The Time Is Now

This year, our great city of New Orleans faces many grave obstacles we citizens must address.  A high crime rate, abysmal poverty, unaffordable housing, inferior educational institutions, a dwindling tax base and a lack of municipal government funding are devastating to our future welfare. City politicians have continually advocated the same failed solutions. Blue ribbon commissions, think tanks and task forces have been ineffective in resolving our very real problems. If we are to overcome perilous challenges, we must engage in a new vision.

 

We can begin by reversing the law regarding non-violent users of marijuana. Continued enforcement of this illogical regulation costs our taxpayers literally millions of dollars every year.

 

Today, New Orleans has extremely limited financial resources; therefore, it is ridiculous to waste our precious dollars imprisoning harmless people.

 

Consider this: On a national scale, approximately 10% of all prisoners are incarcerated for marijuana use. This same figure applies to Orleans Parish. Presently, almost 6,000 inmates occupy Orleans Parish Prison[1]. This number equates to 600 prisoners now incarcerated because they consumed a substance proven to be almost harmless compared to alcohol.

In Virginia, the state spends $25,000 dollars a year to house one prisoner[2].  Even if Orleans Parish Prison were able to cut this cost in half, 600 prisoners would amount to a total of $7,350,000 of taxpayer money!

 

Legalizing marijuana would not only save our city millions of dollars, but it would insure other positive outcomes. It would relieve our chronically overcrowded prisons and allow law enforcement personnel to focus on the truly heinous crimes plaguing New Orleans. The city could also realize a sales tax, as it now does for tobacco and liquor. Thefts and murders would definitely decline and a number of drug dealers would be out of business.

 

The fact is that millions of Americans use marijuana and will continue to do so regardless of legalities. This reality is comparable to the general population consuming liquor during Prohibition. From 1919-1933, the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned. But because alcohol was a mainstay of our society, just as marijuana is now, criminals provided liquor, creating a wave of violent crimes comparable to those of today.

 

Unless we take action now to legalize marijuana, the Crescent City will continue to suffer the same dire and unnecessary consequences as those endured by Americans during prohibition.

 

“We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.”

              George Washington (1732-1799) First President of the USA.

 

(If you would like to read an excellent study on the budgetary implications of the current marijuana policy, it can be found by clicking here.)

   

[1] http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A33288

 

[2] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_it_cost_to_house_a_prisoner_in_2008

Date: 1/10/2010