California is a very interesting case study of a state where direct democracy has had an amazing effect on the state budget. Recreational marijuana use is on the ballot not because everyone there is high - the money it will save in incarceration and the taxation levels of regulating the stuff will help close the state's deficit. Since the California voters automatically recall any Governor who attempts tax increases for the general population, weird stuff like this is the state's only option.
Side-note: I am in favor of complete drug legalization for this very reason: 70% of our prisons are filled with non-violent drug users. If our police forces, DEA forces, and other law-enforcement agencies spent their time keeping out extremists and preventing Tea Parties from cutting gas lines of Democratic Congressmen instead of rounding up nonviolent users, the savings would be tremendous. The multibillion dollar drug trade would lose a significant portion of its revenue (if it's legal, anyone can grow or sell it), making the cartels in Mexico and Colombia cut large portions of their labor-force (aka gunmen and militia), which can't hurt society any.
7 comments:
I also agree with drug legalization and the benefits that states will accrue as a result of taxation. I do not agree that legalizing marijuana in the United States will lead to a significant decrease in revenue in drug cartels. While in the short term this may happen, drug cartels are more likely to focus on moving more expensive drugs. Legalizing marijuana may solve the problem within US prisons but it won't stop drug cartels from pursuing illegal activities with other, harsher drugs.
That's why I am in favor of legalizing all drugs and nonviolent drug use. That way cartels can't move on to harsher drugs. If it's not illegal, they aren't going to need all those guns. All they will need is a form of transportation.
I am definitely in favor of legalizing marijuana use however I think at the end of the day, it would be impossible to legalize all drugs because of the health repercussions and moral questions tied with consciously permitting a state's people to harm their bodies in such a way. It would be difficult for any state governor to justify the legalization of harder drugs like heroin or crystal meth because of the moral repercussions related to such a controversial decision.
From an economics standpoint, legalizing marijuana frees up tax dollars spent on maintaining prisons and better allocating towards more beneficial state programs. Especially for a state like California that has already found itself suffering from so much debt.
This is definitely a good move for the California government because it will raise state income and ease prison expenditures. However, this is potentially very bad for growers and distributors, who may see their profits decrease if this bill is passed.
Monetarily, there is much support for marijuana. Clearly it would help raise revenue and take some of the money earned by Americans out of the black market and into the hands of the states. Also, some people appear to be so stressed about the negative effects when in all truth, it has less negative effects then say, alcohol. Although it would need much evaluation and discussion, I don't believe it is worth completely out ruling.
As kyle, mentions, the economics make sense, however, you would definitely run into opposition for legalizing any illegal drugs. I believe it will be legalized at some point, but it may be several years before it is legalized. I am strong evidence that moral opposition will meet such legislation. Morally I cannot accept it, no matter how "positive" such economic implications it may have. We will have to wait it out and see what happens!
I think if California were to legalize merijuana, we could use this as an experiment and eventually it could lead to legalization throughout the US. I do not see this happening anytime soon due to some people being set on seeing the negatives and not the positives and other moral issues. There is a lot of money and time being spent on the nonviolent users which is not fair because it is impossible to control who uses it.
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