Financial Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana

keithjam

I'm no financial expert, but now seems like the time to legalize marijuana. The financial benefits.

1. Charge a 100% tax on all sales of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
2. Let out all criminals in jail who are there on marijuana charges. Doesn't it cost like 50k a year to house and feed an inmate?
3. Farmers can grow marijuana creating jobs.

I think these two things would generate a lot of money. Can you think of any other benefits? Downsides?

South of Seattle

Makes perfect sense to me.

Unfortunately, ignorant parents will not want their kids that already smoke weed illegally be able to do it legally.

And the religious stigma is to bad, and we don't have the infrastructure to handle rehab. (even if it's not necessary)

Uncle Leo

#1. Tax it, yes. But at the same % as any other sales tax. A 100% tax would just encourage the same black market we have now. As for "paraphernalia", it would be very hard to "sin tax" it, as what is and is not marijuana paraphernalia is not always cut and dry.

#2 No brainer. How wasteful it is to have so many non-violent drug offenders in jail.

#3. I am not sure whether it would be a huge economic boost, but yeah, why not make it another crop option.

kenny olav

I'd like to work on a farm that grows pot and blueberries. Because you can't eat too many blueberries.

TheVoiceInside

a whole new textile and paper industry could be formed. Saving millions of trees.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

Yeah, it makes lots of financial sense to legalize things like marijuana, mushrooms, etc.

Pacomc79

I would say that jailing non violent drug offenders is fairly pointless and only serves to harm thier lives rather than rehabilitate them costing far more than just the prison dollars.

I'd love to see what you're saying and then take the money saved and put it into treatment programs for addicts which is a far more competant war on drug abuse.

EP1973

keithjam wrote:

I'm no financial expert, but now seems like the time to legalize marijuana. The financial benefits.

1. Charge a 100% tax on all sales of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
2. Let out all criminals in jail who are there on marijuana charges. Doesn't it cost like 50k a year to house and feed an inmate?
3. Farmers can grow marijuana creating jobs.

I think these two things would generate a lot of money. Can you think of any other benefits? Downsides?

Save money spent on eradication (man pay hours, fuel, helicopters, etc), save money on cost to operate courts, preservation of trees, ...I can go on and on.

JaneNY

keithjam wrote:

I'm no financial expert, but now seems like the time to legalize marijuana. The financial benefits.

1. Charge a 100% tax on all sales of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia.
2. Let out all criminals in jail who are there on marijuana charges. Doesn't it cost like 50k a year to house and feed an inmate?
3. Farmers can grow marijuana creating jobs.

I think these two things would generate a lot of money. Can you think of any other benefits? Downsides?

My feeling is that if alcohol is legal, marijuana should be. I don't see how pot is any worse than alcohol. I don't partake of either item (straight edge here) but I agree that some burden on the government would be reduced if pot were legalized. It might also make it less of a 'forbidden fruit'. There could still be laws related to driving/smoking pot, just as there are with alcohol.

DriftingByTheStorm

don't criticize it.

I don't want to say hemp is a panacea for our economy,
but there are SUBSTANTIAL benefits from the legalization of hemp (both economic and environmental), that certain elite members of the oil \auto \industrial \chemical \pharmaceutical cartel simply want to supress due to the revenue loss such would entail for THEIR pockets!

:(

RolandTD20Kdrummer

How does one man (or group) claim the divine right to impose on others by putting themselves higher than creation itself?

Like I always say... if it's so wrong....put God in Jail.

keithjam

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/379/report1.shtml

A new report from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) pegs the costs of marijuana law enforcement in the United States at $7.6 billion annually and finds that escalating marijuana arrests over the past two decades have failed to have any impact on marijuana use rates or other indicators chosen by drug enforcers to measure "success" in the war on drugs. What marijuana law enforcement has accomplished, the study found, is hundreds of thousands of arrests each year, with the burden of criminal sanctions borne disproportionately by the young and the non-white.

celebration

Tommy Chong is not a criminal

yahamita

somethings gotta give..I can't afford to buy it anymore the way this economy is going..Legalize it...don't criticize it!

Drowned Out

http://theunionmovie.com/

Drowned Out

I’d rather the govt stay out of it altogether. It’s a plant. take it off the books completely and let people do what they want with it….for $500 setup and like $50 a month in power/maintenance, you and all of your friends could be swimming in it for eternity.
All of the proposed decrim legislation I’ve seen to date has been complete bullshit set up to manipulate us further.

Hemp is where the money could be made….but as this economic climate is proving, no one wants to let the markets take their natural course, thereby letting new technologies and ideas thrive; we’d rather do everything in our power to maintain the status quo.

….on the hemp side, you’ve got the pulp/paper/logging/textile establishments lobbying against it….the petrochemical industry would be the big loser….big oil is against it because of the petrochemical angle AND the biofuel angle…

On the MJ side, you’ve got tobacco, alcohol, and big pharma all lobbying against it....elements of government that profit from off-the-books funds and above-board property seizures….law enforcement doesn’t want to lose their drug funding…I’m sure there are elements within the prison and legal systems that would be affected by the lack of people to fuck over….Then there are our friends on the religious right; the moral police.

So it comes down to a battle between the will of the people and the will of the corporations (at least in Canada – not sure what the latest support numbers are in other countries). The problem is that most non-smokers support reforms for both the male and female plants, but do NOTHING about it….in fact, I was mocked on this board just a few weeks ago for calling it a legit issue when reviewing party platforms before the Canadian election. Without non-smokers becoming active in the fight, nothing will change because the smokers will always be the minority.

bernmodi

We have a plebiscite about the legalization of marijuana in Switzerland right next Sunday. I don't think it will happen. The financial side of it or the taxation don't seem to matter in the argumentation.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

bernmodi wrote:

The financial side of it or the taxation don't seem to matter in the argumentation.

And really, when it comes down to it, this shouldn't really enter into the debate on legalization anyways...or at least not be the focus of it. Taxation is a nice side-benefit to legalization, but the real reason things like marijuana & mushrooms should be legal is because no one is harming anyone else or preventing anyone else from being free by using these substances. If people don't want to use marijuana or mushrooms, they don't have to use them. If they don't want it sold to kids, then they can lobby for an age limit like we have on other substances. But they shouldn't tell me that I have no right to use them.

elvistheking44

yahamita wrote:

somethings gotta give..I can't afford to buy it anymore the way this economy is going..Legalize it...don't criticize it!

You think its expensive now? Not that it will ever happen, but, if it is made legal, your gonna be looking at 5 maybe 10 times what you pay now with the tax included my friend.

lalalalaaaaaaaa

elvistheking44 wrote:

You think its expensive now? Not that it will ever happen, but, if it is made legal, your gonna be looking at 5 maybe 10 times what you pay now with the tax included my friend.

Not necessarily. Since it's illegal, people can't shop around for the best price/product very easily. So most dealers basically name their price. That's why drug dealers make so much profit on something that's basically a commodity....weed is weed. There are different grades, but high grade in Boston is pretty much the same as high grade in LA. So when it's legalized, you'd see all the companies selling it start to compete in a price war.

seanw1010

i am for legalization of marijuana. it could create many new job fields, and bring in large revinue. hemp could be used as a cash crop to replace some of the products made by trees, as well as biodeisel.

however, i believe it should be legalized for the safety of governmeny control. the black market around marijuana, or any illegal drug, is not a good one. as a teenager currently in high school, i can say it is easier to buy weed when you are a teen than it is alchohol or tobacco. people need to understand it would actually make it more difficult for children to buy weed if it was legalized and controlled by the govt.

VINNY GOOMBA

DriftingByTheStorm wrote:

don't criticize it.

I don't want to say hemp is a panacea for our economy,
but there are SUBSTANTIAL benefits from the legalization of hemp (both economic and environmental), that certain elite members of the oil \auto \industrial \chemical \pharmaceutical cartel simply want to supress due to the revenue loss such would entail for THEIR pockets!

:(

...and just because YOU said it, 30 members of the Moving Train just quit smoking pot forever!

eyedclaar

elvistheking44 wrote:

You think its expensive now? Not that it will ever happen, but, if it is made legal, your gonna be looking at 5 maybe 10 times what you pay now with the tax included my friend.

NO way. Black market anything is always more expensive. Look at how much people sold booze for during prohibition.

MichaelMcKevin

eyedclaar wrote:

NO way. Black market anything is always more expensive. Look at how much people sold booze for during prohibition.

Seriously. I could pay $60 for an eighth of headies now. So this guy is saying it'll be $300 if it was legal? An eighth usually would last me a week... so now I'm paying $1200 a month just to smoke weed? No thanks... I'll buy an Aston Martin with that $ insead.

DriftingByTheStorm

GivenToCarve wrote:

Seriously. I could pay $60 for an eighth of headies now. So this guy is saying it'll be $300 if it was legal? An eighth usually would last me a week... so now I'm paying $1200 a month just to smoke weed? No thanks... I'll buy an Aston Martin with that $ insead.

Yeah.
I call BS too.
Amsterdam prices are almost identical to US street prices,
even down to the headie gram costing $20(ok, 20euros), lol.

If the government was trying to force vendors to charge 6 times that amount, the "black market" would simply explode, and no stoner in their right mind would buy from the "store".

