How much longer can we afford to criminalize the use of marijuana, a product that is much less harmful than America’s most dangerous drugs, alcohol and tobacco?  According to an economic study “Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws”, Harvard Professor Jeffry Miron estimated that Colorado spends $64 million every year in futile efforts to enforce marijuana prohibition and forgoes another $17 million in tax revenue that could have been collected if the product were taxed similarly to alcohol and tobacco.  The study was conducted in 2004 and was endorsed by 500 prominent economists including the late Milton Friedman.  In our current financial crisis, can we afford to continue our draconian prohibition policy that is costing us over $81 million year after year after year?

If marijuana prohibition actually worked, perhaps one could make the argument that the cost was worth the fiscal drain of $81 million annually.  Prohibition efforts have wasted valuable law enforcement and court resources that could have been used to make us safer.  Instead, we keep throwing money at a program that is no more effective than the Dutch boy who put his finger into a leaking dike. Can anyone argue that criminal sanctions to control marijuana's production, sale and use have been effective?  If not, why do we pursue this costly debacle?

Consider this: Marijuana prohibition supports organized crime.  If this innocuous weed were not illegal, it would be nearly worthless to street gangs.  If we had the political courage to regulate, control and tax marijuana we would strike a financial tsunami at the livelihood of street gangs, drug dealers and cartels.  Imagine taking marijuana out of the inventory of illegal drugs sold by our street gangs.  According to the Department of Justice, 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, street level distribution of marijuana is a major source of income for nearly every major gang.  After thirteen years of alcohol prohibition, we ended most of the violence and crime associated with selling illegal alcohol not by making alcohol go away, but by removing its illegal status.

What about the violence in Mexico associated with the illegal production and distribution of marijuana?  Have we considered OUR own contribution to the deaths of over 6000 Mexican citizens last year who were killed in drug prohibition violence?  Be aware, the killings were not caused by the drugs, but instead by the illegal status of the drugs.  Let’s legalize marijuana and eliminate the violence associated with its prohibition.

What could Colorado do with another $81 million in its annual budget?  Perhaps we could fully fund drug treatment and prevention programs with the money we now spend trying to make marijuana go away.  We need to begin a public discussion on this issue.

For more background on Drug Policy Reform, please visit Drug Policy Alliance at http://www.drugpolicy.org.