Pot: To legalize or not to legalize?
Apr 08, 2011
Just in case you haven’t noticed, we have a massive federal deficit in this country, somewhere to the tune of $1.5 trillion. This obviously isn’t a problem that can be solved overnight, but there is one solution that would offer a significant reduction to this growing number: legalizing marijuana.
I want to go on record as saying that I do not smoke marijuana. In fact, I hardly even drink! So I’m not writing this post to try to legalize an illegal drug that I enjoy using. I’m not writing this post to condone drug use at all. I’m writing it because legalizing marijuana is a smart business decision.
Legalizing marijuana would generate $19 billion per year in tax revenue and other savings. Best-case scenario, that number could reach up to $186 billion per year. That’s incredible!! This money could be used to directly and significantly attack the federal deficit without cutting any benefits to seniors or children, without killing any critical defense programs, and without decreasing spending on any other essential programs.
History has shown that making products illegal doesn’t eliminate the market for those products. (Just look at what happened with Prohibition.) All it does is create black markets where the products are still available and still in demand. People are going to use marijuana whether it’s legal or not – they already are. Current estimates of marijuana consumption in this country range from $13 billion a year to $120 billion per year. If people are going to do it anyway, why not tax it, just like we do with alcohol and cigarettes? Alcohol excise taxes provided $15.7 billion in revenue to the states and to the federal government in 2009. Tobacco excise taxes provided an additional $28.3 billion.
We’ve been fighting a war against drugs for years in this country. And over the course of that war, we’ve learned that we can actually reduce demand levels more with prevention programs than with criminalization efforts. I saw this firsthand when I helped create the “Just Say No” campaign for NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) in my campaigns class at USF.
Sometimes the only way to win a war is not to play. We could very easily put $19 billion per year towards federal deficit reduction if we’d only decide to stop playing in the war against drugs. It’s time to stop playing and to start reaping the benefits of a regulated marijuana market.
I’ve discussed this before on business roundtables, and people have such a hard time discussing this taboo subject. I applaud you for introducing the topic in an intelligent way.
Like you, I’m not a user (at all), and if it became legal I still wouldn’t use it. However, I do see striking similarities between prohibition and our current enforcement situation. It’s not working.
Also worth noting, not only would we receive an increase in tax revenues, but we would see a decrease in the costs of enforcing the law.
I’m curious to hear what others think.
Aaron@Biebert
JZ — not sure I agree with you on this one. Where do you stop? Coke? Meth? Heroin? There’s a market out there for those as well – if you’re looking at it from a $ perspective. Holland, where the coffeeshops are “allowed” to sell the so called soft drugs, still struggles with drug tourism, addiction and trafficking.
It’s human nature to long for simple answers to complex problems. Using the example of Prohibition, our Nation found out that the “solution” created a larger problem while failing to make significant improvement anywhere.
There is a cottage “industry” in the U.S. surrounding marijuana growing and concurrent attempts by law enforcement to thwart it. Legalization would address the front half of the problem and the redirection of resources to education and treatment would see to it that no jobs were lost.
P.S. The picture of the joint was about the most sinister image I’ve seen.
Great post JZ. Right on point. BC…where do we stop? We stop doing things that don’t produce the results we are looking for. Prohibit something that’s consumed in the $10′s of billions of dollars annually? There comes a time when a nation has to make some big boy decisions, this is one of the decisions that is far passed due. Funny how people are totally OK with alcohol, a known poison to the body, but get their panties all ruffled when you talk about legalizing a plant that can grow anywhere and contrary to popular belief, does not have the body deteriorating effects as alcohol LOL. Ignorance is bliss….I guess? Get informed…that’s why they invented this thing called the Internet.
I agree with you 100%. Too many people are in jail for possession of marijuana, when they could be productive citizens. Legalize it, and add some rules. No smoking around minors, no smoking in public. I don’t smoke and would not smoke if it were legal. Let’s take the money away from the criminals, and put it back in our government.
Hello JZ,
I am actually a student in the ZAP LLC at USF. I completely and totally agree with everything you’ve posted on this blog. It’s time for America to face the facts. Our economy is deteriorating at a scary pace. Teacher’s are getting salary cuts and many others are facing similar consequences brought about by the lack of money the US seems to have. It’s funny because I just recent;y finished a paper about the same issue. So, what if people will be able to legally smoke “pot?” It is clear that it is being smoked regardless of whether anyone legalizes it or not. So, why not just do it? I mean not only could this decision increase our monetary supply, but it could also provide many jobs for people, from farming/producing the plant, to distribution and regulation of it. The US will be given the opportunity to tax the actual consumption of the drug as well as marijuana paraphernalia and possibly tax the licensing to distribute the narcotic. If the government decided to regulate it just like it regulates alcohol then this legalization process would most definitely come at a benefit to society. How often does one hear about people dying from the use of marijuana? None because, according to my knowledge, there are no deaths reported with a COD (cause of death) being marijuana usage. So, if no one ever dies from using marijuana, and a startlingly/shockingly high percentage of Americans use the drug, what negative could there possibly be that’s grand enough to not implement a law that legalizes the use and distribution of it? As far as I am concerned, the benefits much outweigh the harms. Marijuana could even be used medicinally! Let’s be honest about the situation, would we prefer having our college students/citizens getting marijuana off the streets where anything can be mixed in with it (cocaine, meth, LSD, etc…), or would we prefer to have a regulated and safety-assured drug (well as safe as a narcotic can be)? Not to mention, making marijuana legal in the US and having a home-grown supply should surely put a stop, or at least greatly decrease marijuana being brought into the country from across the border!
@BC, comparing marijuana to heroin and other hardcore drugs is nonsense. Obviously, the only reason marijuana legalization is being contemplated is because of its relative safety as compared to even legal substances like alcohol and cigarettes.
It’s weird to hear (read) you talk about anything having to do with marijuana., period. Just saying.
Hey JZ, are you nuts? thats what most people would say to this idea. but hey, its novel, and its brave, why not. Imagine the additional revenue the branding, marketing & advertising business will add to the industry. I mean it would be great to see some Marlboro branded pot, cool huh? thats what we need, just say don’t do it on the pack and the young minds will do exactly the opposite, with their rebellious streak. It will become the hottest thing since the light bulb. You could have pot smoking corners at airports, and other public places. It will add so much to the mainstream business of media and PR agencies will get so much boost from this additional expenditure. This is a great idea. Don’t know whether to cry or to laugh. but well thought.