That being said, my friend just scored a nice eighth of real hash ($60, and worth it, imho), and i am out the door to get right.
:cool:

_Crazy_Mary_

hypothetical downside:
sellers will not claim their sales/taxes and then they will end up in jail for tax evasion. Once again, costing us 50k a year to live in prison.

yahamita

elvistheking44 wrote:

You think its expensive now? Not that it will ever happen, but, if it is made legal, your gonna be looking at 5 maybe 10 times what you pay now with the tax included my friend.

Clone & grown your own!

Mutiny! he cried

Drowned Out wrote:

I’d rather the govt stay out of it altogether. It’s a plant. take it off the books completely and let people do what they want with it….for $500 setup and like $50 a month in power/maintenance, you and all of your friends could be swimming in it for eternity.
All of the proposed decrim legislation I’ve seen to date has been complete bullshit set up to manipulate us further.

Hemp is where the money could be made….but as this economic climate is proving, no one wants to let the markets take their natural course, thereby letting new technologies and ideas thrive; we’d rather do everything in our power to maintain the status quo.

….on the hemp side, you’ve got the pulp/paper/logging/textile establishments lobbying against it….the petrochemical industry would be the big loser….big oil is against it because of the petrochemical angle AND the biofuel angle…

On the MJ side, you’ve got tobacco, alcohol, and big pharma all lobbying against it....elements of government that profit from off-the-books funds and above-board property seizures….law enforcement doesn’t want to lose their drug funding…I’m sure there are elements within the prison and legal systems that would be affected by the lack of people to fuck over….Then there are our friends on the religious right; the moral police.

So it comes down to a battle between the will of the people and the will of the corporations (at least in Canada – not sure what the latest support numbers are in other countries). The problem is that most non-smokers support reforms for both the male and female plants, but do NOTHING about it….in fact, I was mocked on this board just a few weeks ago for calling it a legit issue when reviewing party platforms before the Canadian election. Without non-smokers becoming active in the fight, nothing will change because the smokers will always be the minority.

in the US the judicial and law enforcement get a % of the seized money. AND If you are accused, note not proven, of selling/ distribution or manufacture of pot they can sell your stuff BEFORE you even go to court! there was a good special w/ dateline or something called 'pot of gold' that showed what a racket was and examples of them taking this old guys money he was going to buy farm equipment w/, he even had the paperwork, but the police and court system said the money was to buy drugs

mushrooms are VERY easy to grow as well and since they require so little light there's not much electrical costs as long as you have a warm temperature and high humidity....or so I've heard

DewieCox

Mutiny! he cried wrote:

in the US the judicial and law enforcement get a % of the seized money. AND If you are accused, note not proven, of selling/ distribution or manufacture of pot they can sell your stuff BEFORE you even go to court! there was a good special w/ dateline or something called 'pot of gold' that showed what a racket was and examples of them taking this old guys money he was going to buy farm equipment w/, he even had the paperwork, but the police and court system said the money was to buy drugs

mushrooms are VERY easy to grow as well and since they require so little light there's not much electrical costs as long as you have a warm temperature and high humidity....or so I've heard

The thing with mushrooms is that they are very hard to get right, and wrong batches can make you violently ill or not work at all. I may be mistaken, but isn't what makes you trip in shrooms the poison that kills you in other mushrooms?


EDIT: Forget the financial benefits of legal reefer. How bout the benefit to world peace?

Mutiny! he cried

DewieCox wrote:

The thing with mushrooms is that they are very hard to get right, and wrong batches can make you violently ill or not work at all. I may be mistaken, but isn't what makes you trip in shrooms the poison that kills you in other mushrooms?


EDIT: Forget the financial benefits of legal reefer. How bout the benefit to world peace?

there are reputable places you can buy syringes or petri dish type things of spores for different strains. not sure exactly how to spell it but pslocybin or something is what makes you trip in most strains, a few have a different type. You can buy a syringe for $10 or so and maybe another $50 for suuplies then in about 2 months you're good to go

lalalalaaaaaaaa

DewieCox wrote:

The thing with mushrooms is that they are very hard to get right, and wrong batches can make you violently ill or not work at all. I may be mistaken, but isn't what makes you trip in shrooms the poison that kills you in other mushrooms?

The only kind of "wrong batch" would be the result of using a poisonous strain during inoculation....I've never heard of that happening. There's about as much of a chance of that as there is growing the wrong type of cannabis plant by mistake.

Shrooms can make you nauseous, but they're definitely not dangerous at all. The only time I've heard of people getting sick is when they find some mushrooms out in the wild, and decide to eat them without really identifying them first.

That's why I include them when discussing the legalization of weed...they're both extremely comparable.