NEWS: Weed’s Number One

CULTURE: Weed Is Number One

In unsurprising but still welcome news, a report announced today that weed is America’s biggest cash crop. Apparently, the 10,000 metric tons grown annually in America is valued at over $35 billion, which blows away the price-tag of the country’s corn, soybean and hay crops. The report was written by Jon Gettman, the head of marijuana legalization group, the coalition for rescheduling cannabis, who cited federal government data to totally blow everybody’s mind about how much money weed is worth.

Marijuana legalization advocates have long claimed that the sticky icky is America’s leading cash crop. And if you think about it for longer than ten seconds, it’s glaringly obvious. Even with corn hitting its highest price in a decade thanks to its use in gasoline-additive ethanol, you could still fill a wheelbarrow with corn for the price of a quarter ounce of weed.

As White House Office of National Drug Control Policy spokesman Tom Riley noted, with an illegal substance as America’s number one cash crop, America joins an exclusive club.

Gettman and his marijuana reform cronies are using the data to argue that marijuana should be legalized so it can be taxed, and production and distribution could be controlled by the government.

However, they’re wrong. The implications of the data is clear. We should illegalize corn! The federal government would save a ton of money in subsidies and it would grant corn a criminal allure it sorely lacks.

Because those situations are remotely comparable to ours

Maybe because the US government spends a lot of money to keep it illegal in those countries?

WHOOOO HOOOOO!

And if it were made legal, that same 10,000 metric tons would be worth maybe $3 billion.

if they made corn illegal...would that mean my town would be the biggest spot ever to score. my towns income is all in corn. we even have a yearly festival called cornfest...i would be like a pimp in the corn business..sweet!

Every two weeks I spend as much money at my dealer's house as I do at the grocery store.

you could join the corn cartel! it would be like scarface except...cornier.

the point is prohibition does not work. theres a bazzillion examples of this, sure letting it be completly legal and everything probably isnt the greatest idea, but i think thats a far better one then prohibition. There is a better way to maintain social order and still have our rights. There's just way way to many greedy dumb asses in charge of this country.. and everyone else too ignorant to take a stand.. this is true for many things in our country..

Really? I thought the point of the article was that marijuana makes a lot of money. Maybe you're a better comprehender than me.

Which would show that prohibition hasn't prevented it from making a lot of money (which is one of the goals of prohibition). Not hard to comprehend that.

its obvious that marijuana isnt illegal enough.

Keep marijuana illegal. I don't want to give the government any more money. Also all my friends will have to find real jobs.

DeKalb, IL........Go Huskies.

They could totally "Sell out to the man" and get govt jobs

Would anybody seriously purchase goverment approved marijuana? That would be like going from non-filtered Camels to GPC Ultra Light 100's.

lets see if you feel that way after one of your friends, fines them self's in prison for 10 years cus they got poped for distribution of a controlled substance! and keep in mind.... that in some states... you can rape a 7 year old child.. and not get put away at all.... but trafficking weed... will get you ten years! hows that for justice!

DECRIMINALIZE MARIJAUNA!

As a very open pot smoker I love this, however, this seems a little misleading.
Like its intent is to say, legalize weed and we get all this money (in taxes), cause while weed-should-be-legal, the price of weed is possibly one of the most inflated prices for any product on the market when evaluated from a production-cost/product-sales-cost standpoint.

I've never understood this argument. It's not even an apt analogy, considering non-filter camels are legal.

If anyone has any information that supports the theory that the government would restrict marijuana production to weak varieties, I'd like to hear it.

It seems to me that if legalization were to occur (not just decriminalization but actual government sanctioning of pot farms), the market would level things out. Even with taxes and other fees, pot would get cheaper because of the supply side.

Actually, I heard that G13 is supposed to be the strongest strain, and developed by the government, so that kinda doen't make sense. But, then again, neither do I.

P.S. YAAAAAY!!! WEEEEEED!!!

I don't smoke it, but I have no problem with it being legalized.

and Gov't weed is supposed to be some good shit, at least that's what I have heard from a few friends on the weed-vine.

My favorite part is Tom Riley implying that weed is in the same category as cocaine and opium. How can you be in charge of drug control and not know anything about the effects and severity of drugs?

I'm not sure it's a matter of how much knowledge he has, but rather the kind of spin he wants to put out there.

In this article, they had him saying:

That sort of outlines their thinking on the matter; which is kind of pathetic.