Rich Whitney proposes legalization and taxation of cannabis in Illinois
Rich Whitney, the Illinois Green Party’s 2010 candidate for governor who earned over 10% of the vote in 
2006, has called for legalization of cannabis in his comprehensive plan to solve Illinois’ budget crisis. Whitney’s plan for fixing Illinois’ structural budget deficit includes a proposal to “raise additional revenue by ending the socially destructive ‘war on drugs’ and specifically by legalizing and taxing the sale of marijuana”.
Other aspects of Whitney’s comprehensive economic plan include establishing a state-owned bank, taxing financial speculation, modernizing energy and transportation infrastructure, establishing single-payer health care and tuition-free higher education for state residents, raising the minimum wage to a living wage, and much more. Whitney’s decision to broach the topic of marijuana legalization has attracted attention from the Bloomington Pantagraph, Chicago Daily Herald, and WJBD radio, among others.
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7,000 people were murdered by the Mexican drug cartels last year because we in the US kept marijuana illegal, many of the victims were children, police officers and politicians. This year the cartels are on track to kill at least 9,000 more. Who supports keeping it illegal?
The federal marijuana prohibition is like a US chemical factory sitting right on the border – it spreads its pollution all over Mexico, but while the stink continues to be blown south nobody in the US cares.
legaliz it it needs to happen sometime why not now
I think the U.S. government should invest in Haiti. If the U.S. would invest just a little in starting to produce hemp in the countryside of Haiti, not only could Haiti have a chance to help itself financially, but as an investor the U.S. could collect on worldwide export of products, foods, and materials produced by the hemp plant. Haiti needs help, their cities are destroyed and its citizens are looking to return to the farmlands for work. We could give them a second chance.