In the United States today, "one marijuana user is arrested every 40 seconds."1 This is a huge figure on a lot of levels but what I want to talk about is the Economic effects of this policy.
The tragedy of the War on Drugs is that this knowledge [of the empirical evidence that suggests marijuana prohibition does not work] hasn't been heeded. We continue to treat marijuana as a major threat to public health, even though we know it isn't. We continue to lock up generations of teenage drug dealers, even though we know imprisonment does little to reduce the amount of drugs sold on the street. And we continue to spend billions to fight drugs abroad, even though we know that military efforts are an ineffective way to cut the supply of narcotics in America or raise the price.
Rolling Stone Magazine (How America Lost the War on Drugs)
Some diaries have been published lately suggesting that Legalization of Marijuana would pay for the bailout and/or lead to an Economic recovery but none had any facts or figures. So I decided to check out some of the math behind this whole experiment.
Top Cash Crops in the United States (Average Value 2003 – 2005 in Billions $)
1 Marijuana $35,803,591
2 Corn $23,299,601
3 Soybeans $17,612,200
4 Hay $12,236,638
5 Vegetables $11,080,733
6 Wheat $7,450,907
7 Cotton-All $5,314,870
8 Grapes $2,876,547
9 Apples $1,787,532
10 Rice $1,706,665
11 Oranges $1,583,009
12 Tobacco $1,466,633
Source: Drug Science: Marijuana Production in the United States 2006
This report shows just how large a part of the agriculture industry Marijuana could be but its important to remember that there are no solid figures because of its illegal status.
Thankfully I didn't have to do much work on it because in 2005 Harvard Economics Professor Jeffrey Millon complied the most detailed study of its economic effects in The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition.This report which was endorsed by 500 economists, including the scumbag, Milton Friedman is one of the most conservative estimates.
State Tax Revenue on Marijuana @ same rate as cigarettes alcohol: 9.5 Billion per yr
But of course that is just one side of the coin. In the event of Legalization the government would also save an estimated 10.7 Billion dollars on law enforcement and possession arrests. (Source: Drug Science link above).
Also to be included in these projections is Medical Marijuana. In California alone these businesses pay 100 million per year in taxes as well as providing employment. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine a nationwide creation of medical marijuana clinics as a billion dollar industry all on its own. 2
Medical marijuana patients account for about 10% of California marijuana users, the study found, suggesting that tax revenues from a legal recreational marijuana market would skyrocket into the low billions of dollars each year. The state is currently spending about $160 million a year to arrest, prosecute, and imprison marijuana offenders, and not collecting any tax revenue from recreational sales.
Under George W's Drug Czar, John Walters, of course none of this mattered. He championed a nationwide ad campaign in 2005 to warn teens about marijuana, the only problem being as the federally funded TV ads were airing, California followed by 3 other states were decriminalising medical marijuana.
Walters responded to this democratic undermining of his ads by ordering raids on medical marijuana clinics and customers of the clinics. Polio sufferer Suzanne Pfeil (44 and wheelchair bound) was busted by DEA agents with automatic rifles pointed at her and sent to jail (while handcuffed to her wheelchair).
These types of mixed messages need to be rectified and the economic benefits of solving them are huge (but won't solely dig us out of the economic crisis.)