wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler) (03/21/84)
}}
Without getting into the moral and health questions involved in
putting the government into the drug business, there are two
problems.
1. If the government got into the business, making drugs
legal and available would bring the street price down
and, therefore, generate much less revenue to run NASA.
2. If the government kept the street price at the current
levels, the crime that now takes place to pay for drugs
would remain high, thus generating a need to use the
revenues to deter crime.
It won't work. Why don't we all, every man jack and woman jane and
kid little just send $10.00 to NASA. Let's see now, there are around
210 million of us out here. Ten bucks times 210 million would get them
over 2 billion to work with. Next year, we could pick another favorite
agency and do the same thing. There must be a way to work this out
so we don't have to pay so much in Federal taxes, Hmmm.
T. C. Wheelerlab@qubix.UUCP (Q-Bick) (03/23/84)
Further, the price of drugs is controlled by exactly one thing - supply
and demand. If people weren't willing to pay the high prices, the price
would come down (and organized crime would look for greener pastures).
The question is why there are so many who feel the need to be part of the
demand. I can think of a lot of better ways to spend my hard-earned cash.
--
The Ice Floe of the Q-Bick
{ucbvax,ihnp4}!{decwrl,amd70}!qubix!lab
decwrl!qubix!lab@Berkeley.ARPAmmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (03/24/84)
=============
... Why don't we all, every man jack and woman jane and
kid little just send $10.00 to NASA. Let's see now, there are around
210 million of us out here. Ten bucks times 210 million would get them
over 2 billion to work with. Next year, we could pick another favorite
agency and do the same thing. There must be a way to work this out
so we don't have to pay so much in Federal taxes, Hmmm.
T. C. Wheeler
=============
In Canada, there is a tax deduction for "Gifts to Canada or to a Province".
Don't you have the same?
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmtfair@dual.UUCP (Erik E. Fair) (03/27/84)
Today a bust in Columbia yielded several tons of cocaine, which
`undoubtedly' was bound for the U.S. The estimated `street value'
of this cocaine is 1.2 billion dollars. It was also estimated that
the size of this haul is approximately 25% of the total amount of
cocaine consumed by the U.S. in one year.
- source: KPIX 11pm News, San Francisco, Mar 20 1984
I assert:
1) There are drug addicts/dependents in the U.S. using controlled
substances illegally.
2) The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is unable to stop the
suppliers of controlled substances from reaching the
buyers (addicts/etc.).
3) The U.S. spends at least 500 million dollars on the DEA and
related drug control programs. (This is a guess, I bet it's
close. Does anyone have the real numbers?)
4) The U.S. Space program is woefully underfunded.
I propose:
1) The DEA should cease to try an stop the illegal importation
of controlled substances.
2) The DEA be subsumed within NASA, and that its new purpose
should be the importation and distribution of what are
now `controlled substances.'
3) The new DEA should be self-supporting (i.e. no appropriations
from Congress)
4) The revenues from this effort should be directed toward the
exploration and expansion into space.
5) The addicts should be allowed to freely purchase drugs,
and use/abuse them, or not. To Quote J. Pournell,
`Think of it as Evolution in Action.'
Notes:
This is not the first time that the drug problem has been attacked
from the angle `legalize & tax', but why not get the gov't in there full
swing? Can't you see the FDA doing brand name cocaine testing for the
height of the high?
Basically I'm tired of having my tax dollars spent on what I consider
to be a fruitless non-productive activity: the DEA. (Grumble)
Erik E. Fair
dual!fair@Berkeley.ARPA
{ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!fair
Dual Systems Corporation, Berkeley, California
P.S. I don't use `controlled substances' of any kind, unless you include
that which might be found mixed in with a certain carmel coloured
carbonated beverage... :-)v.wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA (04/04/84)
From: Rich Wales <v.wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA> Martin -- In reply to your message: Date: 24 Mar 84 9:34:05-PST (Sat) To: space @ Mit-Mc From: decvax!linus!utzoo!dciem!mmt @ Ucb-Vax Subject: Re: How to Solve NASA's budget problems In-Reply-To: Article <640@pyuxa.UUCP> In Canada, there is a tax deduction for "Gifts to Canada or to a Province". Don't you have the same? According to the U.S. Federal tax return instruction booklet, you can contribute money to the government by mailing (along with your tax return and tax payment) a separate cheque made out to "Bureau of the Public Debt". Such a gift can be claimed as a deduction for Federal tax purposes, up to some limit (the total of all your contributions to all recipients combined cannot exceed 20% of your income, I believe). I suspect that most (if not all) states allow this same deduction for purposes of their own income taxes -- possibly with a different upper limit than 20%. I can't say for sure what the situation is nationwide because each state has its own tax laws. As far as I can tell, there is no way to earmark such a contribution as being specifically for NASA. And I don't know whether there is any other mechanism available for contributing directly to this or that fed- eral agency. (I suspect there is not.) -- Rich <v.wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA>
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (04/12/84)
Rich Wales comments:
As far as I can tell, there is no way to earmark such a contribution as
being specifically for NASA. And I don't know whether there is any
other mechanism available for contributing directly to this or that fed-
eral agency. (I suspect there is not.)
I believe this is correct. Several years ago, when the Viking Fund was
collecting money to try to keep the Viking Lander operating, they found
that it wasn't at all easy to donate the money for that purpose and only
that purpose. I think it was finally done by a complex circumlocution
involving having the V.F. contract with NASA for a specific piece of
research. It "happened" that the group that was keeping the Lander
running was the logical group to do this particular bit of research,
and that it was something they wanted to do anyway. I don't vouch for
all the details, but I think that's roughly how it worked. I believe
it was the first time anything like this had been done.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry