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Chester County Press

Uncle Irvin: The weed syndrome

11/13/2018 01:30PM ● By Richard Gaw

I am an old codger and have never used cannabis.

But, just like Prohibition and sports gambling, our federal government is missing the target on not legalizing marijuana. Prohibition did not stop the use of alcohol, but spawned a huge underground black market, made millions for the mob, and collected no taxes to help fund our government. The same with sports betting, until the U.S. Supreme Court recently legalized it.

Now our federal government continues to make the nascent cannabis industry illegal, even though many states have legalized medical marijuana and some have legalized recreational marijuana. The backward federal bureaucracy has given birth to a huge industry in Canada, which has legalized marijuana, both medical and recreational. Huge capital formations are pouring into a handful of publicly traded Canadian companies, giving Canada a huge head start on building global enterprises.

By not legalizing weed, the U.S. is basically contributing to the black market, which pays no taxes to help fund our government programs. It is just plain stupid not to legalize weed federally, just as it was stupid to enact Prohibition and not to legalize sports betting. Those citizens who wish to not use cannabis can do so without inhibiting a huge commercial enterprise that will bring jobs and taxes.

Enough is enough.

(This is an occasional column written by Uncle Irvin. As always, the column is the opinion of Uncle Irvin, and is not a news story.)