The Audacity of Dope
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Judgments: Opinions on the news.
The Audacity of Dope
Could legal marijuana save California’s economy?
By Jeff Segal
Posted Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 10:36am
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has made marijuana a popular topic. He was photographed smoking from a bong, lost corporate sponsorships, and was suspended from the sport as a result. But celebrities aren't the only ones thinking about dope.
Some legislators in California have pot on their minds, too. That's because the government of the biggest economy in the United States is facing a massive budget deficit whose pain would be alleviated by decriminalizing marijuana.
California's current deficit stands at a whopping $15 billion and is expected to reach $42 billion next year. And the state run by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has virtually run out of cash. It recently delayed $3.5 billion of payments to taxpayers and counties.
While nearly all U.S. states currently face budget shortfalls, California's deficit is more than one-third of its general fund. That's largely due to its dependence on income taxes, which slide during a recession. And the state can't easily borrow due to the government bond-market freeze. Moody's even warned it may downgrade the state's rating.
There's no easy fix to the problem, as any solution likely requires cutting benefits and social services—tough political choices for Schwarzenegger. But the state does have an abundant natural resource it may be able to draw on for help.
Marijuana is California's largest cash crop. It's valued at $14 billion annually, or nearly twice the value of the state's grape and vegetable crops combined, according to government statistics. Indeed, a recent report pegged marijuana as two-thirds of the economy of Mendocino County, a ganja hotbed north of San Francisco. That's not surprising—it costs $400 to grow a pound of pot that can sell for $6,000 on the street.
But the state doesn't receive any revenue from its cash cow. Instead, it spends billions of dollars enforcing laws pegged at shutting down the industry and inhibiting marijuana's adherents. Of course, there's a reason for that. Marijuana's social costs may include addiction and rehabilitation treatment and lost productivity. Yet these are minute compared with the extensive social costs of alcohol or tobacco.
Of course, just legalizing pot wouldn't automatically harvest revenues for the state. An organized system of regulating sales and collecting taxes would need implementing. And it's possible that general drug use could rise, though the debate that pot is a gateway drug to harder substances is inconclusive.
There's also the question of whether or not taxing marijuana would simply create a black market that would again skimp the state on taxes. The best corollaries here are cigarettes and alcohol. Rises in "sin taxes" on them have decreased consumption—a positive—but don't seem to have destabilized the legal market. Decriminalization could lead to some job losses in law enforcement, though the countervailing argument would see these forces put to work stopping harder crime.
So what are the numbers? A national legalization effort would save nearly $13 billion annually in enforcement costs and bring in $7 billion in yearly tax revenues, according to a study by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron. Since California represents 13 percent of the U.S. economy, those numbers suggest the state could save $1.7 billion in enforcement costs and nab up to $1 billion in revenues. That doesn't include any indirect revenues as, for example, rural farming communities grow or marijuana tourism, which has been lucrative for the Netherlands, takes off.
Put it all together, and California could potentially wipe some $3 billion off its budget deficit by letting its people puff and pay. That still leaves it with a gaping $39 billion hole to fill, so the state's problems go far beyond what a new cash crop can fix. But anything to help soothe the state's chronic fiscal pain—even if unpalatable to some—is worth considering.
Comments
So now they are thinking
So now they are thinking about legalizing marijuana for financial reasons? What happened to the ethics of keeping it illegal? I am confused here. I am a supporter of marijuana legalization but I can't help of wondering how pointless it's illegality really is. After all the controversies gravitating around the drug apparently it's a matter of money, not ethics. Don't we have some smart politicians out there... Darrie, International Oddities
smoka da phatty
pass the lit bowl back to my firzzle and me bodizzle my smoke ---toke toke space invader on your carpets
Brittanicus do you consume?
Brittanicus... illegal immigration is a direct result of American consumerism. Think about your own actions before blaming others. You encourage those who seek better job opportunities by purchasing products from the company's that hire them. America was built on immigration illegal or not.
California Politicians are keeping quiet...?
SANCTUARY STATE OF CALIFORNIA! Why do you think this state has a $40 + billion dollar budget deficit? Because the Mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles are pandering in government benefits to 3.7 million illegal aliens? Nothing is going to change until Californians demand the Federal E-Verify mandate. To long Taxpayers have been crippled by paying for free health care, education and a overloaded prison system. Governors Email: http://gov.ca.gov/interact or Phone: 916-445-2841 California State Legislature: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html Vote for WALTER MOORE as MAYOR FOR LOS ANGELES, as he against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and will KILL Special Order 40 and allow police to question a persons immigration status. WE THE PEOPLE, must decide our future? We can only blame ourselves if we sit and do NOTHING?
Legal Pot?
