Marijuana: The Real Stimulus Package

Muaz Halees

We need to legalize marijuana. I’ll wait for all the supporters and detractors to rid themselves of superfluous comments.

(Waiting.)

(Waiting.)

(Waiting.)

Now that we’re all ready to have an intelligent conversation about marijuana, I would like to continue. Legalization will improve a number of health, social, and economic issues we currently face as a society.

Let’s start with the numbers compiled by Harvard Professor Jeffrey A. Miron.  He asserts that “$7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement would be saved and if it were taxed similarly to alcohol or tobacco, it would generate as much as $6.2 billion annually.”  You should probably re-read that last sentence to accurately grasp the potential profits available if legalization is realized.  This study does not account for the potential profit windfalls realized if the government serves as the sole proprietor of the marijuana industry, which would put the profits in excess of $30 billion dollars. 

Legalization would create two distinct revenue streams.  The companies that sell marijuana would have to pay income taxes and all sales of the drug would also be taxed.  The taxpayer money that is spent senselessly prosecuting marijuana offenders could be spent in a number of more efficient ways, or returned to the taxpayers.  The budget for drug enforcement may not have to be so large or could be re-focused on preventing far more dangerous sorts of drug abuse.  The jail space wasted on marijuana offenders could be better utilized to house real criminals. 

The war on drugs is a failure of nearly biblical proportions.  I am not employing hyperbole; in fact, I am actually understating the miserable results of this ill-fated war.  The only way to mitigate the losses incurred is by legalizing marijuana.  Prohibition has not prohibited anyone from acquiring marijuana, as evidenced by the 85% of high school seniors that admit to its use.  I don’t understand why we give credence to third party detractors on this issue while we routinely dismiss their moral and ethical arguments regarding the sale of cigarettes, alcohol, birth control, fur, caged chickens, or any number of other issues they decry. 

Opponents to legalization claim that its use causes crimes. This is a lie.  There is correlation between the two, but not causation.  Their argument is tantamount to claiming that abortions cause global warming.  Our prohibition of marijuana may actually be fueling the crimes associated with it.  Violence is used to resolve marijuana disputes because that is the only avenue available.  These violent methods were employed during the underground casino age and during alcohol prohibition.  The violence associated with these two industries decreased systematically after both industries were partially or completely legalized. 

Legalization of the drug would remove the pejorative connotation associated with it.  Scientists and doctors could research its health benefits without fear of castigation.  There may be more money allotted to researching those potential benefits.  Its legalization may also force parents to engage in serious, poignant conversations with their children on the topic of drug use.

The debate should take place, and the supporters of legalization should not be grouped into the same category as the potheads working at the local 7-11.  We are made up of a wide range of individuals, but most noteworthy are those in the economic field that support its legalization, such as Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman and a number of other economic visionaries. They signed a petition in 2005 extolling the financial virtues of marijuana legalization, so don’t be so quick to dismiss this argument. The arguments against legalization have always been stale and baseless; this economic downturn, however, may provide the motivation needed to overturn a failed referendum.