WEBVTT 00:02.510 --> 00:09.310 Hello and welcome to another episode of the minor issues podcast. I'm Mark Thornton at the Mises Institute 00:10.070 --> 00:11.970 fans of Austrian economics 00:12.510 --> 00:18.430 Certainly, no one of the two main reasons for radical monetary reform 00:19.070 --> 00:25.770 In this episode, we look back at my talk at the elections and economy conference 00:26.590 --> 00:29.030 And my paper on legalizing 00:30.330 --> 00:34.790 Cannabis and the crucial role that the gold standard could play 00:35.510 --> 00:39.970 Now, of course, we all have our pet projects for liberty and the economy 00:40.530 --> 00:43.730 Some want stopping war to be the highest priority 00:44.350 --> 00:46.450 Others think it should be tax reform 00:47.190 --> 00:51.810 Still other people work on legalizing cannabis or welfare reform 00:52.570 --> 00:58.170 Few think of returning to the gold standard as the on the top of their list 00:59.030 --> 01:03.470 After all they say it might not even be politically possible 01:04.110 --> 01:08.490 And yet Austrian economists usually put monetary reform 01:08.950 --> 01:10.530 Of a radical nature 01:11.050 --> 01:16.630 On the top of their list and we spend a great deal of time and effort promoting and debating 01:17.030 --> 01:19.530 The best research on this topic 01:20.230 --> 01:23.650 Meanwhile mainstream economists usually ignore the issue 01:24.550 --> 01:32.510 The first reason for monetary reform is of course all the bad consequences of current monetary policy 01:32.510 --> 01:34.530 And the benefits of reform 01:35.650 --> 01:38.910 Such as no problem with inflation in the economy 01:39.710 --> 01:43.190 No artificial business cycles in the economy 01:43.830 --> 01:48.270 And no artificial redistribution of income and wealth 01:48.660 --> 01:52.230 For money printing as a result we get a sound money 01:52.680 --> 01:54.650 A stable and prosperous economy 01:55.140 --> 01:59.410 And we get a just society that minimizes privilege 02:00.160 --> 02:02.470 And rewards people for their effort 02:03.440 --> 02:10.450 The second and less obvious benefit is that the gold standard hampers the growth of government and power 02:11.020 --> 02:12.370 While not obvious 02:12.930 --> 02:17.650 We all know that government especially the power elites that control government 02:18.050 --> 02:22.630 Love that magic checkbook that the federal reserve provides 02:23.370 --> 02:24.990 Because the Fed can print 02:25.450 --> 02:30.570 We can enjoy more government than we actually pay for in taxes 02:31.630 --> 02:37.430 And fewer people complain or even realize the true cost of government 02:38.290 --> 02:40.690 Wasteful expenditures can be overlooked 02:41.350 --> 02:44.810 Big spenders can be re-elected without a challenge 02:45.270 --> 02:49.550 And wasteful programs continue to feed at the public trough 02:50.210 --> 02:55.130 When the excess cost is hidden over by paper and debt 02:55.550 --> 03:00.130 The war on drugs is a good example of a really bad policy 03:00.130 --> 03:05.270 A very costly policy that has been allowed to continue for decades 03:06.230 --> 03:11.370 National marijuana prohibition actually became the war on drugs 03:11.370 --> 03:16.890 The year after Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971 03:17.670 --> 03:20.470 We have now spent more than a half a century 03:21.190 --> 03:22.810 Trying to reform 03:23.430 --> 03:28.990 Marijuana prohibition through the back door of state and local governments 03:30.250 --> 03:34.790 In contrast with national alcohol prohibition 03:35.270 --> 03:40.290 It had become an obvious failure by the late 1920s 03:40.290 --> 03:45.610 And when the great depression hit and of course we were on a gold standard 03:46.400 --> 03:52.870 Citizens quickly mobilized and passed a constitutional amendment to repeal it 03:53.480 --> 03:55.790 So let's make sound money 03:56.440 --> 03:58.670 The priority it deserves 03:59.200 --> 04:03.670 Get out your copy of Rothbard's what has government done to our money 04:04.130 --> 04:07.770 Or order a free copy with the link provided 04:08.230 --> 04:10.310 I will discuss and summarize 04:10.830 --> 04:12.990 Many of the important contributions 04:13.490 --> 04:16.410 Of this pamphlet in upcoming episodes 04:17.090 --> 04:20.370 All reformers of government need to know 04:20.690 --> 04:22.890 This foundational knowledge 04:23.290 --> 04:26.250 Of society and the state 04:26.830 --> 04:29.950 Austrian economists really don't 04:30.230 --> 04:33.270 Put that much credence 04:33.670 --> 04:35.910 In individual elections 04:36.400 --> 04:39.230 No