cannabisnews.com: Illegal Drug ‘Tax' Proposed Illegal Drug ‘Tax' Proposed Posted by CN Staff on March 11, 2006 at 10:32:44 PT By Burton Speakman, The Daily News Source: Bowling Green Daily News Kentucky -- Drug task forces throughout the area are hoping a proposed tax on illegal substances could counteract a loss in federal grants.“We're in a period where federal funding is drying up and this bill could help support drug task forces and all law enforcement agencies,” said Tommy Loving, director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force. State Rep. Stephen Nunn, R-Glasgow, is one of the sponsors of House Bill 685. This bill was designed to put some enforcement behind the current law requiring individuals to pay tax on illegal substances through the purchase of tax stamps, Nunn said.Drug dealers are supposed to purchase a tax identification number, referred to as a tax stamp, from the Kentucky Department of Revenue. The department is barred by law from sharing the information about the purchase with law enforcement.No drug dealers purchase these tax stamps, which makes them subject to a number of tax evasion penalties, based on the value of the drugs being sold, Loving said.The bill would allow the seizure of property during drug arrests if the person has not paid taxes. The law enforcement agency that made the arrest would receive 70 percent of the money, local prosecution would receive 7.5 percent and the rest would go toward the administrative costs of the program.Currently, state law allows only the seizure of property used in the commission of a crime. This legislation would allow for the seizure of any property.“Tennessee had pretty good success in their collection of money after passing a bill,” Nunn said. “This bill has a lot of potential.”In its first year of collections, Tennessee was able to raise $1.7 million, of which 75 percent went back to local law enforcement agencies, said Emily Richard, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Revenue.“It's been beyond our expectations,” she said.Law enforcement officers will be asking for tax stamps on illicit drugs when they make an arrest, Loving said.“You can bet drug dealers don't pay tax on what they earn,” he said, meaning they won't have such a tax stamp. “This bill would help those involved in illegal activity pay some of the costs currently being subsidized by honest citizens.”There are some issues with getting the bill passed. It does have some opponents, Nunn said.“Some people think it's a little too strong to confiscate property even if it was purchased using money from drugs,” he said. “Anytime you try to pass a bill this significant you're going to have to go through the process.”Although this revenue will help groups such as the drug task forces, it could not be relied upon as a recurrent revenue stream, Nunn said.“You wouldn't want to build administrative costs around it, but it could be used as a supplement,” he said.Loving said it's correct the funding could not initially provide all money for task forces. But it will supplement other funds.“We don't anticipate seeing any impact of the bill until at least a year after it passes,” he said. “It's not a cure-all.”The bill also takes some of the financial incentive out of dealing drugs, Loving said.In the long run, this tax will be able to pay for the task forces across Kentucky who make many of the drug arrests, said Jim Devasher, director of the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force, which serves Logan, Simpson and Butler counties. It will take a number of years before the proposal raises enough money to provide all the necessary funding, he said.Individuals already are supposed to pay taxes on illegal substances before, Devasher said.“But there was never any teeth to the law,” he said. “It never got off the ground.”The state will have to decide who will be responsible for assessing the weight of the drugs and seizing any property, Devasher said.The state will have to decide who will be responsible for assessing the weight of the drugs and seizing any property, Devasher said.For the tax to be enforced and property seized, law enforcement must find more than five grams of a illegal substance or an entire marijuana plant, according to the bill.Because of the size requirements, most arrests will not be subject to the law, he said.Most task force arrests are of smaller “mom and pop” producers who typically consume all the methamphetamine they make, Devasher said.“We do make a lot of controlled buys of crack, but most aren't large enough,” he said. “Five grams of crack is a lot of crack.”This bill would make task forces focus even more on larger sellers who make their living dealing drugs, Devasher said.The bill is really targeted at large-scale drug traffickers and operations, said Chris Cohron, commonwealth's attorney for Warren County.This bill provides an enhanced penalty for drug dealers beyond their prison sentence, Cohron said.“It lets them pay for their own arrests,” he said.The prosecutors' share of the money would be part of a larger effort by commonwealth's attorney throughout Kentucky to seek alternative forms of funding, Cohron said.Nunn considers the proposal as more of one for discussion only in this session.