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.

The New Red Herring

I've talked about it a lot, how, back in the days and weeks after 9/11, it was pretty clear who had attacked us. It was a terrorist group based out of Afghanistan. The news repeated it over and over again.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Then, and I remember this distinctly, someone, somewhere, suddenly chirped, "Iraq."

And everyone, myself included, were like "huh?"

Then, slowly, VERY slowly, the news changed:

Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Iraq
Afghanistan

It was weird, but it kept happening, over and over. Slowly, it evolved:

Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Iraq
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iraq

The next thing we knew, the possibility of invading Iraq wasn't so preposterous after all. The names had been repeated so often, so much, that they almost went hand in hand.

Iraq and Afghanistan

And that was a long time ago. Today, we are talking exclusively about Iraq. Too bad for Afghanistan. Then, yesterday, as I watched the news, I saw a government official defending the shift in "strategy" and stance of the administration. Rumsfeld is out, Bush is on his way out along with the Republicans. All of the sudden, the administration is agreeing with what were once called "ridiculous , anti-American ideas." Now everyone is on the same page, be it because they really believe that Iraq is a quagmire and or because they have no choice strategically, politically.

But all I noticed, with a strange feeling in my stomach, were the words coming out of this government official:


Iraq
Iraq
Iraq
Iraq
Syria
Iraq
Iran

I'm just saying, watch out. In a few years, we may not be talking about Iraq.