Tennesssee's "Crack Tax"

This past year, the state of Tennessee has brought in more than 2 million dollars of revenue garnered by what many call it's "Crack Tax". The Unauthorized Substances Tax, which is it's official name is a tax that a dealer must pay when they come into possession of an illegal substance such as marijuana, coc aine, crack, methamphetamine that the dealer then plans to sell to others.
The dealer does not have to identify themselves when they pay the tax. They will instead receive a stamp that they then have to place on the illegal drugs before selling the drugs.
Any dealer who is caught selling drugs that do not have the tax stamps on the drug will not only face the drug charges but also charges of tax evasionTennessee's Crack Tax

So instead of enforcing the drug laws, the state of Tennessee is now making money off the sale of these illegal drugs. Maybe they should start taxing robbers, muggers, Prostitutes, rapists etc. When I first heard of this story I could not beleive it. This makes no sense at all. I tried to see if by some slim chance the state was using this money to help those with drug habits..... no such luck.

...it is a step in the right direction.

You won't make drugs illegal and be able to enforce these laws, we can see this so the only thing that can be done is to fall hard on those who deal crack/heroin and heavily regulate the areas by which people can consume drugs in. Thus limiting where it can be taken and heavily punish those who take it outside of these areas.

Source
In this paper existing approaches to the conceptualisation of drug use by youth (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics category, ‘youth means those aged between 15 and 24 years) are critically examined and some comments on the nature of prevention programmes are presented. It is contended that, given the universality of drug use in human societies and the very real benefits that accrue from drug use, the usual prevention goal of abstinence from drug use for young people is unthinking, unobtainable, and unacceptable. Those involved in the future formulation of research projects, prevention programmes and policy in the area of young people’s drug use need to embrace a low-risk use or a harm-minimisation paradigm. Unless such a perspective is adopted the current failure to record much in the way of success in the prevention of drug-related problems amongst young people will continue. In essence, there needs to be a wider acceptance amongst those working in the prevention field of the notion that drug use has value, is here to stay and that we must learn to live with drug use as best we can. The implicit, but almost pervasive, notion that drug use per se is something which can, and must, be prevented needs to be accepted for what it is - a chimera.

This is a very worthwhile essay.

The fact drugs have been a part of society, for thousands of years and got us to the stage we are at now it is stupid to criminalize them - especailly since it can't be enforced. When things are not stigmatized, it makes it easier for people to "over-come" the problems associated with them. Especailly those who are addicts.

Sheesh, you'd have think they learned from Oregon's example. The wise folks in Oregon did something similar with pot in an attempt to be able to nail people who possess marijuana with tax evasion, too. A dealer would put stamps on every bag he sold, but the police nabbed him. The case went up the courts to the state's supreme court where the judge ruled that charging the dealer with dealing pot was double jeopardy because the tax on an illegal sentence amounted to a fine for possession. Marijuana was legal in Oregon for about a year after that, as long as it was stamped.

Definitely an interesting twist on it. I honestly don't think we'll ever win the "war" on drugs, and if they can't make a dent in it, they might as well make something off of it while they're trying. If it's handled correctly--as in they're not doing the taxes so as to just find something else to bust someone with--it might cut the trade down slightly and still make a decent chunk of change for the state.

From a stamp collector's viewpoint, with examples of pictures of various stamps, and some links. Neat.
www.milwaukeephilatelic.org...

man that is hilarious........
wow i still can't belive that and i agree that tennessee should tax muggers and prostitutes they would be rich.... lol man that is so great
--YOURS TRULY--

cooldude76

Drugs are allegedly a major source of "black" revenue, or at least a good means by which dirty money is laundered to clear its history before it can be used. Huge amounts of money; if you look into the CIA's involvement in drug trade, I bet you would that this is what they're doing: laundering huge amounts of money. And if you research "Project Hammer," I think you'll find that most, if not all, of the money they launder, probably shouldn't even exist.

And so now it looks like Tennessee has found its own way of profiting monetarily off of illegal substances. Assuming the CIA is doing what I've just suggested, Tennessee's method of getting funds isn't nearly as bad, but much more legit, even though it may seem pretty stupid or even immoral. I seriously doubt that many legislators really care about the "drug problem" anyway, and this is just further evidence of that.

The War On drugs has been a total Failure....Why should`nt we make money off these Bozo`s The State of TN is one of the Few States WITHOUT a State TAX If Taxing drug dealers prevents me from having a State Income tax I am all for it.

Thats utterly insane, taxing illegal drugs. They shoudl be using the registry as a trap to get the id's of drug sellers, or even to create a log to show how long they've been dealing for.