Guardian UK: The fiscal case for legalising marijuana

[marmar]

The fiscal case for legalising marijuana
It's a no-brainer: ending the 'war on drugs' would create jobs, cut law enforcement costs, raise revenue – and benefit patients

Samantha McCann
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 June 2011


Marcy Dolin, of Rohnert Park, California, smokes eight joints (marijuana cigarettes) every day, and eats a marijuana cookie before he goes to bed every night. He prefers the peanut-butter cookies.

A 71-year-old man who has struggled with multiple-sclerosis for over half his life, Dolin is not the typical drug user often parodied in popular culture. He does not smoke recreationally, but rather because marijuana is the only thing that takes away the pain and stops the muscles spasms.

"Without , I would be living on morphine and other horrible drugs. I couldn't do that to my family," he recently told the New York Times. "That's no life, and I would have ended it. That's the truth."

Dolin is not alone. Across the United States, people struggling with chronic illness increasingly are questioning US policy toward marijuana, a homeopathic substance that until 1937 was, for the most part, legal and regulated. Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the "war on drugs". And what do we have as a result? .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/20/legalisation-marijuana-war-on-drugs?INTCMP=SRCH

[mopinko]

1. right on, except that it is not a homeopathic substance

those words being an oxymoron. it is a natural/naprapathic substance. not even close to the same.