THE MARIJUANA TAX - AND PAYING E.J.'S ROOM AND BOARD

Every taxpayer in America is paying a marijuana tax. But you don't use
marijuana you say. It doesn't matter. As long as you pay taxes you are
paying a marijuana tax. Let me tell you how this works.

Lets start with the simple stuff. The national marijuana eradication
program. Every year around harvest time we hear about billions of
dollars worth of marijuana plants eradicated. We hear about the hundreds
of thousands of tons of pot that will never reach the market. What is
the truth?

Ninety-eight percent of that so called weed is really feral hemp;
remnants of the hemp plants that were grown by American farmers to help
win World War Two. It will not get you high because the THC content is
so low. This fact alone should alert you to the DEA's inexplicable
resistance to hemp farming. If hemp farming were allowed the ditch weed
scam goes up in smoke.

Lets talk about medical marijuana. This is a plant with so many known
medical uses ( with a recorded medical history going back over 5,000
years ) that if it wasn't illegal it would be considered a miracle drug.
Let me catalog a few of its known uses. It can be used by MS sufferers
and quadriplegics to control muscle spasms. It can be used as an
appetite stimulant for cancer and AIDs patients. It is an anti-nausea
drug for those undergoing chemotherapy treatment. DEA Law Judge Francis
Young said "It is one of the safest therapeutically active substances
known to man..." How does this impact your taxes? Besides the waste in
prosecuting medical users, think of what it means to drug companies to
have medical consumers grow their own medicine. This no doubt might
affect a bit of the Medicare/Medicaid gravy train.

Of course there is much more waste and fraud involved in marijuana
prohibition than the items outlined above, just as there was during
alcohol prohibition.

The country has gone on a prison building spree to house all those
convicted of prohibition related crimes. In California it is so bad that
the state is now spending more on prison than college. Then there are
all the prison guards who will need your tax support until they die. Did
I mention the prisoners who will need your support to the tune of
$20,000 or more a year. For five or 20 or 30 years. To that we can add
the police, judges, lawyers and bailiffs whose income all depends on
processing a steady stream of prohibition criminals.

And of course while courts, police, and prisons are overloaded with
prohibition criminals the police are neglecting other more worthy
individuals who avoid paying for their crimes since at least 25 percent
and perhaps as much 50 percent of our police effort goes to prohibition
enforcement.

And so we come to the story of a friend of mine E.J. Pagel. Busted for
selling a few pounds of marijuana to someone who claimed a medical
necessity ( the US government gives its eight medical marijuana patients
over eight pounds a year each ). So now you will be paying E. J.'s room
and board for the next five years. In addition, as his mother's sole
surviving caretaker the state may soon be asked to pay to help a woman
who needed no other help than the assistance of her son.

Where do we start to end this monster that even its proponents claim can
never succeed at its stated aims? Write Governor Ryan and ask him to
free E. J. And after we get E.J. sprung we will get the next non-violent
victim of our prohibition laws out. And after the next we will do
another. Until we put a stop to government wasting our money and ruining
peoples lives.

You can reach the Governor at:

Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, Illinois 62706
217-782-0244 voice
217-524-4049 FAX
governor@state.il.us