“It's still too far away (for passage),” he said.Note: Bill would strengthen laws to take property of dealers.Source: Bowling Green Daily News (KY)Author: Burton Speakman, The Daily NewsPublished: Friday, March 10, 2006Copyright: 2006 News Publishing LLC Contact: editor bgdailynews.comWebsite: http://www.bgdailynews.com/CannabisNews Justice Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #34 posted by Hope on March 13, 2006 at 09:08:20 PT comment 24 Whig "Snuff rocket"? I don't know. Never heard of such a thing! Sounds rough though. [ Post Comment ] Comment #33 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 21:06:36 PT whig That was funny. Thanks for the laugh. [ Post Comment ] Comment #32 posted by whig on March 12, 2006 at 20:42:08 PT Video Cat fighthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXZ8H3PuWwg [ Post Comment ] Comment #31 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 20:07:04 PT afterburner It was a good show. I sent an e-mail to Matt yesterday about the bad timing error. I haven't heard back from him but I hope you and others keep mentioning it if you keep having problems because that is the only way I know if something isn't working. I'm really sorry. [ Post Comment ] Comment #30 posted by afterburner on March 12, 2006 at 20:02:12 PT RE Prohibs harming society "Why are the prohibs so crazy?"Because they are thinking and acting like criminals, just like the military jailers have. [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by afterburner on March 12, 2006 at 19:58:48 PT Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent It's a good show. I watched it a while back on one of the Canadian channels, Newsworld, I think.BTW, I'm getting that dreaded error message, like many others:"ERROR! Bad timing." [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 19:53:25 PT whig I got it to work. That is nice to know. [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 19:42:58 PT whig Thank you but the link doesn't work on my computer. Maybe the site is down. [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by mayan on March 12, 2006 at 19:18:03 PT Desperately Draconian Currently, state law allows only the seizure of property used in the commission of a crime. This legislation would allow for the seizure of any property.I'd say VERY desperate, to put it lightly!For the tax to be enforced and property seized, law enforcement must find more than five grams of a illegal substance or an entire marijuana plant, according to the bill.Five grams and they can take the farm? What a country!The bill is really targeted at large-scale drug traffickers and operations, said Chris Cohron, commonwealth's attorney for Warren County.Oh, sure it is targeted at large-scale "drug" traffickers WHO POSSESS FIVE GRAMS OF WEED!!! You can bet your ass that small-time cannabis users will be the primary targets of this draconian legislation. [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by whig on March 12, 2006 at 19:10:31 PT FoM CNews traffic statistics:http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=cannabisnews.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by whig on March 12, 2006 at 18:56:07 PT Hope Was it a "snuff rocket"? [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 17:30:02 PT Toker00 I am so sorry you couldn't get to see the video. Protests are necessary is the essence of the broadcast. I am watching Link TV now and watching a program called Weapons of Mass Deception. They mentioned Pacifica Radio as an outlet for people. This weekend has been so good. I feel that we are on the right track on CNews. I feel hope and as sense they we are not alone. The movement if that is what to call it is growing rapidly. We will overcome.http://www.pacifica.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by Toker00 on March 12, 2006 at 17:23:09 PT END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW! It's kool whig, and thank you. FoM, for some reason I can't get that video to load. But, thank you and Hope, too.Toke. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by John Tyler on March 12, 2006 at 16:38:36 PT Prohibs harming society This is nothing more that a way to punish someone more than once for the same offence. This is not justice. Why are the prohibs so crazy? [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by kaptinemo on March 12, 2006 at 11:39:16 PT: Simply STAGGERING 340 tons since 2003. 113 tons a year. TONS. As in 226,000 pounds of that crap.Oh yes, they're winning the War on Drugs, alright. Suuuuuuure they are. Tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and...IT-JUST-KEEPS-ON-COMING. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 10:34:00 PT News Article from Snipped Source Drug War Trumps Port Safety***By Mike Krause March 12, 2006The top objective of the U.S. Coast Guard's anti-terrorism strategy is to protect what's called the "U.S. Maritime Domain," including American ports. But it is hard to take seriously the idea that ports are being effectively protected when the Coast Guard spent more tax dollars last year fighting the war on drugs than has been spent in total on port security since Sept. 11, 2001. Since becoming part of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2003, the Coast Guard reports interdicting at sea some 340 tons of cocaine bound for the United States. For 2005 alone, it was 150 tons, shattering all previous annual seizure records. This record-breaking drug interdiction takes place mostly in the "transit zone," 6 million square miles of water that includes the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean, as well as the territorial waters of cooperating nations. Monitoring all that ocean keeps valuable Coast Guard assets busy far away from any American port. The Coast Guard's budget was increased 9 percent to $6.3 billion by the Department of Homeland Security Act of 2005. A 13 percent request for drug interdiction pushed the agency's drug-war spending to $650 million in 2005, an increase of more than $100 million in the last couple of years. