Pubdate: Fri, 24 Apr 2009
Source: Triangle, The (Drexel U, PA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 The Triangle
Contact:  http://www.thetriangle.org
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2784
Author: Stacy Litz
Note: title by newshawk

EARTH WEEK AND 4/20

Dear Editor,

Last week was Earth Week at Drexel, and it was nice to see an 
initiative for environmental protection that involved individuals 
rather than government intervention. Drexel Green sponsored many 
initiatives, including reducing use of bottled water, recycling 
plastic bags, cleaning up the campus, using electricity wisely and 
many other topics of interest. Comparing individual contributions to 
protection of the environment to government intervention makes sense. 
The government owns about 40 percent of the United States' land mass 
- - which has been left polluted by the negligent Department of Energy 
and Defense and the U.S. Military. While not cleaning up its own 
property, the government continues to spend millions of tax dollars 
on regulation after regulation against the citizens.

Also, in celebration of last week's 4/20, a few facts on the war on 
drugs: 1,841,182 drugs arrests were made in America in 2007. If every 
American who has used illegal drugs was put in jail, 30 to 40 million 
people would be arrested, equaling the combined population of 
California, Arizona and New Mexico. The cost to jail these users 
would equal between $10 to $15 trillion. It costs, on average, 
$450,000 to put a drug dealer in jail. The budget would save $37 
billion if drugs were legalized in America.

California is already looking into the legalization of marijuana to 
help boost its suffering economy. Perhaps legalization would 
stimulate the economy much more effectively than creating money out 
of thin air. Even though the government is considering taxing 
marijuana, if legalized, it would be a step toward freedom, dissolve 
the power to make useless arrests and energize the economy.

Stacy Litz

Sophomore, Political Science
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom