Taxing Marijuana and Morals

Here is a nice little article about a new study that shows how much money could be made from taxing this drug ($31 billion).

The article itself is pretty interesting in that it's a serious study about marijuana, which I think is good. But it reminds me of a book I'm reading right now called Fiasco, in that certain people's morals or convictions just won't allow for reasoning.

In the book's case, officials wouldn't admit that their Iraq strategy is/was wrong and needed to be changed because that would imply a mistake had been made. Instead, they felt that it was more important to portray an image of confidence and strength to the American public, no matter how right or wrong it may be.

Same thing happens with marijuana—it will never be legally taxed or legalized because government leaders feel that it implies that drug use is OK.

That just won't fly in the Bible belt.

So it's unfortunate that sometimes good solutions will never be considered because of moral issues that just fog up the whole deal.

I remember having arguments with people about legalization and I tried to draw an analogy with alcohol. The other person vehemently said that it was different because alcohol was legal, hence OK. That it was an American tradition, and that alcohol was totally different.

What about prohibition, I said?

It's not prohibited anymore, he said.

Letting the government tell you what is legal and illegal is correct, but letting them tell you what is moral and immoral just doesn't make sense.