matter how good the results make you feel 04:41.250 --> 04:42.070 Because 04:43.610 --> 04:46.890 It's not that things are going to be easy from here 04:47.480 --> 04:51.770 But because it represents a clear sign 04:52.300 --> 04:54.750 Of ideological improvement 04:55.360 --> 04:58.990 In the American people the American people have rejected 04:59.460 --> 05:02.390 The politics and government of the left 05:03.230 --> 05:07.450 And they have embraced the more popular ideas 05:07.890 --> 05:11.030 Of what helps the average American person 05:13.870 --> 05:19.610 So we can say that there's very little doubt in my mind and many others 05:19.610 --> 05:23.350 Mind that this election was a signal 05:24.530 --> 05:28.070 About ideological change in the American public 05:28.870 --> 05:31.030 What we're going to find out today 05:31.620 --> 05:32.070 However 05:34.140 --> 05:35.730 Is that that election 05:36.810 --> 05:40.570 Doesn't just simply wipe out all the errors 05:41.160 --> 05:44.950 Of the past in our government or pave the way 05:44.950 --> 05:47.170 To nirvana and perfection 05:47.680 --> 05:49.370 In American society 05:49.980 --> 05:53.770 We have a difficult road ahead 05:54.260 --> 05:57.070 As the speakers will point out 05:58.030 --> 06:02.290 And in the long run we really have a long ways to go 06:02.290 --> 06:05.770 I like to think of the problems of big government 06:06.350 --> 06:07.490 Like an onion 06:08.350 --> 06:10.290 And with the onion 06:10.290 --> 06:13.310 The skin of the onion that we see 06:14.110 --> 06:18.030 Represents the just the surface level problems 06:18.570 --> 06:22.030 The actual political faces who are in charge 06:22.730 --> 06:23.930 The obvious 06:26.290 --> 06:28.070 Nonsense and nuisances 06:28.810 --> 06:33.870 That we hear about government on in the media and in the news 06:34.570 --> 06:39.870 But as we look deeper into the onion as we go through layers of the onion 06:39.870 --> 06:42.490 We see things like all the taxes 06:43.230 --> 06:44.570 All the regulations 06:45.370 --> 06:46.690 All of the bureaucracy 06:47.610 --> 06:52.730 All of the control they they have over our lives all the interference 06:53.410 --> 06:55.670 They have over our lives 06:55.670 --> 07:00.470 And as we get closer to the core of the onion we see 07:01.230 --> 07:06.410 Problems of a lot of looming programs including the national debt 07:07.170 --> 07:14.250 The national debt obviously as we all know in here is enormous. It's been growing at an unsustainable pace 07:15.310 --> 07:20.030 Where the where trillions of dollars are being added to the national debt 07:21.130 --> 07:27.610 And at the core of the onion is where the onion where the new leaves are formed 07:27.610 --> 07:29.770 Where the onion grows 07:30.480 --> 07:31.730 And expands 07:34.390 --> 07:35.170 Ceaselessly 07:36.150 --> 07:41.630 And the way I like to think of it that's where the federal reserve is that's where 07:42.360 --> 07:47.170 A big ultimate problem rests the federal reserve is what allows 07:47.690 --> 07:50.290 And what has allowed government to grow 07:51.170 --> 07:53.170 Enormous and all powerful 07:54.050 --> 07:55.510 That's also by the way 07:55.910 --> 08:00.570 The part of the onion that forms those compounds that makes us cry 08:01.110 --> 08:05.370 When we try to chop the onion. So I think that's a very useful analogy 08:06.030 --> 08:10.270 Next time you're chopping onions. You could think damn that federal reserve 08:12.610 --> 08:16.930 The title of my talk is voting on drugs 08:17.690 --> 08:21.450 And I'm specifically going to be talking today about cannabis 08:22.330 --> 08:24.790 Which is the actual name for marijuana 08:25.390 --> 08:30.830 Which is kind of a propaganda name the government gave it a long long time ago 08:31.910 --> 08:33.230 Now this issue 08:34.890 --> 08:37.870 Would seemingly be very small 08:38.690 --> 08:40.350 And very insignificant 08:41.270 --> 08:45.090 From the point of view that we're really concerned about today 08:47.910 --> 08:54.530 It was an issue in the election this time here in florida. There was a measure on the ballot 08:54.890 --> 08:57.650 To change the constitution of florida 08:57.650 --> 09:02.170 To legalize recreational use of cannabis 09:03.150 --> 09:08.630 Here in the state of florida it did not pass it required a 60 percent 09:09.650 --> 09:12.430 Of the vote to pass it was endorsed 09:13.210 --> 09:16.670 Both by president trump and vice president harris 09:17.170 --> 09:23.050 First time that's ever been done with two of the leading presidential candidates endorsing 09:24.370 --> 09:25.650 Cannabis