Legalize it

I’m not saying this because I advocate drug use. I’m saying this because it may be the only proposal that could lift Michigan out of its economic depression in less than five years: Legalize Pot.

I’m not talking about some tepid de-criminalization, or herb for hospice. I’m saying flat-out legalization. Grow it, sell it to consenting adults under strict rules, and tax the hell out of it. Use the resulting bonanza to fund the public schools and lower tuition at the state universities.

Let the Feds throw a hissy fit - and when they do ask them just what their offer is when Chrysler augers-in and takes 30,000 more jobs with it, or GM, or whoever. The situation is Michigan is beyond dire and there is nothing the economic development people in Lansing or KZ or Grand Rapids are going to be able to do about it. They couldn’t attract industry when Michigan was alone in the dumps, so why will they be able to do any better when they have to compete head-on with California?

We all know that it’s a bad thing to smoke too much weed, or to smoke it all the time, or to have kids smoking it. On the other hand, no one has ever died of an overdose and if you take the criminal dealers out of the picture, everyone might be better off.