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Soloe For Nevada State Senate District 10
Supports Marijuana Legalization

I am calling for the immediate "action" of the State of Nevada to comply with the Nevada Constitution Article 4 Section 38-1.  The legislature shall provide by law for: (e) Authorization of appropriate methods for supply of the plant to patients authorized to use it. The Nevada State legislators tried to sidestep this in the constitution by adding in state statute the following:

NRS 453A.640        Department to pursue approval of Federal Government for establishment of seed bank and for establishment of program to produce and deliver marijuana for medical use.

Can the State of Nevada describe to us "how they have pursued approval of the Federal Government"?

Question we need to also bring up to the Nevada Attorney General...Now that the Federal Government's latest "memo" regarding respecting "states rights" to medical marijuana, why has not the State of Nevada started licensing dispensaries or started action to do what the Nevada Constitution and the NRS STATUTES require them to do. I ask the Nevada State Attorney General to make a legal decision as quickly as possible on this issue, so it can either be implemented or challenged in court.
 

Report on Marijuana if made legal by over 500 Economists!!!!

Anyone who has ever read Milton Friedman's Free To Choose (a book everyone interested in Economics should read at some point in their life) knows that Friedman is a staunch supporter of the legalization of marijuana. Friedman isn't alone in that regard, as he joined over 500 economists in signing
An Open Letter to the President, Congress, Governors, and State Legislatures on the benefits of legalizing marijuana. Friedman isn't the only well known economist to sign the letter, it was also signed by Nobel Laureate George Akerlof and other notable economists including Daron Acemoglu of MIT, Howard Margolis of the University of Chicago, and Walter Williams of George Mason University.

The letter reads as follows:

We, the undersigned, call your attention to the attached report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition. The report shows that marijuana legalization -- replacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation -- would save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods. If, however, marijuana were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it might generate as much as $6.2 billion annually.

The fact that marijuana prohibition has these budgetary impacts does not by itself mean prohibition is bad policy. Existing evidence, however, suggests prohibition has minimal benefits and may itself cause substantial harm.

We therefore urge the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition. We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods. At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition.

I highly recommend anyone interested in the topic to read Miron's report on marijuana legalization, or at the very least see the executive summary. Given the high number of people who are incarcerated each year for marijuana offences and the high cost of housing prisoners, the $7.7 billion in expected savings seems like a reasonable figure, though I would like to see estimates produced by other groups.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the legalization of marijuana and on Miron's report. You can contact me here.