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3586569 [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by Hope on March 12, 2006 at 08:57:17 PT That device My husband says whatever it was was definitely homemade. It involved a rat trap or mouse trap. I am very nose touchy, too. Nothing about sucking anything, but good clean air, into my nose is intrigueing in any way. Whatever that was they were using in the movie actually propelled something up the guy's nose. I don't have a clue as to what it was. A part I missed might have explained it.Some characters were doing "shotguns" early on in the movie, but that thing was different.The main thing that got to me about the movie is how well the directer got you to feel that awful feeling of being in a car with someone you definitely don't want to be in the car with. [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 08:15:00 PT Hope I never heard of the movie but I have seen programs on tv that some tribes shoot something up their nose. Just seeing it makes my sinuses hurt! [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by Hope on March 12, 2006 at 08:01:12 PT Yesterday I saw a movie called "Chrystal". It starred Billy Bob Thornton, Lisa Blount and Ray McKinnon. It's definitely a tragedy.It was about people who were marijuana growers and some effects of prohibition, set in the Ozarks. The movie is worth watching. I think anyone can see that it's an amazing movie...a work of art...although sad and painful to watch.If anyone has seen it, can you tell me what the heck that was the villain, Snake, played by McKinnon, kept getting shot up his nose? I've never seen or heard of anything like it. It was some sort of homemade looking device and I don't know what was in it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 07:40:38 PT Another Comment Noam Chomsky is coming on soon on World Link TV at 11 ET. It's called Manufacturing Consent. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 07:36:05 PT Toker00 Yesterday I had a day of the best TV I have seen in a long time. World Link TV had one great show after another. It was very empowering. Scroll down and watch this video. You really need to watch it. It really was great.DISSENT This episode of The ACLU Freedom Files tells the stories of everyday Americans who were practicing their right to free speech and dissent, only to be harassed or arrested. http://aclu.tv/videos [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by whig on March 12, 2006 at 07:28:49 PT Toker00 I'm sorry.I know we're all trying in our own ways. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Hope on March 12, 2006 at 07:12:04 PT Protesters against Prohibition. Very much appreciated here, Toker00. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on March 12, 2006 at 06:52:45 PT Toker00 Please keep going to protests. Grass roots efforts are very important to bringing change. We all do what we can the best we can. It is all necessary. Without the protests against the Vietnam War how many more young soldiers would have died if people hadn't stood up and said enough is enough? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Toker00 on March 12, 2006 at 06:32:20 PT I wonder... Will the tax be higher on rock cocaine than powder? Higher on Cannabis than illegally obtained prescription pills? Probably. They are simply twisting the already stomped down jack boot. It really is time for another TEA PARTY. These taxes are just another form of taxation without representation. Will the tax money be invested to grow our economy? No. They are turning it right back around to continue the UNCONSTITUTIONAL War against American Citizens. There is no such thing as a WAR ON DRUGS. American citizens are the target, and the casualties. The Drugs are doing just fine. The fabric of our families, our communities, our Constitution, our spiritual enlightenment is under attack by our OWN GOVERNMENT! THIS IS TYRANNY AT IT'S WORST!Break out the bales of Hemp! It's time for a CANNABIS TEA PARTY! (PLEASE STOP BE-LITTLING PROTESTORS. YOU ARE BREAKING OUR HEARTS WITH YOUR LACK OF RESPECT FOR THOSE OF US WHO PUT IT ON THE LINE IN PUBLIC! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO JOIN THE PROTESTS, BUT STOP MAKING LIGHT OF WHAT WE ARE DOING. AND WE DON'T DO IT JUST TO MAKE OURSELVES FEEL GOOD! WE MAKE JUST AS MUCH PROGRESS ORGANIZING AND MOBILIZING THESE PROTESTS AS YOU DO TYPING YOUR THOUGHTS OR SPEAKING TO ANTIs. WE ARE THE PHYSICAL REPRESENTATION OF YOUR TYPED OR SPOKEN WORDS! WE PUT MUCH THOUGHT, EFFORT, AND ENERGY INTO OUR PROTESTS. WE FORCE THE AUTHORITIES TO TAKE NOTE, IN PUBLIC, OF OUR MESSAGES! WANT US TO STOP BECAUSE YOU SEE NO USE IN IT? TOO BAD! WE BELIEVE IN OURSELVES, AND OUR (YOUR) CAUSE, AND PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGING THIS BELIEF.)I love you guys, but I sure wish you wouldn't kill our hope just because you dissaprove of our attack methods. I have seen people on the street watching our protests. Many are afflicted with apathy. But some are visibly touched and shaken. I've seen people who were carrying signs against us, put down their sign and pick up one of ours after talking with us about our cause. You will never convince me that we don't make a difference. And we don't do it just to make ourselves feel good. That really hurt. Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW! [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Hope on March 12, 2006 at 05:55:43 PT Nunn Wonder how much he has invested in companies that profit from the WoD? [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Hope on March 12, 2006 at 05:53:59 PT Feeding the monster they've created. More children, more families to throw into the fire of their Drug War god.The bill, if nothing else, should insure more blood lost to their crass war.Blood and money sucking monster to be fed at all costs.Disgusting. