Marijuana Ad: Pot Could Cure California's Budget Woes

Could legalizing pot in California save the state's ailing budget? AdAge today posted an interesting ad from a non-profit organization called the Marijuana Policy Project Foundation.

The ad's basic claim is that California's budget woes could be cured cured by tax revenue that would be gained from legalizing pot. There's no touting of pot's psychedelic benefits. Instead the ad focuses directly on the fiscal benefits of repealing a ban on weed:

"We're marijuana consumers, instead of being treated like criminals for using a substance safer than alcohol, we want to pay our fair share.

Taxes from marijuana, the ad claims, could pay the salaries of 20,000 teachers. A quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that for MPP's teacher figure to be right, marijuana would need to bring in some $1.15 billion in tax revenue.

While $1 billion in revenue would be welcome news for most Californians, its a drop in the bucket -- California's faces a $24.3 billion budget deficit.

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Comments

[RevRayGreen]

set the non-violent ganja prisoners FREE........let them breath real air and eat real food.

[whoknew42]

Hell to the Yes!!!

[LeeCalif]

nuff said.

[pastpartisan]

deporting the illegals will fix the problem good articles:

http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us/link/redir.pxe?www.iamned.com

[lightningbolt]

In addition to the 1 billion in tax revenue, there would also be huge cuts in spending because there would be fewer prisoners in jail, fewer gang wars, and fewer cops wasting their time arresting non-violent smokers.

[JohnIII]

It's worth a shot. Everyone smokes out there anyway. lol.

[fumes]

better than cotton..

and better than beer!

[tck29]

And better FOR YOU than beer, any alcoholic beverage, and all phamaceuticals...

[justsaynosarahp]

That $1.5 billion revenue figure should be much higher.

Factor in hemp fiber production for fabric, oil and the packaging industry.

Fiber hemp crops mature in a few as 120 days, as opposed to several years for wood pulp, yield more fiber per acre than pulp wood, and are processed with fewer caustic chemicals.
Currently, U.S. farmers are prohibited from growing the fibers in that organic hemp clothing that you might own -- the raw fibers have to be imported. That makes no sense.

There are quite a few websites on hemp products and production on the internet. Here's one:
http://www.hempcar.org/hempfacts.shtml

[talkpeople]

One last comment...Stop filling up our prisons small time pot crimals and fill them up with the real criminals in corporations, wall street and govern officals that get bought off just to line their pockets and screw the American People of The United States. I would rather have a person who smoked than a politican work for me. At least I would only lose some food out of the companys fridge and not our 401k . Food gone vs. food and money gone.

[RTIII]

This argument leaves out more than half, maybe more than two thirds, of the financial benefit: We could then eliminate the roughly $50K spent every year to house those with marijuana convictions, returning them to tax-paying status (thereby increasing tax revenue) and at the same time reduce expenditures in our police and (so-called) legal justice system. There will also be a reduced need for smuggling interdiction and no more effort regarding policing our park system for growers.

The true financial impact is likely at least three times more positive than claims from just increased taxation.
.

[tck29]

Lower health care costs as well...

[talkpeople]

lets just admit it if anyone wants to smoke pot they can. its everywhere legal or not. legalizing it won't make it easier for anyone because... hello everyone its easier to get than cigerettes or booze. maybe if it was legal it may make it more difficult for our youth to buy. Either way they can buy it anytime, anyplace and anywhere already.

[Avanti2]

What will happen when a pot smoker applies for a job with a firm that has Federal Contracts like Intel, Microsoft, Boeing, Teradyne, Fairchild, Schlumberger, Micron, Apple, Dell, HP and many many others. As many of you know, firms with Federal Contracts cannot hire or retain employees that use banned substances.

[talkpeople]

Because its illegal now. They don't test for alchol do they? People are getting drunk all the time and its not stopping them from getting jobs. i would be curious to know how much crime actually went down with the end to prohibition. Any know the numbers?

[talkpeople]

And by the way booze is legal it doesn't mean eveyone will be a drunk. So same with pot, legalize it and those in certain jobs may opt to not smoke for personal reasons. And don't be foolish enough to think people working for big corporations now aren't getting stone already. Remember its EVERYWHERE already.

[talkpeople]

I think people would be alot happier knowing they are buying pot from a legal source than from someone who may killed a few people to get it to you. Thats one of the big problems. the crime in growing transporting and selling pot. Imagine how many lives would be saved as well as $ for states that taxed it.

[Bjarni]

Not only would Pot provide tax revenue, but it would cut cost in Cali Prison system dramatically.
Just think of all the people we have non-violent people imprisoned for drug related charges. It costs money to house them, we need to pay the extra guards salaries, we need police forces to enforce the stupid law. There is higher gang activity there because of the drug black market. If there wasn't a black market the gangs would move somewhere else and stop recruiting young people of the area.

It's a win win win situation.

[talkpeople]

What about the 3 strikes our out law in California? What happens to the people in jail who are there for life because they sold or gre a few bags of weed?

[RevRayGreen]

the get out is what happens.......

[talkpeople]

grew

[anthonytaurus]

The real issue is when marijuana is legalized, what is California going to do with its barely useful police force. A lot of cops, not just in Cali alone, make a living off of small pot busts. It's not as though they believe they're doing a good or even righteous job. They just don't want to deal with real criminals. The government shows potheads as lazy and practically immobile. Yet, police will lie and tell you that marijuana makes you crazy and violent. Anyone who knows the truth, knows both are wrong. However, the general population, which remains ignorant, believes the government's depiction of marijuana users.

Even illegal, the police response to marijuana use is meant specifically as a way to create the idea that marijuana is dangerous and needs to be outlawed so they need more cops to do the job. That idea has been pervasive for decades and police forces have been empowered because of the general drug trade.

What's going to happen when marijuana is legal and that police response is no longer required?

If California is going to save any money, they're going to have to do something about the already grown police burden on taxpayers. But, that's only one facet of California's problems.

[Adartist777]

In my area of residence, the police go after MJ users and DUI offenses. This brings in a lot of revenue. I don't believe that there would be a need for so many police officers if MJ was legalized. Otherwise, police would have nothing to do except drive around from one donut shop to another.