legalization 09:26.570 --> 09:28.190 It turns out that 09:29.290 --> 09:31.330 Governor disantis was not 09:34.330 --> 09:39.510 Didn't like the cut the state of florida was getting in the whole thing and he opposed it vigorously 09:40.750 --> 09:44.450 With himself and various departments taxpayer money 09:45.230 --> 09:48.250 To oppose that so this time it did not pass 09:49.730 --> 09:55.990 But again, it seems very very small in the bigger picture of things, but it really is 09:56.350 --> 10:01.610 A case study in government so we can learn a whole heck of a lot 10:02.110 --> 10:07.450 About government about the current situation the difficulties of 10:08.510 --> 10:09.230 Changing 10:10.110 --> 10:12.530 The general direction of government 10:13.490 --> 10:17.350 Solving problems like the national debt 10:18.130 --> 10:19.870 Those bigger problems 10:22.050 --> 10:28.670 Somehow seem more understandable and more tractable and more solvable once we see 10:29.630 --> 10:30.170 The 10:31.250 --> 10:37.590 Legality of drugs like cannabis in the proper perspective. So it is big 10:38.550 --> 10:46.970 It highlights the difficulties involved in ideological change and the way austrian economists see 10:46.970 --> 10:50.750 Politics is that you have to change 10:51.470 --> 10:57.930 People's ideology you have to change the way people think about how the world works 10:58.150 --> 11:06.090 And how government works and how society works in order to ultimately win elections and change policies 11:08.030 --> 11:12.210 It also highlights the difficulties indeed the futility 11:12.830 --> 11:14.230 Sometimes of 11:14.770 --> 11:18.630 Electoral change so we see that problem as well 11:19.190 --> 11:19.810 in 11:20.370 --> 11:23.010 Illegal drugs and their legalization 11:23.770 --> 11:25.550 It also highlights 11:27.150 --> 11:28.070 Oddly enough 11:28.750 --> 11:33.310 It highlights the importance of monetary reform 11:34.590 --> 11:41.070 And in doing so it highlights the importance of the work that the mesis institute does 11:43.530 --> 11:46.770 So i'm going to take you back almost a hundred years 11:47.210 --> 11:53.190 To 1937 when the u.s. Congress passed the marijuana tax act 11:54.330 --> 11:55.630 Sort of igniting 11:56.830 --> 12:00.190 Or reigniting prohibition and the war on drugs 12:00.920 --> 12:04.930 The bureaucracy of prohibition which had been thrown out of a job 12:06.390 --> 12:08.030 Saw this is a way 12:09.210 --> 12:14.570 To re-establish their power and re-establish their job, frankly 12:16.750 --> 12:20.210 Organizations like the fbi and so forth 12:20.800 --> 12:23.950 Drive a lot of their power authority and budget budget 12:24.910 --> 12:26.010 um from 12:26.880 --> 12:30.170 The war on drugs and prior to that prohibition 12:32.590 --> 12:36.370 It also highlights the role of progressivism 12:37.020 --> 12:43.170 We think of progressives as a new political ideology, but it's been around for more than a century 12:44.430 --> 12:45.090 progressives 12:45.720 --> 12:48.250 In actually in the late 19th century 12:48.920 --> 12:52.310 Saw it to use government to control the people 12:53.570 --> 12:57.970 They saw it to use propaganda to control society 12:59.570 --> 13:02.630 And they were otherwise a very nasty 13:04.270 --> 13:05.230 Racist 13:08.870 --> 13:13.890 Group that wanted to exert their control over society 13:14.970 --> 13:19.170 When the marijuana tax act came up for passage 13:19.970 --> 13:21.810 Science groups opposed 13:22.730 --> 13:25.930 They said cannabis was a very legitimate 13:27.010 --> 13:29.930 Um thing in pharmacology and in medicine 13:30.370 --> 13:32.830 It was used in a wide variety of 13:33.490 --> 13:36.910 Industries in the united states my father owned a pharmacy 13:37.490 --> 13:40.730 And he had a lot of the old bottles and stuff 13:41.290 --> 13:44.310 Sort of a museum of pharmacology 13:44.910 --> 13:46.430 Uh in his pharmacy 13:47.910 --> 13:50.830 And growing up in the early 1970s 13:51.690 --> 13:56.190 I noticed that one of the large bottles said cannabis sativa 13:57.230 --> 14:00.750 And I thought to myself what in the world is that doing in here? 14:01.350 --> 14:06.190 And he told me no that was a perfectly legitimate thing that pharmacists used 14:06.190 --> 14:10.610 To make liniments, painkillers and so on and so forth 14:12.810 --> 14:14.650 But in 1937 14:15.590 --> 14:15.970 The 14:17.430 --> 14:20.910 Bureaucracy and its propaganda turned away from this 14:21.350 --> 14:25.550 And they started making up stories in order to make cannabis illegal 14:26.290 --> 14:29.570 So propaganda was very much alive and well 14:30.070 --> 14:35.270 As a matter of fact when the bill to tax marijuana and effectively prohibit it 14:35.750 --> 14:36.710 Was in trouble 14:37.750 --> 14:44.550 The person promoting the bill came up with what we now know is the gateway hypothesis 14:45.230 --> 14:49.770 That if we in the gateway hypothesis is that if you smoke 14:50.730 --> 14:55.250 Cannabis or marijuana you will end up dying from a heroin 14:56.010 --> 14:57.630 Addiction and overdose 14:58.190 --> 15:02.470 That was simply just made up on the spot on the floor 15:03.050 --> 15:05.610 Um on the legislative floor 15:07.410 --> 15:12.550 So right from the very beginning it was propaganda and it was anti science 15:12.970 --> 15:16.270 And it was racism it was promoted as a way of 15:16.650 --> 15:21.570 You know getting back at mexicans and blacks and so forth 15:22.150 --> 15:22.730 Um 15:23.110 --> 15:25.150 And keeping them in their place 15:28.010 --> 15:31.530 Now that pretty much was it in terms of news 15:32.470 --> 15:39.150 Related to the marijuana tax act. It was quickly converted into an outright prohibition 15:39.150 --> 15:42.830 And yes, there were stories of famous people who were arrested 15:43.720 --> 15:44.490 for marijuana 15:45.580 --> 15:48.970 But it really wasn't until the 1960s 15:49.560 --> 15:52.250 That where marijuana use was spreading 15:53.220 --> 15:57.250 The vietnam war people bringing the idea of smoking marijuana 15:57.980 --> 15:59.690 Back to the united states 16:00.360 --> 16:01.810 Making it a big deal 16:02.510 --> 16:03.150 Um 16:03.540 --> 16:07.130 And creating really an opposition group the counterculture 16:07.650 --> 16:10.810 Uh opposition to american society 16:11.610 --> 16:12.210 Um 16:12.730 --> 16:15.490 That the war on drugs was actually born 16:15.830 --> 16:22.710 Uh president ridger richard nixon made it a prominent part of his reelection campaign 16:23.490 --> 16:25.410 In 1972 16:26.910 --> 16:28.210 At the time 16:28.950 --> 16:33.930 Gallup started um polling americans about their views on 16:34.810 --> 16:36.070 Cannabis marijuana 16:36.890 --> 16:38.950 And whether it should be legal or not 16:39.370 --> 16:45.010 And in 1969 it was the first poll and it found that only 12 percent 16:45.790 --> 16:50.690 Of american supported the idea of any kind of legalized 16:52.150 --> 16:53.770 Cannabis or marijuana 16:54.750 --> 17:00.270 And those numbers stayed very low throughout the early 1970s 17:00.990 --> 17:08.070 Of course, that's a public opinion poll. I'm not sure how much anybody in here believes public opinion polls anymore 17:12.210 --> 17:18.190 But the the apparently the view of americans was very very low on 17:18.750 --> 17:21.070 legalizing marijuana or cannabis 17:21.910 --> 17:23.450 And that stayed true 17:25.790 --> 17:27.510 For several decades 17:28.280 --> 17:32.490 Uh certainly through president reagan's war on drugs 17:33.370 --> 17:36.790 Um, and this is kind of where I come into play 17:37.900 --> 17:41.550 Um, I went to graduate school in 1982 17:45.360 --> 17:51.410 But in that environment president reagan had been elected president in 1980 17:51.920 --> 17:57.130 He appointed george bush his vice president to become the first 17:57.510 --> 17:58.530 drugs are 17:59.020 --> 18:01.730 And they immediately began implementing 18:02.420 --> 18:04.770 uh, sort of a full-scale drive 18:05.400 --> 18:05.870 to 18:06.740 --> 18:08.450 Fight the war on drugs 18:09.040 --> 18:15.490 They started using the military. They started using interagency task force 18:16.310 --> 18:17.610 um to 18:18.770 --> 18:22.010 Interdict drugs coming into the country 18:22.380 --> 18:25.930 The first lady had her just say no campaign 18:26.850 --> 18:31.590 And little me was in the college graduate classroom 18:32.990 --> 18:35.470 And I started to look at this 18:36.250 --> 18:36.650 issue 18:37.190 --> 18:40.970 As part of a micro economics course and I discovered 18:41.910 --> 18:43.230 What was to become 18:44.010 --> 18:48.610 Or what was to be referred to as the iron law of prohibition 18:49.230 --> 18:52.530 And the iron law of prohibition is simply that 18:52.900 --> 18:58.410 The more you try to enforce prohibition the more you try to interdict 18:58.960 --> 19:03.470 Anything that's illegal coming into the country the higher the 19:04.080 --> 19:07.510 um the number of cops the the the longer 19:08.180 --> 19:09.470 The sentences 19:10.280 --> 19:15.070 The more dangerous and the more potent the drugs will actually become 19:17.510 --> 19:22.270 Okay, so that the iron law of prohibition states 19:22.530 --> 19:26.210 That the more you attempt to enforce prohibition 19:26.730 --> 19:31.330 The more dangerous and the more potent the drugs actually become 19:32.190 --> 19:34.630 And that ultimately became an important 19:35.670 --> 19:37.810 element just one element 19:38.270 --> 19:40.710 In the battle for legalizing drugs 19:41.590 --> 19:43.210 At the same time 19:43.890 --> 19:46.870 President Reagan formed a task force 19:47.330 --> 19:49.090 Right here in florida 19:49.930 --> 19:53.870 To interdict the drugs this is where they brought in the military 19:54.450 --> 20:00.410 This is where they brought in irs agents fbi agents customs agents 20:01.010 --> 20:06.850 All sorts of I think there was like 12 different agencies that were involved in this new 20:07.770 --> 20:12.350 Formed effort to prevent drugs from coming into the state of florida 20:12.350 --> 20:14.610 Actually right here in fort miers 20:15.170 --> 20:19.010 Florida but also miami fort lauderdale and so forth 20:19.710 --> 20:22.810 But that was on the ground here in fort miers 20:24.850 --> 20:28.130 And what they found out with that task force 20:29.050 --> 20:31.530 Was that they couldn't prevent 20:32.270 --> 20:36.390 The drugs from coming into the country even the bureaucrats themselves 20:37.190 --> 20:41.110 Admitted that they couldn't stop all the drugs from coming in 20:41.740 --> 20:47.750 And then the federal agents noticed that hey, not only are we not getting them in 20:47.750 --> 20:50.590 Preventing them from coming in in florida 20:50.590 --> 20:53.190 But they're actually more drugs coming in 20:53.190 --> 20:56.610 In charleston in new orleans in houston 20:57.320 --> 20:59.630 And baltimore in places like that 21:00.310 --> 21:06.570 But one of the things that I noticed and it gave me more support for this iron law of prohibition 21:07.120 --> 21:12.530 Was that the price of marijuana in florida did go up significantly 21:13.450 --> 21:15.130 But it was also 21:15.820 --> 21:20.550 Simultaneously the first time that there were massive new shipments of cocaine 21:21.610 --> 21:22.050 into 21:22.940 --> 21:24.350 The state of florida 21:24.350 --> 21:26.510 So on the streets of miami 21:27.200 --> 21:30.470 It was said that you could hardly find a joint 21:31.060 --> 21:34.370 But that the price of cocaine had been cut in half 21:35.090 --> 21:38.170 By all of these agents trying to interdict 21:38.930 --> 21:40.970 Drugs into the state of florida 21:41.830 --> 21:44.330 So by making it more difficult 21:44.910 --> 21:50.930 The drug smuggler simply switched from the big bulky barrels or not barrels 21:52.410 --> 21:54.710 Bails of marijuana. Thank you 21:55.710 --> 21:56.790 Yeah, not yeah 21:57.750 --> 21:58.770 You're just a farmer 22:01.210 --> 22:01.850 And 22:02.830 --> 22:06.310 They simply switched to the more condensed more potent 22:06.970 --> 22:09.350 More valuable product, which was cocaine 22:10.170 --> 22:13.190 And then right after that the crack cocaine 22:14.250 --> 22:16.910 Epidemics started and spread throughout the country 22:17.850 --> 22:20.810 And and of course this has really come back to haunt us 22:21.490 --> 22:21.810 In 22:22.710 --> 22:25.330 Over the last couple of decades in particular 22:29.030 --> 22:33.410 I myself had a hard time selling this as a dissertation proposal 22:34.190 --> 22:37.310 Something that would make the war on drugs 22:37.970 --> 22:38.730 unwinnable 22:39.550 --> 22:42.690 In theory was not a very popular topic 22:43.550 --> 22:48.250 At auburn university, which is a very conservative agricultural school 22:49.550 --> 22:55.230 And support for legalization in the country was still only in the low 20 percent 22:55.230 --> 22:55.490 sense 22:57.810 --> 23:02.070 But there was a slow rising tide against 23:03.290 --> 23:04.890 Marijuana prohibition 23:05.290 --> 23:09.450 The externalities or costs of the war on drugs 23:10.010 --> 23:16.310 Were building up the cost of law enforcement the cost of the court system in prisons 23:16.950 --> 23:21.090 The cost of broken families the cost of people being killed 23:21.510 --> 23:23.510 Either directly in the business 23:24.310 --> 23:27.710 Or directly as consumers overdosing 23:29.030 --> 23:30.090 From the drugs 23:30.790 --> 23:34.870 Or in the innocent bystanders who were being shot and killed 23:35.730 --> 23:38.310 As a result of the black market 23:38.950 --> 23:40.470 Resulting from prohibition 23:40.910 --> 23:44.370 So the costs in the war on drugs were increasing 23:45.810 --> 23:49.590 This was starting to weigh on the american public 23:50.970 --> 23:51.810 decriminalization 23:52.590 --> 23:55.930 Of