BUDGET BATTLE: Legalize marijuana, and then tax its use
It was been a while since I read a letter to the editor in the newspaper regarding reforming the marijuana laws for Wisconsin. It was great to see one on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online for March 10th, 2011. Thank you Walter Brummund III of Elm Grove for taking a few minutes to express your feelings. Sounds like reforming the marijuana laws makes sense and cents to me also. If we legalized marijuana, perhaps our farmers could also grow industrial hemp for food, fuel and fiber products.
BUDGET BATTLE
Legalize marijuana, and then tax its use
Can taxpayers save the budget deficit without cutting education or raising taxes?
The current budget proposal calls for huge cuts to education. I think the state should seriously consider raising revenue through marijuana legalization and taxation before making any cut that jeopardizes the quality of public education.
Employers today look for an educated workforce. It is of the utmost importance not to jeopardize the long-term health of the state by making spending cuts that would reduce the quality of education.
A plan to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana will help Wisconsin in two ways.
First, the tax will increase government revenue, reducing the need to make cuts to education while keeping the state out of debt.
Second, taxation and regulation will make the government more able to deter drug use. Taxes can be set high to deter use, much like taxes on cigarettes. Regulation will take marijuana from the streets into the convenience store, which will make it harder for those underage to buy drugs.
Budgets reflect priorities: Is it more important to enforce archaic marijuana laws at the expense of firing teachers or should we keep teachers and allow recreational pot smokers to pay their salaries? Either way, the deficit is eliminated.
Walter Brummund III
Elm Grove
I urge each activist to take minute and send a letter to the editor to your local newspaper(s) and media outlets. These simple and effective letters are tools to be utilized in the war on drugs.
The National NORML website has a database and tool to compose and send letters to multiple news agencies at once. The link for Wisconsin specific media outlets can be found at: http://capwiz.com/norml2/dbq/media/?command=state_search&state=WI
