News (Media Awareness Project) - US AK: OPED: No Wacky Tobaccy |
Title: | US AK: OPED: No Wacky Tobaccy |
Published On: | 2004-09-30 |
Source: | Anchorage Daily News (AK) |
Fetched On: | 2008-08-21 21:38:59 |
NO WACKY TOBACCY
BALLOT MEASURE 2, which asks voters to legalize marijuana in Alaska
and would provide for state regulation of the weed, is enough to make
you wonder what its proponents have been smoking.
Even if voters approved, federal law still prohibits marijuana
possession and sales in Alaska -- and state law is no protection from
a federal warrant.
What makes it more odd is that anybody actually believes those now
growing pot illegally would step up like good citizens to be regulated
and taxed by the state. If they did, in quick succession they would
hear from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS.
When you add the negative effect of even more drugs on our streets and
the immense size of any bureaucracy that would be necessary to
regulate and tax marijuana -- if you could find the growers and keep
them out of a federal pen long enough for them to pay -- the measure
becomes downright ludicrous. Nancy Reagan had it right: Just say no.
BALLOT MEASURE 2, which asks voters to legalize marijuana in Alaska
and would provide for state regulation of the weed, is enough to make
you wonder what its proponents have been smoking.
Even if voters approved, federal law still prohibits marijuana
possession and sales in Alaska -- and state law is no protection from
a federal warrant.
What makes it more odd is that anybody actually believes those now
growing pot illegally would step up like good citizens to be regulated
and taxed by the state. If they did, in quick succession they would
hear from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the IRS.
When you add the negative effect of even more drugs on our streets and
the immense size of any bureaucracy that would be necessary to
regulate and tax marijuana -- if you could find the growers and keep
them out of a federal pen long enough for them to pay -- the measure
becomes downright ludicrous. Nancy Reagan had it right: Just say no.
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