but more importantly, the Drug War makes big money for the state and those in business with the state. It's all pretty rational, really. Fucked up, but
rational.
[WS:] See, that is the part about which I have doubts. Would not they make a bigger buck if they legalized and taxed the stuff? As they say, in the US the most scandalous thing is not what is illegal, but what is legal.
Juts think about it. Farmers would make like bandits, because growing the stuff is really easy, every hick can do it in his backyard (he, he, he). That means not only taxes for the state, but savings on farm subsidies. Cigarette makers can easily process the crop with virtually zero new investment and sell the stuff at even more inflated prices than tobacco. Then the state can slap all excise taxes on it as the do on the tobacco products. Then they can add to it all the licensing fees and assorted bribery as they do know with liquor licensing. Then there are insurance agencies that can profit from insuring the crops. Profit opportunities are endless.
All those potential profits are lost under the current system. The only people who make like bandits are the big time dealers, many of whom probably do not even live in the US. The cops may get funding from war on drugs, but they will get funding anyway. They can sit on their fat asses in their cruisers, munching on donuts and get paid whether they round up small time users or not. They can probably be better of by busting people on bogus traffic "offenses."
It just does not seem to make any sense.
Wojtek