since it already has some posts, im going to go ahead and try my hand at assignment 19.

our "recession" is currently in, last time i checked, a slight upswing. however, there are some important points that can further this. firstly, we change some of our "war on drugs" laws. mainly those dealing with punishment and incarceration. i'm in no way advocating drug dealing or things of that nature, but our current system is considerably more damaging than helpful.
nearly every instance of possession above a misdemeanor lands the defendant with a large chunk of jail time, as do literally any instance of selling. this does two things, one it requires our government to pay large amounts in food, space, and other things associated with incarceration, and two it leads to the formation of prison gangs (potentially the most violent and dangerous type of gangs). on top of increasing our debt and increasing violence both inside and out of the big house, it has done almost nothing to stop the drug problem, which still runs rampant through our nation in neighborhoods of every economic class.
the solution is to make more of these crimes punishable by fines. hefty fines. this would create governmental revenue as well as decreasing prison gangs and slowing the money we currently feed into the prison system.
and next, an even more controversial subject, legalizing marijuana. once again, i'm not trying to advocate drug use, but it's a serious idea. it would, once again, decrease money fed into the prisons, while also providing something that could be heavily taxed by the government.
of course, there are arguments against this legalization, but i believe them to be negligible. this can be compared to the eventual fall of prohibition in the fact that it is something done on a massive scale and causes inebriation, but honestly, every study i have read (which is several) has come to the conclusion that Marijauna (and several other "drugs") are less dangerous than alcohol. alcohol typically causes violence, addiction, and can lead to vehicular crashes, none of which is caused by Marijuana. on top of this, hemp paper is more affordable and typically better than our regular kind, thus providing America with yet another resource in our beautiful country.