The Cops in this video were caught on tape discussing how much property they could take from a house due to little bit of marijuana found in the trash can. The story begins with an anonymous tip that the police received and progressed after police claimed to have found a marijuana stem after looking through the victims garbage. When the police executed the warrant the victims band was practicing. What the cops didn’t anticipate was that the band wasn’t just practicing, they were also recording. And the mic was turned on, capturing everything the police were saying during the raid. Thank you to the Institute for Justice for highlighting what appears to be a clear abuse of police power and forfeiture laws. Forfeiture laws were designed to take away luxury items from major kingpins. Say, for instance, that some coke baron had a yacht, three mansions, and a private jet. When the forfeiture laws were written up they were created for the fact that the police could reposses any items which were somehow involved in the drug trade. This means that the yachts, and mansions could have been used as money laundering, hence if a coke supplier was convicted all of his property would belong to the state, and then auctioned off. In recent years forfeiture laws have been used increasingly against small time offenders. Even a roach in an ashtray can be grounds for unscrupulous cops to try and take your vehicle in some states. If you feel you have been the victim of police abusing forfeiture laws please contact the institute for justice. They are basically the ACLU of forfeiture laws, as their website states “IJ Litigates nationwide on behalf of individuals whose rights are being violated by government.”

What is the economic impact of legal pot.

Summary:
What is the financial impact? Both sides have put out numbers of what could happen. Here are some of the key figures.
Cato institute says it would save about 8.7 billion dollars a year when you add up all the savings in law enforcement, incarceration, as well as providing a new source of tax money. Bill piper of the Drug Policy Alliance believes that it will reduce costs of incarceration tremendously. Joe Kline over at Time.com wrote that over 47.5% of all drug arrests in the US are drug related. California Board of Equalization says that marijuana could raise 1.4 billion dollars in levees and taxes. A bunch of nimrods on the other side made up some numbers out of their heads. Kevin Sabet who was writing for the Los Angeles Times said that “Accidents would increase, health care costs would rise, and productivity would suffer” And the current idiot in control of the National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlokowski said that “the social costs would outweigh any possible tax that could be leveed. Illegal drugs already cost 180 billion dollars a year in health care, lost productivity, crime, and other expenditures. That number would only increase.”

Interpretation:
The funny part is. One side has fairly accurate numbers, and the other side has only conjecture. Those of us against the Prohibition of marijuana have compiled reams of data about the potential savings that legalizing marijuana could have on an economy. We also have test studies all over the world which show that reducing the criminal nature of marijuana doesn’t lead to increased health care costs, loss in productivity, or any such nonsense. When’s the last time someone visited Germany, Spain, Canada or The Netherlands and came away saying, “hmmmm. what a beautiful country, too bad it was infested with potheads!” What we see here in the above report is logic vs hysteria. You see, hysterical people actually believe what they are saying is true. Even when they are presented with clear data that states the contrary. They’ll go through whatever mental wormholes they need to in order to keep their current viewpoint on an issue because it’s important to them. For the prohibitionist, they get off on the idea of being able to control other people’s lives. That’s what they like, and that’s why many of them go into law enforcement. I know there are many good people in Law Enforcement against prohibition, and those are the good cops. The ones who actually want to help out the community. But then, there are others who are just a grown up version of a high school jock. They love having authority, and they love being able to make people submit. The prohibition of cannabis is no different, it’s a giant schoolyard bully that wants to tell you what to do. It’s unamerican, and thankfully it’s coming to an end soon!

Police chief Joseph McNamara envisions a world where the drug cartels actually start losing money. The former Police Chief wants to see marijuana legal.

A Canadian man is upset after he woke up one morning to find his prized pot plant missing. As a responsible member of society he decided to call the police and file a report. Growing up to four plants for personal use is usually overlooked in Canada, and this man simply wanted to file a report about his stolen property.

picture of a pot plant