EVEN ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE NOW TAXED

Taxes has never been on top of the list for favorable conversation for
most. Our food is taxed, or income is taxed, but now they've started taxing
people's illegal drugs.

Arizona started the ball rolling by coming up with the marijuana and drug
tax. Since that time, more than 20 other states have passed various
marijuana and drug taxes. There are tax stamps for marijuana, controlled
substances, LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, and others.

In those states, people who possess cannabis or other illegal drugs are
legally required to purchase and affix state-issued stamps onto their
contraband. The total cost of the tax is determined by the quantity of
contraband one has. Unlike typical criminal laws prohibiting the possession
and sale of controlled substances, drug tax stamp laws primarily assess
financial penalties on the defendant for not having the stamp. On occasion,
criminal sanctions may also be imposed.

The stamps range in price from 35 cents to $4,000. The State Revenue
Department said some of the expensive stamps have never been purchased. For
the first 10 years, of the Arizona stamps, 83 sheets of the one gram
cannabis stamp were sold, and three sheets of the cannabis one ounce stamp
were sold. No one has ever purchased any of the cannabis one kilo,
($352.74) or any of the three controlled substances (one gram, $8.80; one
ounce, $250; and one kilo, $4,000). Keep in mind, you have to buy a whole
sheet at a time.

Nearly half of the U.S. states have the marijuana tax stamp laws on their
books, few citizens observe them. Most of the citizens of these states
don't even know that such a law exist in their state. Others fear that
complying with the law will get them busted. The legislative intent of drug
tax laws is to impose an additional penalty, tax evasion, upon drug
offenders after they are arrested and criminally charged with a drug violation.

In some states such as Georgia, failure to comply with the state tax law
may result in a nominal misdemeanor penalty. However, in other states, such
as Minnesota, failure to comply with the state's drug tax law may result in
a defendant facing an additional fine of up to $14,000 and seven years in jail.

In one recent case in Arizona a man was arrested for selling marijuana, and
he had a license and had the tax stamps on his product. A judge decided
that if the state sold him a license, they shouldn't arrest him for selling
the product so licensed. The judge dismissed the charges against the
fellow. The state appealed and the case is still going on.