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on March 12, 2006 at 03:59:03 PT: Desperation tactics The writing is on the wall for all to see...except those who don't want to.The DrugWar was always what I call a 'rich man's hobby', like yachting. In tight times, you have to cinch in your belt a notch. You can't afford the fancy eats and drink you used to. As any family that has fallen on hard times will tell you. To sustain a DrugWar, our economy has to have lots of surplus to afford such basically non-productive things (the vast majority of the accoutrements of the DrugWar are paid for from taxes, not from profits from selling actual goods the public wants, so it is a net drain on the budget). When an economy gets tight, as this one has for the last 5 years, then that surplus dries up. The country has to focus on the really important stuff of national survival...and the DrugWar (no matter how the prohibs try to equate it with national defense to save their meal ticket) soon won't mean diddley to Joe Blow who's lost his factory job to China and is looking at his unemployment about to run out. Try telling HIM who has kids to feed, clothe and shelter that a lot of fat cat bureaucrats need the tax dollars he desperately needs in the form of unemployment insurance that they need that same money to lock up 'potheads'.So, you see the prohibs moving into this even bigger Rube Goldberg nonsense about 'drug taxes'. *Anything* to prop up their sordid little satrapies. They're getting desperate, all right... [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by jose melendez on March 12, 2006 at 03:45:21 PT fight back " it's most likely going to take some extreme out of box thinking and actions to get true reform"Let's take it to the jury box, and follow up with several thousand civil lawsuits . . .http://CCCCP.org Drug War IS crime. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Ron Bennett on March 12, 2006 at 02:28:19 PT What's Next? Rape Tax, Murder Tax, etc... Seems to me if they're going to tax illicit drugs, perhaps they should tax murder and rape; group them under amusement taxes. Oh, and perhaps for burglary, reqire payment by the burglar of an excise tax on the value of all the goods stolen. The whole thing is silly.The only real hope I see for changing the laws anytime soon is technology ... I've long believed, dating back to the early 90s, that if a technology could be developed that basically combined supply and demand, the drug war is basically over ... it turns out I was on to something ... what amazes me though is where the solution is appearing to be coming from ... gene doping in sports of all places.http://www.geneforum.org/node/61An excerpt from the above weblink:“Gene doping could change the competitive nature of sports like never before,” said Greg Fowler, Ph.D., executive director of Geneforum, a Portland-based non-profit that educates, engages and consults the public on bioethical issues and co-sponsor of the event. “Unlike synthetic substances currently used by athletes, genetic enhancement will instruct the body to produce natural substances to improve performance thus making detection extremely difficult. And, if there is no way to detect it, how are we going to regulate it and ensure a level playing field for all athletes?”Other links:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_dopingExplains what gene doping is; links to related topics.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/354/sports.shtmlI like this quote in particular ..."Many aspects of drug use by athletes, and the attempts to stamp out drug use in sports, parallel what reformers have seen in the larger war on drugs. In the US, the enlistment of the nation's leading drug warriors in the crusade to "clean up" sports is an ominous new theater of the drug war. Reformers will increasingly be challenged to engage or to watch from the sidelines."I've been involved as an activist for 15 years, and as other long-time activists can attest, it seems we're just going around and around ... gene doping and other such technologies which, in effect, combine supply and demand are likely what's going to help break the logjam and pave the way to true, meaningful drug policy reform.Protests, etc are all well and good, but it's most likely going to take some extreme out of box thinking and actions to get true reform ... until then, we'll continue to read of more ridiculous laws, such as illict drug taxes.Ron [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by afterburner on March 11, 2006 at 23:01:11 PT Thugs Refuse to See the Obvious: Regulate and Tax Instead they invent more and more tangents to maintain their mad superstitious quest and to avoid the obvious solution. “You can bet drug dealers don't pay tax on what they earn,” [Tommy Loving, director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force] said, meaning they won't have such a tax stamp. Well, Marc Emery paid tax on his seed sales, so I guess he isn't a "drug kingpin" after all. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by siege on March 11, 2006 at 21:13:10 PT shame Just another TAX without Repsentashionwake up and vote them out!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by runderwo on March 11, 2006 at 19:47:21 PT great This is interesting because it is another scheme to hide the costs of the drug war. Kind of like how asset forfeiture laws subsidize law enforcement. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by observer on March 11, 2006 at 19:29:16 PT Nunn, DARE: Call it Fascism No drug dealers purchase these tax stamps, which makes them subject to a number of tax evasion penalties, based on the value of the drugs being sold, Loving said.In other words, it lets lying prosecutors pile on charges, for the same act. It also lets politicians look tough, gets them free press (like above). Such tough talk against dope dealers plays well to Stephen Nunn's dumbed down constituency. If they swallowed "drug free" school zones, they will gulp this puppy down without thinking, which is probably par for the course for Der Minifurher Nunn und his serfs, ja. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment