>>"the government gets bigger and more powerful and richer off you with the excuse that they are fighting an herb."<<
That is the way of everything... rules, regulations, licensing, etc. are all designed to pull money away form the working class.
Did you see the proposal for a new *government* tax on oil in order to bank it for disasters such as those in the gulf? One way or the other, the people pay... not those that make the mistakes or those who have passed the laws that permitted this to happen.