From: Henryindivideo@webtv.net   
      
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
   JUNE 2, 2005   
   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.   
             ####   
               This site is paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project, P.O.   
   Box 77492, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20013      
      
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