LEGALIZING AND TAXING MARIJUANA WOULD EASE STATE'S BUDGET WOES

Michigan is in deep financial trouble. That's common knowledge.
Drastic times call for drastic solutions. That should be obvious,
too. So, should we slash spending even further or raise taxes higher
yet? Hard choices, either way.

There is a third option, however, that would both dramatically cut
spending and raise large sums of new tax revenue.

The only question is, do the politicos in Michigan have the courage
our grandparents demonstrated 75 years ago when faced with similar
financial and criminal crisis? Legalize, tax and regulate marijuana.

Marijuana is the third most valuable cash crop in Michigan today,
trailing only corn and soybeans. According to official U.S.
government statistics, the annual value of the Michigan marijuana
crop is $350 million. Marijuana worth an additional $250 million is
imported and sold in the state every year. That's $600 million in
commerce. All tax-free.

Every year Michigan collectively spends more than $158 million spread
across police, court and corrections budgets to enforce marijuana
prohibition -- money that could be spent to restore road, school and
health care budgets.

And what are we getting for that investment?

Today, marijuana is cheaper, more plentiful and easier to buy than it
was 10 years ago. We could spend just a small fraction of that amount
on proven prevention, education and treatment programs that actually
do make an impact on reducing rates of teen use. Or we can continue
to pursue the expensive one-step-forward-two-back approach of
heavy-handed law enforcement we employ today.

This year the Michigan Treasury is projected to take in $88 million
in taxes on alcohol -- much of it from wineries right here in Van
Buren County -- and an additional whopping $1.15 billion from tobacco
taxes, two drugs that collectively kill more than 500,000 Americans
every single year. Marijuana will kill zero.

We don't attempt to prohibit alcohol and tobacco. Instead, we wisely
tax them heavily to discourage use and at the same time insist they
be sold only by licensed, regulated vendors who check identification,
thereby keeping them out of the hands of children. Michigan doesn't
have a problem with criminal tobacco and alcohol gangs because a
black market simply can not compete with a well-regulated open market.

Even by the most generous estimate, less than 10 percent of Michigan
residents are regular consumers of marijuana. And most of them are
otherwise law-abiding, productive adult citizens who would gladly pay
their fair share of taxes if it would allow them to come out of the
closet. You'd think the remaining 90 percent would be in favor of a
tax they didn't have to pay. And name one other constituency in
Michigan that is saying, "Hey, we're not paying enough taxes. Please,
impose a tax on us. We want to pay more."

For more information visit the Web sites of:

. Michigan chapter, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, www.minorml.org

. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, www.leap.cc

. Educators for Sensible Drug Policies, www.efsdp.org

Legalize, regulate, tax, control. There is a better way.

Greg Francisco is a resident of Paw Paw.