroid use.   There is a price to pay.  Steroids can cause ulcers, depress your respiration, and cause drastic change in weight. And then it becomes a philosophical study such as ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ with the new question being ‘which came first, steroids or depression?’

Studies have shown that the use of marijuana can be an effective treatment for both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.  Patients using marijuana claim an increase of mobility, less inflammation—which causes pain-- and less stiffness that is usually affiliated with rising in the morning.

Research done at Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that with the use of marijuana, patients were able to actually reduce their dosages of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—known more commonly as NSAIDs.  These are potentially harmful and can cause numerous side-effects, further complicating the problems associated with arthritis.
These researchers found an acid component within marijuana that has the anti-inflammatory equivalency to the drug ‘indomethacin,’ but without the gastrointestinal side effects.

Tetra-hydracannibinol is also a primary component of marijuana.  When the body ingests this the body metabolizes it into a metabolite that aids both in pain relief and in reduction of swelling.  Animal testing found a synthetic form as being effective against both acute and chronic inflammation.  In addition it safeguarded joint tissue by preventing its destruction.

Bottom line is, researchers have found marijuana to be effective in both pain management and as an anti-inflammatory. .  It has also demonstrated effective analgesic effects that are the equivalent of morphine.  And probably most impressive is the fact that it does these things with minimal side effects, and no addiction problems that are associated with many of the current drugs. 

MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND DIABETES

Interestingly, studies completed in early 2006 at The Medical College of Georgia, found that one of the compounds in marijuana may actually save the eyesight of those with diabetes.  Cannabidiol is a substance that actually seems to protect the eye from destroying itself by growing leaky blood vessels.  This is a common problem with diabetics, known as diabetic retinopathy.  It is the leading cause of blindness and affects nearly 16 million diabetic Americans alone.

When diabetics are unable to manage their high glucose levels the retina becomes deprived of oxygen, also known as ischemia.  Nerve endings then produce more glutamate. The cells begin to malfunction, no longer recognizing what should, and should not, be in a healthy cell. The microglial cells, whose function it is to cleanse the body by watching for intruders.  These cells now are alerted that something is going wrong with the nerve cells and they begin an inflammation process.  This signals the retina to grow more blood vessels.  In a twist of bad luck, these leaky blood vessels destroy vision by causing the death of nerve cells.

It’s at this stage when the body then starts releasing cannabinoids, a compound found within ourselves and in marijuana.  These stop the glutamate release and then produce an enzyme to kill the cannabinoids.  Research has now found that Cannabidiol, which is an antioxidant, then interrupts these destructive sequences.

Dr. Gregory Liou, a molecular biologist researching this retinal phenomena at the Medical College of Georgia, has received a grant from the American Diabetes Association for $300,000.  His goal is to be able to stop this process in the early stages when the retina first signals the central nervous system in the brain to start growing new blood vessels.

According to the January 2006 issue of American Journal of Pathology, Dr. Liou states, “What we believe cannabidiol does is go in here as an antioxidant to neutralize the toxic superoxides.  It inhibits the self-destructive system and allows the self-produced endogenous cannabinoids to stay there longer by inhibiting the enzyme that destroys them.”  Studies completed with diabetic mice and rats have shown an injection of cannabidiol to be very effective in preventing the sequence of events that lead to blindness.

It is his hope that along with daily insulin, diabetics will receive cannabidiols to stop this self-destructive behavior dead in its tracks.  Those who smoke marijuana for medical purposes may find some protection from this compound. 

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

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, finds a June 2005 report by Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University.

The report has been endorsed by more than 530 distinguished economists, who have signed 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."

Chief among the endorsing economists are three Nobel Laureates in economics: Dr. Milton Friedman of the Hoover Institute, Dr. George Akerlof of the University of California at Berkeley, and Dr. Vernon Smith of George Mason University.

Dr. 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.

These impacts are considerable, according to the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. For example, $14 billion in annual combined annual savings and revenues would cover the securing of all "loose nukes" in the former Soviet Union (estimated by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb at $30 billion) in less than three years. Just one year's savings would cover the full cost of anti-terrorism port security measures required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. The Coast Guard has estimated these costs, covering 3,150 port facilities and 9,200 vessels, at $7.3 billion total.

"As Milton Friedman and over 500 economists have now said, it's time for a serious debate about whether marijuana prohibition makes any sense," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "We know that prohibition hasn't kept marijuana away from kids, since year after year 85% of high school seniors tell government survey-takers that marijuana is 'easy to get.' Conservatives, especially, are beginning to ask whether we're getting our money's worth or simply throwing away billions of tax dollars that might be used to protect America from real threats like those unsecured Soviet-era nukes."

Use the links at the left to read the full report, see the open letter, or view the entire list of endorsing economists.

Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure

Executive Summary

National prohibition of alcohol (1920-33)--the "noble experiment"--was undertaken to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. The results of that experiment clearly indicate that it was a miserable failure on all counts. The evidence affirms sound economic theory, which predicts that prohibition of mutually beneficial exchanges is doomed to failure.

The lessons of Prohibition remain important today. They apply not only to the debate over the war on drugs but also to the mounting efforts to drastically reduce access to alcohol and tobacco and to such issues as censorship and bans on insider trading, abortion, and gambling.^[1]

Although consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of Prohibition, it subsequently increased. Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; crime increased and became "organized"; the court and prison systems were stretched to the breaking point; and corruption of public officials was rampant. No measurable gains were made in productivity or reduced absenteeism. Prohibition removed a significant source of tax revenue and greatly increased government spending. It led many drinkers to switch to opium, marijuana, patent medicines, cocaine, and other dangerous substances that they would have been unlikely to encounter in the absence of Prohibition.

Those results are documented from a variety of sources, most of which, ironically, are the work of supporters of Prohibition--most economists and social scientists supported it. Their findings make the case against Prohibition that much stronger