cannabis started in the 1970s 23:55.930 --> 23:57.710 So some americans 23:58.110 --> 23:59.370 Saw right off 23:59.890 --> 24:04.030 That the idea of prohibiting marijuana was stupid 24:05.130 --> 24:12.210 These were mostly places in the western united states on the periphery the places that 24:14.010 --> 24:19.090 Progressives don't think are very important status don't think are very important 24:19.810 --> 24:25.750 And then there was also a lot of non scientific discoveries about marijuana 24:26.470 --> 24:27.470 The government 24:28.770 --> 24:30.970 Speaking about being anti science 24:31.530 --> 24:35.070 The government simply suppressed any research 24:36.210 --> 24:37.870 Involving this former 24:37.870 --> 24:40.830 Pharmaceutical drug called cannabis 24:41.250 --> 24:48.410 They simply suppressed any research that would promote any idea that it could provide any benefit 24:49.090 --> 24:51.150 But despite the suppression 24:51.810 --> 24:53.890 People were finding out that hey 24:54.690 --> 24:56.110 Marijuana helps with 24:56.110 --> 25:01.010 This condition or that condition it helps people with cancer 25:01.430 --> 25:06.170 Because it helps fight pain or it spurs the appetite or 25:07.070 --> 25:09.670 Whatever it happens to be or it calms you down 25:10.970 --> 25:13.610 The AIDS epidemic was very similar 25:14.010 --> 25:16.110 It helped people spur their appetite 25:16.110 --> 25:19.450 It helped relax them and reduce their anxiety 25:20.270 --> 25:22.110 Reduce their pain and so forth 25:22.110 --> 25:22.910 So 25:23.350 --> 25:26.530 non scientists were discovering that 25:26.530 --> 25:30.830 Cannabis had a lot of really important medical 25:31.910 --> 25:37.970 Applications that the mainstream medical profession had no answers for 25:38.450 --> 25:40.270 And so in 1996 25:41.530 --> 25:44.150 Despite the effort of the government to suppress it 25:44.910 --> 25:49.470 States started legalizing medical marijuana 25:51.310 --> 25:53.530 Again these efforts were limited 25:54.030 --> 26:00.210 To places in the western new united states and on the periphery the places that 26:00.790 --> 26:06.810 The forces of big government aren't concerned with they don't care. They don't plan to visit there 26:07.430 --> 26:08.950 Um and so on 26:10.510 --> 26:14.210 But they did happen starting in 1996 26:18.610 --> 26:23.590 But the cost of this war and the spreading of the war 26:23.590 --> 26:26.660 Um and the iron law of prohibition 26:27.570 --> 26:30.290 Which resulted in all of a sudden 26:31.850 --> 26:32.630 Methanphetamines 26:32.630 --> 26:36.820 Spreading in use and in production throughout the united states 26:37.440 --> 26:40.620 Um ravaging a lot of communities 26:41.340 --> 26:44.420 The spread and addiction to opiates 26:45.260 --> 26:50.220 Throughout the united states spurred on by a lot the pharmaceutical companies 26:50.900 --> 26:52.840 And the medical profession 26:53.620 --> 26:56.040 Sort of endorsing that whole process 26:56.980 --> 27:00.900 But you know, they would addict people to opiates and then cut them off 27:01.300 --> 27:03.200 And leaving essentially 27:03.200 --> 27:07.600 Uh somebody who's addicted to a heroin-like substance 27:08.180 --> 27:13.180 With no alternatives but to turn to the black market and of course we've seen 27:14.520 --> 27:17.280 Unfortunately thousands upon thousands of 27:17.920 --> 27:23.640 Families ruined and thousands tens of thousands of people dying from overdoses 27:24.320 --> 27:26.400 For those opioid products 27:27.040 --> 27:32.080 And then of course even the government caught on to the fact that their opioid 27:33.200 --> 27:35.900 Description for america was not working 27:36.740 --> 27:39.200 People were suing the pharmaceutical companies 27:40.140 --> 27:43.660 For the for the practices and doctors for their practices 27:46.240 --> 27:53.880 And uh and so they cut off a lot of people's access to opioid painkillers 27:54.280 --> 27:55.540 And what we've seen 27:56.480 --> 28:00.240 Replace all that is unfortunately fentanyl 28:00.240 --> 28:02.720 Which is an even more highly potent 28:03.260 --> 28:04.640 Much more addictive 28:05.320 --> 28:07.340 And incredibly dangerous 28:08.380 --> 28:10.460 Substitute come into the market 28:11.120 --> 28:13.600 Via the iron law of prohibition 28:13.980 --> 28:15.840 So they crack down on things 28:16.280 --> 28:19.200 And the black market necessarily turns to 28:20.220 --> 28:22.600 More dangerous more concentrated 28:23.600 --> 28:25.900 Versions of the drugs or alternative 28:26.600 --> 28:28.580 Drugs that are more concentrated 28:28.580 --> 28:32.020 