On a day when one of the most widely known investors in the history of the United States comments on CNBC that the US economy "has fallen off a cliff" there is another article on MSN.COM about the booming pot business in Northern California's Mendocino County.
In this small region of Northern California growers estimate that marijuana sales pump nearly one billion dollars into the economy. Nationwide, the figure is closer to ten billion. Due to state laws that make it legal for individuals to grow a certain amount of pot for "medicinal use", a favorable climate and Geo-political issues that are wiping out a large portion of the foreign pot market, many people are surviving and thriving the US economy by participating in the underground economy. Local growers describe pot as just another crop that they grow similar to any other crop except this one is untaxed and has a huge profit margin.
As the saying goes, "desperate times call for desperate measures". So my question would be this: Is our economy bad enough to finally give politicians a rationalization to legalize marijuana allowing people to grow, buy and sell what nearly everyone considers a harmless plant? I would have to think that a pretty substantial percentage of the US has at least tried pot and probably consider it even less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol. On top of that, if the government taxed marijuana the same way that other "vice" products are taxed (it costs nearly $10 for a pack of cigarettes in certain parts of Chicago) the US economy would gain billions of tax dollars that is sorely needed right now considering how the Fed's are handing out cash to corporations like penny candy at Halloween while everyone else goes broke. And if you are a politician who maybe was afraid to offend your voting block by taking such a controversial stand such as legalizing a "drug" now you can wrap in up in some pretty paper.
My argument to the public would go like this... now normally I would never recommend doing something this crazy but with our economy the way it is, we need more money more than we need to be afraid of pot. Soon marijuana becomes a viable crop to sell for many people, we can save money because we don't need to spend it prosecuting and imprisoning people for crimes related to marijuana, and the government gets all they really want... tax money. The next thing you know you'll be able to log onto your E-Trade account and buy and sell pot futures like you can with every other crop in the world. This opens up a whole new economic tool to create wealth and taxes. And tell me the Wall Streeter's won't be snorting coke and reading weather reports at 4 in the morning getting ready for the first day they can trade shares of Acme Pot Corporation. This would be a boon for everyone, whether you want to grow, smoke, eat, or make money off of weed.
So Obama, you seem like you are a common-sense guy, let's see if we can make this happen. And for all my stoner buddies who grew up wanting to rage against the machine but were always to stoned to follow through... it is your time now to be the "big swinging dicks" of the new economy by doing nothing more than what you have always done. Buy pot, hang out in your parents basement and listen to Phish albums... but most importantly to the economy, buy pot.
