appel d'économistes pour une régulation du commerce du canna

[daniel]

Milton Friedman [ndR : eh oui, un économiste libéral ; mais être partisan
de la légalisation, c'est être libéral] et plus de 500 économistes en
appellent à un débat sur la régulation du cannabis dans une lettre ouverte
au Pdt Bush : "pour un débat ouvert et honnête sur la prohibition du
cannabis" ; "nous pensons qu'un tel débat favorisera la survenue d'une
politique dans laquelle le cannabis sera légal mais taxé et régulé comme
d'autres produits". Cet appel se base sur une nouvelle étude du Pr Jeffrey
Miron, qui évalue l'économie réalisée entre 10 et 14 milliards de $ par an.

http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/

Milton Friedman, 500+ Economists Call for Marijuana Regulation Debate; New
Report Projects $10-14 Billion Annual Savings and Revenues

Savings/Revenues Projected in New Study by Harvard Economist Could Pay For:
**Implementing Required Port Security Plans in Just One Year **Securing
Soviet-Era "Loose Nukes" in Under Three Years

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- In a report released today, Dr. Jeffrey Miron,
visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that
replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation
similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings
and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year. In
response, a group of more than 500 distinguished economists -- led by Nobel
Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman -- released an open letter to President
Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and honest debate
about marijuana prohibition," adding, "We believe such a debate will favor
a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods."

Using data from a variety of federal and state government sources, Miron's
paper, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," concludes:

**Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would
save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition
enforcement-$2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state
and local levels.

**Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion
per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2
billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.

These estimates may be conservative. Because available data is incomplete,
assumptions necessary to produce national estimates inevitably allow for
some variation up or down. For example, Miron's report does not include
estimates for certain potential savings -- such as the likelihood of fewer
criminal justice referrals of marijuana offenders to drug treatment and
reduced prison costs stemming from persons on parole or probation being
reincarcerated after positive urine tests for marijuana. In addition, Miron
based his figure for corrections costs stemming from marijuana prohibition
on an estimate that one percent of state prisoners are imprisoned for
marijuana- related offenses. A report released May 18 by the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy put the figure at 1.6 percent,
acknowledging that tens of thousands of Americans are incarcerated in state
or federal prisons for marijuana offenses.

While Miron notes that many factors beyond costs and tax revenues would
need to be considered in evaluating possible changes in marijuana laws, he
said, "These budgetary impacts should be included in any rational debate
about marijuana policy."

Those impacts are considerable, according to officials of the Marijuana
Policy Project in Washington, D.C. For example, $14 billion in annual
combined annual savings and revenues would cover the securing of all "loose
nukes" in the former Soviet Union (estimated by former Assistant Secretary
of Defense Lawrence Korb at $30 billion) in less than three years. Just one
year's savings would cover the full cost of anti-terrorism port security
measures required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. The
Coast Guard has estimated these costs, covering 3,150 port facilities and
9,200 vessels, at $7.3 billion total.

"As Milton Friedman and over 500 economists have now said, it's time for a
serious debate about whether marijuana prohibition makes any sense," said
Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in
Washington, D.C. "We know that prohibition hasn't kept marijuana away from
kids, since year after year 85% of high school seniors tell government
survey-takers that marijuana is 'easy to get.' Conservatives, especially,
are beginning to ask whether we're getting our money's worth or simply
throwing away billions of tax dollars that might be used to protect America
from real threats like those unsecured Soviet-era nukes."

Dr. Miron's full report, the open letter to public officials signed by more
than 500 economists, and the full list of endorsers are available at
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org.

With more than 17,000 members and 120,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide,
the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform
organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm
associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws
that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm
associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, see
http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.

--
Raph