And therefore easier to get into the country 28:33.860 --> 28:35.980 So since 2012 28:36.940 --> 28:39.300 Which is about the same time that 28:39.940 --> 28:42.680 We were in the midst of the opioid crisis 28:43.760 --> 28:48.740 Reaching a pinnacle before the media was even bothering to report on it 28:48.740 --> 28:55.320 And then of course the fentanyl started coming in to the country about the same time but 28:55.720 --> 28:56.120 Um 28:58.300 --> 29:01.920 Recreational marijuana legalization was being passed 29:02.520 --> 29:06.160 Again in places mostly in the western states 29:07.040 --> 29:08.840 Mostly on the periphery 29:09.540 --> 29:11.600 None of this was ever 29:12.600 --> 29:15.180 Uh supported by leading politicians 29:15.700 --> 29:20.100 It was always the incumbent politicians were always opposed 29:20.660 --> 29:24.660 To these efforts on the part of the people most of them were 29:25.320 --> 29:29.480 You know places where the people got measures put on the ballot 29:30.200 --> 29:34.340 And um more or less forced the issue themselves 29:35.850 --> 29:39.120 Being opposed by the incumbent politicians 29:39.850 --> 29:43.600 Being imposed opposed by interest groups 29:43.990 --> 29:52.280 So cannabis is typically opposed by the tobacco industry the alcohol industry and the pharmaceutical industry 29:53.010 --> 29:54.520 Okay, i'm not sure why 29:55.970 --> 30:01.240 But they're the groups that have been ponying up a lot of money to defeat these measures 30:02.110 --> 30:03.080 On the ballot 30:04.790 --> 30:06.520 But nonetheless recreational 30:08.050 --> 30:14.060 Legalization has won it's won over now the majority of the american population 30:14.690 --> 30:18.780 The majority of the of the american population now lives in states 30:19.450 --> 30:23.580 Where essentially cannabis is legal for adult use 30:24.460 --> 30:29.100 Um and that has spread beyond just western um 30:30.640 --> 30:32.760 Unrelatively unpopulated areas 30:33.380 --> 30:37.320 And has moved into more populated areas heck it's even 30:37.940 --> 30:42.260 It's even passed at the legislative level in my state of alabama. So 30:42.640 --> 30:44.820 You know, we're usually way behind 30:45.420 --> 30:48.120 Uh the times and anything like that. So 30:48.860 --> 30:49.420 um 30:50.540 --> 30:51.260 basically 30:51.260 --> 30:53.880 The american people 30:54.620 --> 30:59.900 Uh could not rely on their incumbent politicians or leading politicians 31:00.180 --> 31:06.320 Or the two leading political parties to make any of this happen. This was the 31:06.320 --> 31:11.940 Uh activities of grassroots americans doing the work themselves 31:11.940 --> 31:18.360 Being opposed by very powerful special interest groups and winning 31:19.320 --> 31:20.840 Winning at the ballot box 31:21.640 --> 31:24.160 Um in a very atypical 31:27.060 --> 31:33.200 Fashion now what i'd like to point out in closing however 31:35.660 --> 31:42.000 Is that of course there's a lot of work to be done just on this little small issue 31:42.360 --> 31:47.680 I mean, it's a very very important issue for many americans many american families 31:48.500 --> 31:51.000 It's a it's a high priority issue 31:51.760 --> 31:56.940 The ravages of drug abuse and addiction and overdoses 31:57.620 --> 32:01.340 And so on is incredibly important for a lot of people 32:01.340 --> 32:04.400 But as a general issue, it's not as 32:05.000 --> 32:11.880 Important in the overall scheme of things, but we still have the iron law of prohibition at work. We still have 32:12.680 --> 32:15.880 Thousands and thousands of people dying from overdoses 32:16.740 --> 32:17.200 Um 32:18.220 --> 32:22.360 And so there's there's a tremendous amount of 32:23.000 --> 32:29.260 Of work yet to be done. There's a tremendous amount of harm that this policy is imposing 32:29.720 --> 32:32.860 And yet we're still getting very little 32:33.760 --> 32:34.220 um 32:34.660 --> 32:35.760 support from 32:36.760 --> 32:38.620 supposedly our representatives 32:39.400 --> 32:42.640 Uh in government or in congress they still 32:43.020 --> 32:46.320 Um, they now allow. I mean they've 32:46.320 --> 32:49.440 They did pass a bill in 2014 which 32:50.080 --> 32:52.460 Restricts the federal's government's effort 32:53.360 --> 32:56.200 um in opposing medical marijuana 32:57.080 --> 32:58.420 But they have not 32:58.420 --> 33:03.640 You know passed national legislation 33:04.480 --> 33:07.140 To allow the states to act independently 33:08.460 --> 33:12.000 On this issue and they have not passed the law 33:13.010 --> 33:18.980 To change the drug scheduling. Uh marijuana is still