Wasted Potential Infographic

Here’s a fun marijuana infographic (circa 2008) showing among other things the lost tax revenue of cannabis prohibition…over $700 million in lost tax revenue, while we spend over $14 billion on reducing drug use! Beyond the dollars, the thing that really stands out is how lopsided the law enforcement is on marijuana: 42% more marijuana arrests were made than arrests for violent crimes.

The drug war is big business for law enforcement, consider this quote from The Union: “If you took the using population of all the other illegal drugs combined, and you eliminated cannabis from that equation, there wouldn’t be a big enough drug problem in [Canada] or the United States to justify the massive expenditures that go toward fighting the war [on drugs].” It’s no wonder that states are now reconsidering their War on Drugs.