Should California legalize marijuana to save the economy? Best reasoned answer wins?

Legalization of marijuana will be good for the economy in the short term, but in the long term it will be suicidal for both the economy and the society! May be, they should ban cars first! Already had enough with drunk driving - I will stop driving cars in California!

On the brighter side, this might solve global warming issue! The demand for marijuana would change from legalization. We saw that there was a risk in selling marijuana, but since drug laws often target both the buyer and the seller, there is also a risk to the consumer interested in buying marijuana.

Legalization would eliminate this risk, causing the demand to rise. This is a mixed bag from a public policy standpoint: Increased marijuana use can have ill effects on the health of the population but the increased sales bring in more revenue for the government. However, if legalized, governments can control how much marijuana is consumed by increasing or decreasing the taxes on the product.

There is a limit to this, however, as setting taxes too high will cause marijuana growers to sell on the black market to avoid excessive taxation. Marijuana is a gateway drug. In drug law enforcement, rarely do we meet heroin or cocaine addicts who did not start their drug use with marijuana.

Scientific studies bear out our anecdotal findings. For example, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported, based on a study of 300 sets of twins, that marijuana-using twins were four times more likely than their siblings to use cocaine and crack cocaine, and five times more likely to use hallucinogens such as LSD. Furthermore, the younger a person is when he or she first uses marijuana, the more likely that person is to use cocaine and heroin and become drug-dependent as an adult.

One study found that 62 percent of the adults who first tried marijuana before they were 15 were likely to go on to use cocaine. In contrast, only one percent or less of adults who never tried marijuana used heroin or cocaine. Smoking marijuana can cause significant health problems.

Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals, of which 60 are cannabinoids. Smoking a marijuana cigarette deposits about three to five times more tar into the lungs than one filtered tobacco cigarette. In addition, smoking marijuana can lead to increased anxiety, panic attacks, depression, social withdrawal, and other mental health problems, particularly for teens.

Research shows that kids aged 12 to 17 who smoke marijuana weekly are three times more likely than nonusers to have suicidal thoughts.

I can't see how if California would legalize marijuana it could save the economy but if California (or any state for that matter) would put a major tax on makeup that just might do the trick.

The first answer is that not any one thing will save the state economy. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano who is promoting the tax on marijuana claims $14 billion dollars will be generated through some sort of tax stamp like the one on packs of tobacco cigarettes. This is of course a gross exaggeration.

Even if most people felt comfortable buying this product from approved sellers it's not like alcohol, if the price is too high you can just grow it yourself. Also, the current deficit is $41 billion. The math just dosen't work.

However the real savings would be in letting thousands of prisoners go free. Making space in the over crowed prisons of Californian for other convicts. The drug czar claims that not many prisoners are simple marijuana offenders.

If true the real savings would not be realized until the associated crimes of theft, murder etc. Are reduced when organized crime loses some of it's appeal due to the lack of sales. Law enforcement costs may not go down at first as they switch to rooting out the harder drugs. Overall law enforcement costs should go down however.

Since marijuana use is not without other risks there would be an increase in the need for rehabilitation services. In my experience most people simply grow tired of the experience and after a while and move on. After all stupid and drooling is only fun for so long.

So the short answer is that while over time billions of dollars could be generated and even more saved. This initiative will only result in one part of solving the states money problems.In reality it is only a grandstand moment for this one politician. Any time the draconian drug laws can be replaced with more compassionate ways of dealing with what for some are poor decisions about their own lives.

The lives of the friends and families of those victimized by the drug laws will improve dramatically. A priceless benefit.

Absolutely. While legalizing marijuana is not an economic panacea, it will be good for the economy in several ways. "California NORML estimates that a legal market for marijuana could yield the state $1.5 - $2.5 billion.

A basic $1 per joint excise tax would yield about $1 billion to the state, while the state would save over $150 million in enforcement costs for arrests, prosecutions and prison. Additional benefits would accrue from sales taxes and spinoff industries. Total retail sales of marijuana would be on the order of $3-$5 billion, with total economic impact of $8-$13 billion including spinoff industries such as coffeehouses, tourism, and industrial hemp."

Enforcement of marijuana prohibition is costly. Legalizing will eliminate the cost to courts, the prison system, and law enforcement while creating a legal industry that will generate jobs and taxable revenue. Also keeping marijuana offenders out of prisons you are not only saving public funds but also increasing societal productivity.