I agree that pot should be legalized. I'm a libertarian so I think all drugs should be legalized. There will be some good and some bad effects. Deal with it.
The author kind of glosses over one point. If marijuana is legal that $6000 pound of marijuana will no longer be worth $6000. It is the prohibition that forces the price that high.
If culivation no longer needs to be clandestine the plants will be grown on huge farms using the most modern of methods. So the price will drop considerably.
The State might want to tax it severely to jack the price back up to the prohibition levels since the market has shown that it will accept that price.
Legal Pot?
I am all for it but I do see one possible problem. Would it be legal to grow or just to have and use? Marijuana can grow wild just about everywhere and for the plants that are grown in a persons windowsill how would that be taxed? I don't see this as a big problem as the people that grow crops in their yard would have to claim any that they sell or the crop that is grown in fields would have to sell to a store for resale and taxed. Another idea, not just legalize Pot but Hemp that would be grown for commercial reasons. There are a vast number of uses but it can be smoked as well, you just can't get high off it, but it could be used as a tobacco substitute like other herbal cigarettes.
Marijuana in General
I totally agree with most of the individuals that have replied to this article. Marijuana, "POT", whichever one you would prefer to call it has one of the major roles in our society today. But my personal overall opinion about weed is that it should be legalized. I understand that they are many things that the government would have to consider, but it could be a major booster for our ecnomy. It seems to me that a lot of things that in this world are very backwards. There are a toll of car accidents, murders (including suicides) and other crimes that are committed because of one's addiction to the alcohol and other legal substances. Alcohol is one of the most poisonous drugs that there are in this world. I, myself, am a drinker with self control. The majority of the world smokes pot, and yet you really have not heard of anyone overdosing or have of the things that hear related with alcohol. It all ties back in to self-restraint and discipline. Also, the government will try and place a taxation on the weed, but it will not be possible because of the various sources. I think that it should be legalized, therefore it would finally make it easier for the CRIME STOPPERS to fill the jails and prisons with things of more concern!!!! you should not get more time for drugs than murder.
marijuana
I'm 60 yrs old & have been smoking herb since I turned 19 yrs old. That's quite a long time. And as for being addicted to it . I'm not at all addicted. I have never used it at a work place or during work. I have never used it while driving.I have only used it as a relaxing
moment after a hard day of labor. It helps me to go to sleep at knght. I have cancer ( not affiliated with smoking ) but from asbestos. It keeps me calm and not stressed out .And out of 41 yrs of use My lungs are as pink as a new baby's lungs. I have never missed a day of work because of smoking it. I have only applied for unemployment one time in my life. I have quit smoking it 3 times for over 4 yrs at a time. So all you educated people who know so much about this herb. It's not a drug.It's a great herb that all should try once in life.
dope plus
Let's follow the CA legislature's example and legalize Prostitution and Dopes. If it's good enough for politics it's good enough for the state. Maybe the state can make as much money as the CA government.
In response to Hipduced and soulsister
I believe many people really do not have a full understanding or even the slightest clue as to what "pot heads" or whatever you want to call us beliefs lie. It seems for the most part every one has their own preconceived notions that will only hold ground to their beliefs. If you would like to really know where our stance lies on the topic of legalization it can be found at norml.org. Set aside from norml, I believe many individuals are not addicted to marijuana. They may find a void in their life, concision or unconscious decision and seek refuge. Marijuana appears to have become a fast track. This may incline a person to seek a further absence from society (leading to harder drugs) but to claim that marijuana is the solo or main reason is profound. These cases do not start with the drug but with the individual in itself. And it would not surprise me if in these cases that one of the parental figures is absent or better yet incarcerated. Is it within reason that one of the parental figures is incarcerated for marijuana charges? Surely, but is that the majority? Far from it but without a doubt our prison system is loaded with petite marijuana offenders. Thanks to our tax payers and an over crowed prison system, our governments' priorities do not lie with the future but with the current containment of drug offenders. We will continue to go in circles until the bigger question is answered. How do we improve our standards and way of life so these individuals in the first place are not trying to escape? By putting all sights and aims on marijuana has proved little progress. Our way of life in the United States is at a teetering point; it must be answered. In my opinion the reason the United States is such a great place to live in is that we can be so effective when we put our heads together that we can truly produce something amazing. But for execution and follow through it is all for shit. Charlie Wilson said it best after our use for the Middle East was consumed, “We fucked it up.” And now we wonder why tensions are so high. Poor leadership yields poor outcome. And it will continue and continue because the one thing that resigns above all: Everyone holds their own preconceived notations that will only hold ground to their beliefs. You have your mind made up; I tend to keep mine open and as cliché as it may sound, smoking pot helps. Hope you enjoyed ;)