classified as the hardest type of drug 33:19.430 --> 33:22.100 Which means that it has no medical benefit 33:22.730 --> 33:23.460 At all 33:23.810 --> 33:24.960 And that it is 33:24.960 --> 33:26.060 imminently 33:26.790 --> 33:28.940 Harmful to anybody who consumes it 33:29.530 --> 33:31.040 Now that's a really 33:31.680 --> 33:33.180 hard statement 33:33.650 --> 33:35.000 To stand behind 33:35.470 --> 33:40.360 But basically the two major political parties are still standing behind 33:41.110 --> 33:50.220 That drug classification when all the evidence in the world. I mean cannabis is certainly any kind of drug anything you put in your mouth 33:50.690 --> 33:51.680 is dangerous 33:52.290 --> 33:53.880 and potentially harmful 33:54.730 --> 34:00.200 But the idea that cannabis has no medical applications whatsoever 34:00.630 --> 34:02.180 Is just patently absurd 34:03.510 --> 34:05.200 And also the idea 34:06.150 --> 34:08.780 That it's eminently dangerous anybody who 34:08.780 --> 34:13.280 Smoked one joint is going to be lost to society forever 34:13.880 --> 34:15.860 Is is obviously 34:16.440 --> 34:17.380 counter-dicted 34:17.860 --> 34:21.060 By the experience of hundreds of millions of people 34:21.660 --> 34:24.160 Throughout time and around the world 34:26.980 --> 34:31.520 So let's take a look quick look back because I said I'm going to 34:32.140 --> 34:32.500 touch 34:33.100 --> 34:34.740 monetary policy on this 34:35.300 --> 34:37.660 When alcohol was repealed 34:38.310 --> 34:42.260 In 1932 they had to pass a constitutional amendment 34:42.860 --> 34:49.120 Repealing the first constitutional amendment. So the 21st amendment repeals the 18th amendment 34:50.300 --> 34:53.460 So we were in the depths of the great depression 34:54.010 --> 34:56.400 But we were still on a gold standard 34:56.890 --> 34:58.320 And what that meant 34:58.930 --> 35:02.900 Basically is that not only were the american people in trouble 35:03.280 --> 35:07.700 But american government at all levels was also in trouble 35:08.340 --> 35:11.580 They were starving for tax revenues just like 35:12.100 --> 35:16.880 Americans were starving for their incomes their wages and their jobs 35:17.620 --> 35:22.540 So it was the depths of the great depression in which alcohol 35:23.360 --> 35:24.160 Prohibition 35:24.820 --> 35:28.360 Was repealed. So we still had to rely on the people 35:29.180 --> 35:32.180 But you couldn't count on the federal reserve 35:32.900 --> 35:39.360 Just to write checks to everybody to solve the problem. You could the government couldn't just 35:41.400 --> 35:46.660 Go into five trillion dollars of debt and just tell everybody to stay home 35:46.660 --> 35:51.080 That just wasn't an option because we were on a gold standard 35:51.820 --> 35:53.260 And the gold standard 35:53.940 --> 35:55.600 promotes honest government 35:56.160 --> 35:59.880 And it promotes government to make the hard choices 36:00.360 --> 36:06.040 If government wants our money, it's got to use it for the things that are deemed 36:06.540 --> 36:10.160 The most valuable and obviously alcohol prohibition 36:10.460 --> 36:14.280 Was not the most valuable. It was the least valuable 36:14.800 --> 36:16.260 The most destructive 36:16.820 --> 36:21.960 Of all government policy. So we were actually able to very quickly 36:22.480 --> 36:26.760 And very completely repeal alcohol prohibition 36:27.220 --> 36:29.100 After only 12 years 36:31.520 --> 36:33.300 It was kind of the 36:34.280 --> 36:42.160 Silver lining of the great depression, but the decision was forced the government was their hand was forced 36:42.160 --> 36:46.200 Because they were on a gold standard and they just couldn't 36:46.960 --> 36:52.000 Borrow an unlimited supply of money or they couldn't just print up 36:52.000 --> 37:00.760 Uh an infinite supply of money to solve all problems to fill every budget to pay every bureaucrat 37:01.660 --> 37:02.080 so 37:04.080 --> 37:05.360 You might be 37:06.560 --> 37:12.240 And a lot of people wonder why austrians put so much emphasis on the gold standard 37:13.580 --> 37:19.600 And we're going to talk a little bit obviously today about the direct problems that the gold standard 37:20.680 --> 37:21.500 Solves 37:22.390 --> 37:25.720 But with the lesson of prohibition we realize that 37:26.490 --> 37:32.140 Being on a gold standard not only does a lot of great things economically for us 37:32.140 --> 37:38.220 But it helps keep government honest and it forces government to change itself 37:38.590 --> 37:43.340 To follow the dictates more of the people than of the progressive 37:44.400 --> 37:44.840 politicians