Inmates do not produce while free people do. And considering that most marijuana users are functional individuals, releasing marijuana offenders will add more people to the workforce. Legalization can also facilitate research into medical and industrial uses of cannabis.

R&D is good for the economy as well. And lastly, legalization will eliminate a black market and eliminating the problems that come with it, such improvement in social conditions is also good for the economy. Hopefully the bill will pass and other states will follow suit.

I'm having trouble digging up an electronic text of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. This is not the time of day on Friday to go hunting for such on the west coast. When I took Introduction to Justice Studies I had an Ohio county sheriff teach the class who was a former federal agent.

Per my recollection of his lectures possession was not necessarily illegal but sin taxes were levied throughout the supply chain. From that regime we wound up with possession criminalized and that tax act repealed in the 1970s. I'm not quite sure decriminalization coupled with taxation will help.

Decriminalization would likely appeal to users. Paying taxes willingly would likely not be amenable to users which would result in the use of the coercive power of The State. Unless the entire supply chain was either tightly regulated or otherwise made a monopoly, this would likely lead to further work for police instead of increased tax revenue.

Yes because it will open the way for more progressive laws dealing not just with the recreational use of cannabis, but also provide many people with the option of building sustainable economies and supplies of fuel, food, textile and medicine produced by industrial hemp. For anyone wondering how hemp can really transform not just our economy but also our lifestyles then I would suggest reading: The Hemp Manifesto: 101 Ways That Hemp Can Save Our World by: Rowan Robinson. I have great hope for this because of this video.

adjix.com/dudi Which features Barack Obama on Marijuana Decriminalization (2004).

Legalizing marijuana because studies show it isn't that bad and could increase state revenue would a go. But legalizing marijuana to help save a state's economy, that's a no go. Doing it could very well be interpreted by some as an act of desperation and self-salvation on the part of California.As of it is the opinion currently that marijuana is bad, most people will consider this a degradation of a state's beliefs.

People may very well believe that the only reason a state would go as low as that would be because the economy is worse than it appears. This would generate a state of panic, or something close to it, which will hurt the economy even more than it is now.In conclusion, I'd have to say no, because people see marijuana as worse than currently legal drugs. When new studies come out that show otherwise, and we aren't in a recession, then that is the time to legalize marijuana.

ABSOLUTELY. We need to legalize it, tax the hell out of it; which causes us to make money! Is it bad for you to use it?

Yes, but so are cigarettes and alcohol. Plus making it illegal has not been effective at all in deterring usage (I argue that it increases usage among teens trying to be rebels-making it illegal makes it "cool"). Mexico's situation is absolutely awful (see the two articles I've linked), and the majority of their problems stem from drug wars.

Legalizing marijuana will help damper this situation. And a strong Mexican economy helps America. Especially considering that if Mexico becomes the state of chaos that it's on the verge of, that's a huge national security threat for America! We MUST start paying off this deficit, and legalizing pot is a step in the right direction (the tax alone will help a lot, along with not paying 40K a year to keep someone in prison for smoking or dealing it). I can truthfully say: Legalize it, for the kids!

Citizen of Mexico: Yes, because it would reduce the crime in our country and hopefully generate new business opportunities. Light Marijuana User: Yes, it would just make things easier for me, and less risky. Heavy Marijuana User: No, because the government will charge much more for it.

Though in the long run, the prices may come down and getting it from the supermarket instead of the back alley is a plus. Citizen of California (non pot smoker): Yes. It would clean up or streets and add income that our state really needs right now.

Barack Obama: (Secretly) Yes. Do it at the state level and I can stay impartial to the question of legalization and let California take the "blame" if things go wrong. Christian Mother: No.

Drugs are wrong. That doesn't change.

Yes. Prohibition creates enormous wealth for criminals at great expense to society. It should be exactly the opposite.

The act make economic sense for multiple reasons: 1. It will provide tax income from multiple sources: payroll, income, corporate, sin and sales taxes. Much of this from moving the current illegal market economy around such sales into the legal market.2.It will reduce the state expenditures on enforcing the drug laws pertaining to marijuana: this includes enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration.

3. It will reduce overall drug and gang related crime by reducing overall financial resources available to the illegal drug industry. This has many costs, including crime fighting, reduction in economic activity in affected areas, human and property damages.

The only economic down side is having to treat more health related issues if usage of marijuana increases. The economic costs would be long term and would probably be negligible given the already significant use age the drug in society.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.