Readers who participated in a recent JJ poll think the state should solve the budget crisis by consolidating school districts. This choice received 27% of the vote. Cutting 10% across the board garnered 20% but what was interesting was the choice of legalizing marijuana placed third at 17%. Is there a silent support in Mississippi that has gone largely unnoticed for such a move? Interesting. Unfortunately, more sensible moves such as consolidating counties received little, if any votes.
Consolidate school districts | 80 (27%) |
Consolidate counties | 7 (2%) |
Cut Medicaid | 1 (0%) |
Cut K-12 education | 0 (0%) |
Cut higher education | 0 (0%) |
Raise sales taxes | 4 (1%) |
Raise Corporate tax | 2 (0%) |
Internet sales tax | 1 (0%) |
Raise income tax | 0 (0%) |
Cut DHS's budget | 3 (1%) |
Cut MDOC | 0 (0%) |
Reform MDOT | 22 (7%) |
Cut across the board 10% | 61 (20%) |
Layoff employees | 2 (0%) |
Legalize weed & tax it | 51 (17%) |
Lottery | 27 (9%) |
Consolidate higher education | 14 (4%) |
Soda tax | 5 (1%) |
Increase tobacco tax | 8 (2%) |
Increase gasoline tax | 2 (0%) |
Reduce sales tax exemptions | 2 (0%) |
11 comments:
NOOOO on legalizing weed. That's the last thing we need, an additional legal "vice" to have people driving around under the influence of.
And yes, I'm one of those "it's a gateway drug" people. If kids start looking at pot as common as a cigarette, then what's the next "mild" drug?? Meth??
HELL no don't legalize marijuana. Kids (and adults) will still continue to get it as they always have, but why make a drug even more prevalent?
Tax the cigs.
Alcohol's gotta be one of the worst drugs and it's legal.
Alcohol is so much worse than pot. And, yes, I think it's a gateway drug for certain people. It's still safer than alcohol and should be legal. There are a lot of prescription drugs that are so easy to get that are much stronger than pot.
I COMPLETELY agree with stilettoGOP! We have fought the long and hard battle of "over the limit and under arrest", we don't need to add to the mixed messages we are giving our children of what's acceptable behavior. Another "legal addiction", come on people....they / we have enough to deal with already. Peer pressure is hard enough...at least they don't feel so "weak and uncool" arguing they don't want to be "arrested".
The gov. shouldnt tell you what to put in your body. If you want to poison yourself, go ahead and do it, just pay the tax on it. People already drive around whacked out on pain killers, drunk, high, jacked up on legal prescription amphetamines. Is there a body of evidence to say that if it were legal then people would drive around high? If booz was illegal would there be no more drunk driving?
If booz was illegal would there be no more drunk driving?
Of course not but drunk driving would without a doubt be dramatically reduced.
1:34.....wow...so? no limits on anything?? We are in control of our bodies...totally...just TAX it?? Something tells me you have no children to raise and have never lost a loved one (due to someones negligence and mistakes). I agree you can't control others and there will always be bad choices, but are limits so bad? Aren't laws there to protect the innocent and make law "breakers" accountable? True, our system is "flawed", but it's the best we have to date.
If booze were illegal, we'd have illegal rum runners and moonshiners and criminals back in charge. We tried that once before. Weed is not going to go away, no matter what you think about it. Remove the criminal element, regulate it like the rest of the drugs/Rxs/booze/tobacco we use, tax it, and remember to teach your children well.
I think if you price/tax the vice high enough, it will be less likely to be abused. Now there will always be approx 7mm people in the US that will abuse. That number hasn't changed in decades. I for one believe we need to be raising the costs of abused prescriptions. I believe this is the new "gateway" drug to more dangerous illicit substances. How many out there know folks with a nasty little pill problem? Lorcet, Codeine, or any run of the mill pain killer, Riddlain (sp). If you don't go stop a 20 something sometime and ask them. You might be very surprised.
Price pot high enough and I bet the usage is somewhat recreational rather than binge which seems to be the current trend with alcohol and pills.
We could debate these issues ad nauseam.
I agree with 7:08; prohibition was a spectacular failure that cost the government a great deal of money in the process.
Marijuana should be legalized so that the state could collect revenue on it, or at the least decriminalized so that the state wouldn't have to prosecute crimes against folks who are in possession of less than an ounce.
A number of the so-called "criminals" in our corrections system probably have convictions based solely on marijuana related offenses. if you don't have to house these people, you can free up some of the money we spend on corrections, further alleviating the budget stress.
Making something against the law does not cause people to stop using it. On the other hand, taxing it to a level that is economically unreasonable for some makes it difficult to obtain.
Here is an article published today in the WSJ.
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