Spence, What is your Platform? Part 5: War on Drugs

I'm sure this will be an extremely touchy subject with some people. So, lets go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room.

I support the legalization of marijuana.

I believe that by legalizing the growing and possession of marijuana, we will take a tremendous burden off of our criminal justice system.

I believe that placing regulation (age and consumption restrictions, just like alcohol) and levying a tax on marijuana sales, we can provide more funds for our ailing education system (that, coupled with privatization of schools, as I have advocated in earlier posts, would be a huge benefit to our citizenry), as well as other needed projects.

By de-criminalizing marijuana, we take the 'street value' of the illegal good out of the economic spectrum. When you take the crime aspect out of marijuana sales and possession, the ancillary crimes that come with this crime will go away, as well. Lets consider the trickle-down effect of this:

1. Marijuana is made legal, and controlled just like alcohol.
a. Prison overcrowding will instantly start to dissipate as less new and repeat pot heads enter the system.
b. Assault, battery, and theft crimes will begin to lessen immediately (with prices of marijuana inflated on the street, users frequently steal to support their habit. If prices drop due to greater availability, so does the need to commit crime. There's that pesky SUPPLY & DEMAND screwing things up again, doh!).
c. Tax revenue increases, which can be directly used to support anti-drug programs (such as D.A.R.E.) to help teach children the dangers associated with drug use (but, since marijuana can be habituating and not necessarily addictive, the only harm comes along the same lines as smoking cigarettes or a hookah pipe...the inhaling of smoke...).
d. With marijuana now readily available at pot stores across the country, folks that would normally have 'delved deeper' into the narcotics underground and eventually found other illegal drugs (heroin, cocaine, etc) will not have that 'livin on the edge' draw, and stay with the legal stuff.


There's a million excuses not to legalize marijuana, but no real facts that support continued prohibition. Here's some things that Big Government (the Dems and Repubs) don't like about legalization:

1. Less police needed. That's right, if we take away crimes, we need less police. Less police means less state/federal control of the citizenry.
MY RESPONSE: We apparently have a lack of police officers across the country right now. Legalizing marijuana will simply reduce the need for hiring, and lighten the already-burdensome workload on our brave men and women in blue.

2. Less revenue from fines. If something is no longer illegal, you can't be fined.
MY RESPONSE: If it is now legal and taxed as a good, then we are actually making MORE MONEY off of it! Duh!
3. It is harmful to children.
MY RESPONSE: So are race cars, toenail clippers, and steak knives. Just like anything else, however, parents should teach their children the benefits and drawbacks of safety with anything.


If elected to the Legislature, I will partner with other like-minded citizens and lawmakers to advance legislation to de-criminalize marijuana and have it fall under the legal, TAXABLE umbrella of a consumer good.