US CA: OPED: No: Legalizing Marijuana Would Cause More Problems Than it Would Cure

8/29/2010

NO: LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT WOULD CURE

Legalizing marijuana will not solve state budget problems. Proposition 19 promises that legalization will produce billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Not likely! Remember the promises of the California Lottery? If the voters approved it, we were told "our schools would no longer be strapped for funds. Education would be saved," etc.

On July 16, The Desert Sun reported that the Coachella Valley Unified School District cut $10million from its budget this year, leaving it with a $6 million shortfall. What happened? Are the politicians or bureaucrats spending the lottery money on something else? Recently, columnist Christopher Caldwell wrote that because of "the cost of infrastructure and law enforcement, and the steep toll of gambling addiction and its treatment, gambling takes much more out of an economy than it puts in -- about three times as much, according to the economist Earl Grinols." While that may not apply directly to the lottery, the bottom line is that the finances of our schools are worse than ever. The lottery is a bust.

[Remainder snipped]

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