Saturday, 7 January 2012

Pipeweed

A nation of hobbits likes its pipeweed. Radio NZ and The Press report on a survey published in The Lancet showing marijuana use in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) is well above international norms. Here's the relevant table from Lancet:


Clicking the image should provide the requisite embiggening. They figure 9.3% to 14.8% of folks in Australia and NZ have used marijuana in the last year while 2% to 2.8% have used amphetamines. The lower bound estimate on both for Australia/NZ is above the upper bound estimate for most other areas. This despite Australia and New Zealand both being islands in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a big useless anti-meth push that has had no effect on meth use but that keeps me from getting decent cold medicine when needed.

Keep digging up, guys. You're doing a heckuva job.

Or legalise marijuana and put it under the same regulatory apparatus as alcohol; make the whole deal politically palatable by taxing it sufficiently to keep retail prices close to where they are now. Turn the deadweight costs of prohibition into tax revenue.