Promoting America's Urban Frontier
War On Drugs Is A Failure Follow Up
This is a follow up to my previous post. Two inevitable trends seem to be playing out. The first being the ever escalating violence in the drug trade and the other being cash starved governments looking to bail on this high cost disaster in their budgets.
Wave of Drug Violence Creeping In from Mexico.
"The Phoenix police regularly receive reports involving a border-related kidnapping or hostage-taking in a home.
The Maricopa County attorney’s office said such cases rose to 241 last year from 48 in 2004, though investigators are not sure of the true number because they believe many crimes go unreported.
The violence in Mexico — where more than 6,000 people were killed in the last year in drug-related violence, double the number of the previous year — is “reaching into Arizona, and that is what is really alarming local and state law enforcement,” said Cmdr. Dan Allen of the State Department of Public Safety.
“We are finding home invasion and attacks involving people impersonating law enforcement officers,” Commander Allen told the State Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Jonathan Paton of the Tucson area, called the hearing. “They are very forceful and aggressive. They are heavily armed, and they threaten, assail, bind and sometimes kill victims.”
Chief David Denlinger of the State Department of Public Safety said that while tactics like home invasions might not be new in the drug trade, “they are getting more prevalent.”
San Fransisco Legislature Proposes Fully Legalizing And Taxing Pot.
"Ammiano, a rookie state legislator and former San Francisco supervisor, may have a unique opportunity to win support for the bill in the wake of the state's budget debacle.
"California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana," he said.
Mecke suggested taxes on the trade could amount to $1 billion according to advocates.
And I'd bet that's a conservative estimate.
"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano said at a morning news conference at the state building on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco.
Estimates value the state's crop of marijuana at $13.8 billion, double that of the vegetable and grape markets combined. Nationwide, it may be the fourth largest cash crop, behind corn, soy and hay but ahead of wheat.
The proposed bill would allow Californians over the age of 21 to grow, transport, sell, possess and consume the plant, with state and local law enforcement professionals barred from enforcing the federal ban.
The tax would amount to $50 per ounce of marijuana, which retails on the black market for anywhere from $250 to $500 depending on the source and quality".
Wave of Drug Violence Creeping In from Mexico.
"The Phoenix police regularly receive reports involving a border-related kidnapping or hostage-taking in a home.
The Maricopa County attorney’s office said such cases rose to 241 last year from 48 in 2004, though investigators are not sure of the true number because they believe many crimes go unreported.
The violence in Mexico — where more than 6,000 people were killed in the last year in drug-related violence, double the number of the previous year — is “reaching into Arizona, and that is what is really alarming local and state law enforcement,” said Cmdr. Dan Allen of the State Department of Public Safety.
“We are finding home invasion and attacks involving people impersonating law enforcement officers,” Commander Allen told the State Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Jonathan Paton of the Tucson area, called the hearing. “They are very forceful and aggressive. They are heavily armed, and they threaten, assail, bind and sometimes kill victims.”
Chief David Denlinger of the State Department of Public Safety said that while tactics like home invasions might not be new in the drug trade, “they are getting more prevalent.”
San Fransisco Legislature Proposes Fully Legalizing And Taxing Pot.
"Ammiano, a rookie state legislator and former San Francisco supervisor, may have a unique opportunity to win support for the bill in the wake of the state's budget debacle.
"California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana," he said.
Mecke suggested taxes on the trade could amount to $1 billion according to advocates.
And I'd bet that's a conservative estimate.
"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano said at a morning news conference at the state building on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco.
Estimates value the state's crop of marijuana at $13.8 billion, double that of the vegetable and grape markets combined. Nationwide, it may be the fourth largest cash crop, behind corn, soy and hay but ahead of wheat.
The proposed bill would allow Californians over the age of 21 to grow, transport, sell, possess and consume the plant, with state and local law enforcement professionals barred from enforcing the federal ban.
The tax would amount to $50 per ounce of marijuana, which retails on the black market for anywhere from $250 to $500 depending on the source and quality".
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