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Originally Posted by timalkin
Most drug dealers don't have real jobs that actually contribute to the economy, so we lose nothing by incarcerating them. Money is being spent on their incarceration, which supports the spending theories of economic recovery. Why let a drug dealer out of jail when he doesn't give anything back to the system and only leaches off of it?
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What about the money we lose by paying for their incarceration? While it is true that the "corrections" field is still a growing source of jobs, those jobs will forever be entirely taxpayer funded. If marijuana growers and sellers become licensed, and their sales are taxed, they will in fact be giving back to the system.
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I don't believe that people will go through the licensing processes and pay taxes on legalized marijuana in any statistically significant amount to make a huge different in tax revenues. The police will still be busting tax evading drug dealers and growers.
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And you would be wrong in that belief. As I pointed out in the post above yours California made a statistically significant amount of money from taxing the sale of marijuana in 2007.
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If people need to abuse drugs to relax, unwind, or function socially, they need to nut the fuck up and seek professional help. Relying on chemical substances to have fun is fucking pathetic. Get a life, get a job, and stop being a piece of shit.
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Alcohol is by far the most abused drug in the U.S. Most people use alcohol to relax, unwind, and function socially without becoming alcoholics. We've tried prohibiting the sale of alcohol in the past and ended up creating a situation very similar what currently exists with marijuana.
The vast majority of marijuana users have a life, a job, and aren't actually pieces of shit. There have been federal judges who were daily users, top athletes, scholars, you name it.