Should the government legalize marijuana for economic reasons?
Marijuana-related incarceration costs the US an estimated $1.2 billion/year (1). Police, DEA, and customs also add to the cost illegalization. So, savings could be achieved through decriminalization.
But legalization would open up a massive stream of revenue. The USA consumes roughly 14,000 metric tons of marijuana/year (2). Street price varies widely, but hypothetically let’s say $100/ounce (~$3.50/g). Government-regulated farms would probably cost a negligible fraction of that. So, let’s assume a post-legalization sales price of $3/gram, of which 80% is federal tax (the remainder being production, distribution, and vendor profit):
14,000mt = 14,000,000kg = 14 billion g x $3 x 0.80 = $33.6 billion. Of course, this is assuming that pre-prohibition levels were maintained.
Less tangible social benefits would include reduced incentive for gang crime, and reducing the ‘gateway drug’ effect (since marijuana users would no longer be purchasing from drug dealers).
(1) http://members.tripod.com/~ronmull/marijuana.html
(2) http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr4/5Supply.html
And, just for the record, I don’t smoke marijuana, nor would I start if it were legalized.
In Time it will happen, Remember small time possession is already decriminalized in Massachusetts and California
They should just cuz dangit lol! I have never met someone high on pot that was aggressive. They are always real laid back. Just apply the same laws to them as drinking and driving and I am all good.
I’d like it to be decriminalized on a civil liberties basis as a matter of principle, but I guess it would be ok if was legalized for economic reasons.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
it would be a great taxable item. and they could regulate it better,
yes. most states would vote to legalize it but the government thinks they knnow better. Of course it would bring in some sorely needed revenue for the state now that housing prices have dropped. Excellent idea.
I’ve been over this subject for the past 40 years And I haven’t smoked weed since 1972 . It just makes good financial sense to legalize marijuana and it’s a lot cheaper than making its users into criminals .
People who run this country just won’t listen . They’d rather declare a war on drugs … They love long, drawn out, unwinnable wars in this country.
Of course. Legalize it.
Here is a big reason to legalize it, that has not yet been addressed:
when something is legal, it can be regulated. The minute something is criminalized, it gets driven underground. Learn a lesson from the prohibition.
The only people who benefited from the prohibition were the bootleggers. The only people who benefit from marijuana being illegal are the drug pushers. And were it legalized it, they would be the only ones who would suffer.
If you look at other things that are criminalized, yet there is a market for you will see the same pattern.
The only people who are benefiting from the criminalization of prostitution are the pimps. And the pimps would suffer from the ligalization of it
Were there a ban on abortion, the back-alley abortionists would benefit, but no one else. Once it became legal (at least here in the US) they had to make an honest living.
In countries where there was a ban on birth control (Ireland), the black market guys made a killing, but no one else benefitted.
When things are legal, they can be regulated safely. Prohibitions drive things underground, where the most crooked can benefit.
Additionally, it is a good idea to criminalize only those things which are truly dangerous and destructive. We should also only criminalize those things which we are prepared to enforce the ban against. Otherwise it becomes a toothless ban, selectively enforced.
Society benefits from as few prohibitions as possible.
There are those who believe that if it is not illegal everybody will run out and do it.
I disagree. There are countless legal things we wouldn’t do. And a toothless law wouldn’t stop a lot of people from doing something anyway, if they were dead set on it.
Example: Were prostitution legal, I wouldn’t run out and consort with a prostitute. I would be more afraid of my girlfriend’s reaction than any sanction of the law.
I have smoked marijuana quite a few times. Not one of those times was I afraid of the law.
(BTW Statute of limitations has long since expired for possession, just in case you had any ideas)
Another side benefit, while we are on the subject:
The fewer things that are illegal, the more we can use the law enforcement personnel against things that are truly destructive to us (like violent crimes). We would save time, money, effort and prison space.
I guess we have to come to grips with the idea that just because we don’t like something doesn’t mean in needs to be criminalized.