Feds Spend Nearly $4 Billion Annually On Failed Pot Policy, Economics Report Says July 7, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA Washington, DC: Federal spending on marijuana-related activities - primarily enforcing criminal policies prohibiting the drug's use - cost taxpayers nearly $4 billion annually, but fail to influence the public's use or perception of the drug, according to an economic report released by the non-partisan Washington, DC think-tank Taxpayers for Common Sense. "Annual federal marijuana spending is at least $3.67 billion [per year,] yet little evidence indicates this spending accomplishes the government's stated goal of reducing marijuana use," concludes the report. Of this total cost, the federal government spends $1.43 billion enforcing marijuana prohibition, $1.11 billion for marijuana use prevention (which includes funding for anti-drug media campaigns and school-based drug testing programs), $0.37 billion for marijuana treatment (which includes federal subsidies for drug abuse treatment programs), and $0.76 billion for marijuana-related policy research (funding for activities designed to improve the efficacy of federal drug control policies.) The report notes that the actual federal spending on marijuana-related policies is likely higher than $3.67 billion because the federal government no longer includes annual costs from federal agencies and programs that are not explicitly devoted to anti-drug activities (such as federal prison costs, salaries for federal law enforcement personnel, etc.). State and local spending on anti-marijuana programs and activities weren't tabulated in the report. Previous estimates published by the NORML Foundation and others place these costs at between $5 and $7 billion per year. "The ultimate measure of the drug war's worth is its impact on drug usage. By this standard, the federal marijuana program has fared poorly," said Taxpayers for Common Sense Senior Policy Analyst Erich Zimmermann. "Despite spending billions of dollars over the years to enforce the prohibition of marijuana, use and perception of the drug are little different now than they were 30 years ago. ... Rather than continue to spend billions of dollars on the problem, it would be better for the US government to get out of the marijuana business entirely." For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the report, "Federal Marijuana Policy: A Preliminary Analysis," is available online at: http://www.taxpayer.net/drugreform/intro.htm updated: Jul 07, 2005 I pulled this off of Norml's website a little bit ago and thought some of you might find it abit interesting.
Man the government has spent over a quarter trillion dollars in the past century just to stop weed. Thats allmost 1/32 of the national debt right there. To stop a damn plant, and obviously it isn't working.
well basically the goverment is screwed right now... if they continue spending of the obviosly failing war on drugs then they will fall deeper into debt, but if they stop the general public when cry about how the government doesnt mind drug use ne more
the thing about them legalizing drugs is they will have to own up to all of the lies and reasons that they banned the drug in the first place and the gov't ever admit that they were wrong.....
in my opinion, the spending has gone far beyond the actual purpose of curbing marijunana use and is now just another way for companies, law enforcement, lawyers, DEA agents, NIDA officials and the like to get their fingers in some more funding. Even if a large majority of the general public was in favor of ending the gross amount of spending on marijuana prohibition, there would be a massive fight by those that make their paychecks through the cause. I equate it to the oil industry, even though everyone knows that gas prices are going up, and that there should be more concentration of research into alternatives, alternative energy is moving at a painfully slow pace, due to those that have gotten rich from keeping things as they are. Police are more than happy to receive funding for fancy new equipment to go find plants and beat down the doors of smokers, government officials, lawyers are more than happy to be getting paid to fight against marijuana...it's an easy paycheck. The issue is far more than marijuana.. it's money... it's what America and the World revolve on...marijuana prohibition is VERY VERY good business for those at the top. Those bastards.
