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(Reuters) Interesting The repeal of Prohibition provided the government with much-needed tax revenue during the Great Depression. If only there were other commodities that could be legalized and taxed similar to alcohol   (blogs.reuters.com) divider line 223
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223 Comments   (+0 »)


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nauteeprincess [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:12:00 PM  
Needs an obvious tag.

 
TraeHova 2008-12-05 01:26:27 PM  
The marraige of "sin taxes" and hypocritical "conservatives," what a high-water mark that was.

 
GaryPDX [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:28:47 PM  
If only. We'd have a farming boom, like has never been seen. Mexican cartels can go suck a maggot infested tamale and NW stink bud would rule. Then put a huge import tax on any international competitors wanting to get into the market.

/giving Canada the evil eye.

 
NittLion78 2008-12-05 01:28:54 PM  
Gay marriage?

 
MakJeezus 2008-12-05 01:29:13 PM  
Michigan legalized medical weed recently

 
offacue 2008-12-05 01:29:29 PM  
Vagina?

 
djmaverick 2008-12-05 01:29:41 PM  
This is one of the best headlines that I have read in a while. Not only historically accurate but enough sarkiness in there to make the point well.

Maybe the state will realize that there are some enforcement-and-death problems that can be solved with something other than more enforcement, and death.

 
vernonFL [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:29:45 PM  
Prostitution?

 
RevLovejoy 2008-12-05 01:29:47 PM  
Seriously, if not now, when? At least for pot?

 
miscreant 2008-12-05 01:29:54 PM  
GaryPDX:
/giving Canada the evil eye.


We'd clear cut BC and plant hemp everywhere!

 
Tikiman1000 2008-12-05 01:30:26 PM  
GaryPDX: If only. We'd have a farming boom, like has never been seen. Mexican cartels can go suck a maggot infested tamale and NW stink bud would rule. Then put a huge import tax on any international competitors wanting to get into the market.

/giving Canada the evil eye.


No kidding. No one really farms like the bread basket of america.

Also I find it shocking I'm agreeing with you, thought I'd let you know.

 
Malinki 2008-12-05 01:31:25 PM  
Yeah, I'm sure the government will do a wonderful job of it, too.

Careful what you wish for, kiddies.

 
Beemer 2008-12-05 01:31:41 PM  
Of course, we'd have to invade Canada to secure the supply...

 
dabbletech [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:31:46 PM  
Bacon.

 
GaryPDX [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:31:47 PM  
Tikiman1000: Also I find it shocking I'm agreeing with you, thought I'd let you know.

Yes, shocking! anyone does..:)

 
BlippityBleep 2008-12-05 01:32:23 PM  
w00t legalize it! I don't even smoke it but seriously, who the fark cares about smoking herbal supplements. It's not as bad as alchohol. Not to mention the ubergreen products that hemp *still don't understand rationally why that one is illegal* can produce. Heh, it would get the green economy rolling real quick.

 
soy_bomb 2008-12-05 01:32:48 PM  
Legalize Polygamy and Gay Marriage then tax the hell out them before they figure it out it was all a Hetero-Protestant conspiracy.

 
Shakespeare's Monkey 2008-12-05 01:32:56 PM  
farm3.static.flickr.com

I'll have the vente pumpkin spice latte with some kind bud sprinkles.

/awwwww yeah
//tax me

 
Thorndyke Barnhard 2008-12-05 01:33:01 PM  
vernonFL: Prostitution?

I think that's what offacue was going for...

 
TwistedFark 2008-12-05 01:33:05 PM  
I'm all for the legalization of both marijuana and prostitution and I partake in neither, nor have any plans to. The criminality of these two issues is quite frankly, unconscionable and I question the morality of anyone who supports the current system.

 
El_Swino 2008-12-05 01:33:18 PM  
Yes, and they'll also be able to slash local/state/federal law enforcement budgets! Shrink police departments! Shutter entire divisions of federal agencies! Drastically reduce jail/prison populations and the expenses associated with maintaining them!

And that right there is why it will never happen.

 
xebeche_tzu 2008-12-05 01:33:27 PM  
Let's threadjack this to alcohol so all the smokers can complain.

 
Raging Thespian [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:33:45 PM  
djmaverick: enough sarkiness in there to make the point well.

This thread needs more sarkiness:

img2.timeinc.net

/End of line

 
thenateman 2008-12-05 01:34:22 PM  
Malinki: Yeah, I'm sure the government will do a wonderful job of it, too.

The government's pretty good at collecting taxes. As for the police stopping searching for drugs at traffic stops... they'd get used to it.

 
Geologist 2008-12-05 01:34:53 PM  
And the repeal of Prohibition left a whole bunch of government cops standing around with nothing to do. The solution to that was the National Firearms Act of 1934, which placed a transfer tax much higher than the value of the taxed items on several classes of weapons (full auto, shortened, and suppressed). Now we have thousands of ATF agents running around wearing Kevlar, armed with fully automatic, shortened, suppressed weapons to ensure that people don't own muffler pipe and rubber gaskets in conjunction with a firearm.

/time for a stiff drink

 
Dieses Ist Gut 2008-12-05 01:35:04 PM  
Catholics

 
GaryPDX [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:35:34 PM  
Beemer: Of course, we'd have to invade Canada to secure the supply...

Just BC, maybe Alberta. Need natural gas to power the grow lights..we don't need all them eastern Frenchies or the faggy British "conscripts" back east.

/totalsnark
//Yukon can join the money party too

 
vernonFL [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:35:45 PM  
It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.

