No end to for the cannabis controversies in sight yet
It does make startling reading and you wonder how much truth there really is in all those media reports that assault the senses each day. Synthetic cannabis like artificial rice! Who ever heard of that? American states lose not millions, but billions of dollars each year by not making cannabis legal, meaning that the profits go to the bold and clever drug smugglers. And now the marijuana goggles that bring a stoning effect, maybe like the synthetic marijuana. Have you heard that stoned drives are a lot safer than drunken ones?
One wonders where it will all end. Legalization of course would put an end to all the fuss, but we might end up getting rich and corrupting the youth with easy access. No easy solutions, anyway. Yet patients deserve to get cannabis cures and everybody pities those American states that have not yet legalized medical marijuana. It will all happen in good time, though, and meanwhile the smugglers are having a field day.
The lost federal revenues
Sources indicate that the federal government is slowly getting soft on cannabis and it is high time that happened, at least for medical reasons. The federal administration may be losing $28 billion in annual taxes by still saying no to cannabis. If the American federal government taxed marijuana the way tobacco is taxed, it would generate an income of $7.5 billion from income and payroll taxes besides the profits for the states. Excise taxes would bring a further $500 million.
Who really knows the truth about the size of the cannabis market in the USA? Perhaps $45 billion in terms of annual sales. Instead of the tobacco kind of tax, if the federal authorities introduced a a10% surtax on marijuana, the $500 million would jump to $5.3 billion.
The Colorado and Washington cannabis incomes
The marijuana tax revenues in Colorado and Washington are way above the expected amount. While Colorado was hoping to generate $70 million in annual taxes, it would probably end up with twice the amount. What happens to all that money? The profit is directed towards school buildings and drug abuse prevention programs.
The cost of prohibition
Again, it appears hard to believe that billions of dollars annually are spent on arresting and prosecuting people for marijuana related crimes, sometimes for possession alone. Consider the costs of court cases, imprisonments and prosecution. The irony is that so much is being done in connection with the cannabis that is far less damaging than alcohol to the body, mind and soul.
