John Shaw
Independent Candidate - Florida House Of Representatives
Issues - Economy:
John Shaw believes that a significant portion of Florida's budget deficit can be eliminated with a revamped drug policy that decriminalizes controlled substances. The money currently spent on interdiction of drugs and the prosecution and incarceration of drug offenders should be diverted to a public health initiative that would, over the long haul, significantly reduce the demand for drugs and free up billions of dollars for the pressing needs of this state, such as education and social services.
Economically speaking, we are in a crisis. Let me re-iterate that.
A crisis.
I'm sure I don't have to remind you about our gas prices. I don't even need to remind you that we have a national debt of over 9 trillion dollars. I need not refresh you on our declining stock market, or brief you on the current value of the American Dollar.
I do need to remind you, though, of the money we are currently wasting.
These figures are for this year alone. Creating a demand for prison systems for their economic dependence is not exactly the ideal business model, and yet, that is what we have done by providing this war on ourselves. Ending drug prohibition would not only be the most economically responsible decision this country could make, but it would also enable us to legally investigate hemp as an alternative fuel source. The following is an excerpt from a paper my mother wrote on this issue:
"If America's farmers and city growers planted crops of industrial hemp today, within 120 days we could harvest an abundant new source of clean-burning hemp seed fuel oil that is safe, efficient, renewable, sustainable, edible, uniquely nutritious, and easy to grow. The cultivation of hemp oil could end our dependency on nonrenewable petroleum fuel, a dependency that has been dictated to us since 1937."
Please read her full article, here.
It is clear what needs to be done in order to solve our economic crisis. I firmly stand behind legislation that takes a priority in addressing the drug war as the primary reason for our state's, and our country's, financial instability.
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