 
Tommy Moo 2008-12-05 01:35:56 PM  
What would it take to get congress to seriously consider the pros and cons of legalizing drugs? We have a democratic majority and a progressive President-elect. Is there any way this will happen before society collapses?

 
furiousxgeorge [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:36:02 PM  
Yes, and they'll also be able to slash local/state/federal law enforcement budgets! Shrink police departments! Shutter entire divisions of federal agencies! Drastically reduce jail/prison populations and the expenses associated with maintaining them!

Alcohol is legal but still provides many arrest targets. Law enforcement should be fine.

 
Mercutio74 2008-12-05 01:36:43 PM  
Raging Thespian: This thread needs more sarkiness:

/End of line


Awesome.

/Are you a User?

 
thenateman 2008-12-05 01:36:45 PM  
FTA: The before-and-after sequence is so obvious that the U.S. Congress passed a resolution in September noting that the 1933 repeal of alcohol prohibition had replaced a "dramatic increase" in organized crime with "a transparent and accountable system of distribution and sales" that generated billions of dollars in tax revenues and boosted the sick economy.

Nicely said.

 
wyrlss 2008-12-05 01:37:00 PM  
El_Swino: Yes, and they'll also be able to slash local/state/federal law enforcement budgets! Shrink police departments! Shutter entire divisions of federal agencies! Drastically reduce jail/prison populations and the expenses associated with maintaining them!

And that right there is why it will never happen.


Actually, then they could get around to throwing people in jail that talk on their cellphones while driving.

/bait out

 
RannyGazoo 2008-12-05 01:37:41 PM  
upload.wikimedia.org

 
Tommy Moo 2008-12-05 01:37:47 PM  
vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.


Touche, however this doesn't mean that their budget problems wouldn't be even worse if they were obsessively hunting down and imprisoning every otherwise law-abiding citizen who smokes a little week on the weekends.

 
GaryPDX [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:37:54 PM  
BlippityBleep: Not to mention the ubergreen products that hemp *still don't understand rationally why that one is illegal* can produce. Heh, it would get the green economy rolling real quick.

William Randolf Hearst didn't want any paper competition for his timber and newspaper interests back the 20-30s.

 
LisaLisaLisa 2008-12-05 01:37:55 PM  
vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.


Budget problems? We don't have any steeenking budget problems.

Heh.

 
tweekster 2008-12-05 01:38:09 PM  
vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.


Right..."California faces budget crisis"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7760249.stm

 
FortKnox 2008-12-05 01:38:23 PM  
Sorry stoners, there ain't no way its happening...

 
Oldiron_79 2008-12-05 01:39:02 PM  
Legal Mary Jane?

 
xebeche_tzu 2008-12-05 01:39:05 PM  
vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.


So, you're high then? It's very illegal here in Cali.

 
vernonFL [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:40:36 PM  
xebeche_tzu: It's very illegal here in Cali.

My friend has a prescription, he can buy it anywhere in LA.

 
Memes Ate My Balls 2008-12-05 01:40:47 PM  
FortKnox: Sorry stoners, there ain't no way its happening...

I know. A majority of the public would need critical thinking skills, and this is the country where toilet scrub brushes come with "not for hygiene" warning stickers.

 
Ecobuckeye 2008-12-05 01:41:47 PM  
Memes Ate My Balls: FortKnox: Sorry stoners, there ain't no way its happening...

I know. A majority of the public would need critical thinking skills, and this is the country where toilet scrub brushes come with "not for hygiene" warning stickers.


Those are on there because of me.

 
NeoMort 2008-12-05 01:44:19 PM  
it's not legal in california. and just making it legal isn't what subby is inferring would help. making it legal and taxing the hell out of it like they do alcohol and tobacco is what he was correctly implying could raise untold revenues for the gub

 
Goofball_Jones 2008-12-05 01:44:22 PM  
vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.


It's also not taxed to death either. Sure they have medical marijuana out there, but it's no way NEAR as taxed as alcohol or tobacco.

"more or less" doesn't cut it. If they made it 100% legal it would be a different matter.

 
Gwendolyn [TotalFark] 2008-12-05 01:44:56 PM  
FortKnox: Sorry stoners, there ain't no way its happening...

I smkoed up once in college 16 years ago and thought it was the dumbest ufarking expereicne of my life. Oh boy I went HEH HEH HEH HEH for 6 hours and ate a pizza! I wouldn't do it again if it was legal and free.

Still I don't see why the stuff is illegal. (Yes I know all the lobbying bullshiat 100 years ago) Legalize drugs and prostitution and tax it. It's already illegal to be impaired while driving. It's already illegal to smoke in bars and a lot of public places. I could give two shiats if people want to sit around their house getting high.

 
Gangway Fathead 2008-12-05 01:45:05 PM  
Tommy Moo: vernonFL: It is more or less legal in California, right?

They don't have any budget problems.

Touche, however this doesn't mean that their budget problems wouldn't be even worse if they were obsessively hunting down and imprisoning every otherwise law-abiding citizen who smokes a little week on the weekends.


This is why I couldn't BELIEVE prop 5 didn't pass.

Prop 5 would have ostensibly decriminalized non-violent drug possession and freed up law enforcement and prison resources for real crimes.

But it died a horrible death on election day.

California confuses the hell out of me.

 
Thunderpipes 2008-12-05 01:45:07 PM  
I hate dirty, stinking, filthy pot smoking hippies. But, legalize it, tax it heavily, it will still be cheaper, better, and the crime associated with it will go away.

Win/win.

 
phansen 2008-12-05 01:45:40 PM  
This is cool. I just turned 21 yesterday so I'm glad i have an excuss besides being friday to go out drinking. :)

 
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