The post Could Federal Cannabis Legalization Boost The Economy? appeared first on High Times.
Could federal cannabis legalization boost the economy? Intuitively, the answer is clearly, obviously, emphatically yes. States with legal weed are generating significant revenue from taxes and fees paid by growers, consumers and everyone in between. Furthermore, many states passed laws legalizing marijuana after economic impact assessments outlined the potential economic incentives if they did. Not just taxes, but increased employment and further incentives for private investment. So why wouldn’t the country as a whole see the same boosts to the economy if the federal government legalized cannabis?
Could Federal Cannabis Legalization Boost The Economy?
While most states with legal marijuana programs conducted some kind of economic impact assessment, not many studies look at the potential economic impact of federal legalization.
And as a result, advocates frame most of the conversation about economic gains at the federal level through the lens of the costs legal weed would allow the government to eliminate. In short, it’s all about what the government would save, not what it would gain. And we know those costs.
That argument, of course, is the familiar and well-worn story of the abject failure of the War on Drugs.
The exorbitant costs of the drug war defy any rational explanation, especially when viewed alongside its failure to stem the flow of drugs or reduce drug use and abuse among the population.
The Drug Policy Alliance has a good cheat sheet highlighting the most jaw-dropping drug war statistics, including the $50+ billion the U.S. spends every year to enforce its drug laws and lock up largely non-violent drug offenders. And that figure leaves out the