How's it going?

Ain’t the internet grand? All this information right at our fingertips. Of course you have to spend a lot of time verifying, but you had to do that back when the information was only to be found in the libraries. At least you now have tools that let you see all sides of a debatable question and that’s something you couldn’t easily do back in the 50’s and 60’s.

Skeptic that I am, I use Google daily to verify or disprove what I’ve read or heard. Sometimes, all I get is a tie; can’t be proven one way or the other, but that’s OK. And I just read that Google is now the target of most search engine companies; they all want to topple Google from its place as #1. I hope they do! It can only be good for us, the information consumer.

Here’s some specific information that couldn’t be proved or disproved. But, both sides agree that the numbers are huge. And growing bigger every day.

“In 2006 domestic marijuana cultivation was worth $35.8 billion, more than corn and wheat combined. Over 56 million marijuana plants were cultivated outdoors with a value of $31.7 billion and 11.7 million plants were cultivated indoors at a value of $4.1 billion.”

Now add in the cost of Federal law enforcement, that’s $20 billion a year. State law enforcement costs vary from state to state, of course. And prison costs aren’t included here, nor are the social costs that we all have to pay for.

All of this money ($150 billion per year?) is related to the War on Drugs, so I guess it would be fair to ask… how’s it going? Any victories? No? Perhaps we’re just not spending enough!