Where Is The Amendment Banning Pot???

SAN FRANCISCO - One of the lead plaintiffs in the medical marijuana case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday says she'll defy the ruling and continue to smoke pot. "I'm going to have to be prepared to be arrested," said Diane Monson, who smokes marijuana several times a day to relieve back pain. The Supreme Court ruled that federal authorities may arrest and prosecute people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, concluding that state laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug. The Bush administration had argued that states, even the 10 states with medical marijuana laws, could not defy the federal Controlled Substances Act, which declares marijuana to be not only illegal, but of no medical value. 500 Distinguished Economists Say: Legalize Marijuana Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, has released a report that 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 92-year-old 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." Miron's paper, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," argues that: * Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system that treats marijuana like alcohol is currently treated 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. The Marijuana Policy Project, which funded the study, points out the impact of such sums. $14 billion would, for example, cover the securing of all "loose nukes" in the former Soviet Union in less than three years. "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. "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.' “ Of course, as libertarians we’d much rather see marijuana totally decriminalized and completely free from taxes -- and alcohol treated the same way. The last thing the federal government needs is more money, from any source. Still, reform such as that proposed in this report would go a long way towards ending the worst aspects of marijuana prohibition. (Source: Marijuana Policy Project press release and report: http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/ ) * * * “It’s absolutely disgraceful...” (Dr. Milton Friedman on Marijuana Prohibition) “There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana. $7.7 billion is a lot of money, but that is one of the lesser evils. Our failure to successfully enforce these laws is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in Colombia. I haven't even included the harm to young people. It's absolutely disgraceful to think of picking up a 22-year-old for smoking pot. More disgraceful is the denial of marijuana for medical purposes." -- Dr. Milton Friedman, quoted in Forbes magazine: Read Here * * * * * * * * "Good News, Bad News, Unbelievable News" is written by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, and he has been a Finalist for the Mencken Award, given by the Free Press Association for "Outstanding Journalism in Support of Liberty."