Alexander Robison: The Economic Effects of National Marijuana Legalization (Under the supervision of Dr. Bonnie Van Ness). This thesis seeks to highlight the economic impact that marijuana legalization could have on a national economy by examining states that have legalized marijuana. States that have already enacted such legislation provide a framework for the economic impact of marijuana legalization at the state level that can be projected to the national level.
As marijuana legalization takes place in more and more states, the potential impact of legalization on both the state and national economy is worth exploring.
INTRODUCTION
To better assess the economic impact of marijuana, an analysis of both the recreational and medicinal markets will be conducted. When analyzing the medicinal side of marijuana, the many different medical benefits that marijuana is said to provide will be explored, as well as the. This will also allow me to more clearly relate the ban on alcohol to the current ban on marijuana.
Overall, this study will fully examine the national economic impact of the legalization of marijuana by examining identifiable sectors that marijuana use affects, both medical and recreational.
MARIJUANA IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Because of the perceived threat of marijuana to the public, Congress proposed the Marijuana Tax Act, which limited the use of marijuana to medical use only and required doctors who prescribed it to pay an annual tax. Although all of these measures were implemented, some at the federal and state levels were still focused on exploiting the medicinal properties of marijuana (Song, 2015). It wasn't until California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996 that national support for the medical use of marijuana peaked.
In 2008, the American College of Physicians expressed support for rescheduling marijuana to allow for more research (Song, 2015).
TAXES
Gieringer (1994) goes into more detail about the reasons for an excise tax on marijuana, alcohol and tobacco. In Table 1, taken from Gieringer (1994), the author shows his calculations about marijuana's external costs that go into determining the amount of the excise tax. The external accident cost is why most excise taxes are levied on addictive substances.
The state of California has already begun to see the benefits of legalized marijuana by implementing an excise tax. Loughead and Scarbora report that most states structure the tax in the form of an excise or increased sales tax on end users. While the cost of taxes paid is passed on to customers in the form of higher prices, end users do not pay a sales tax when they purchase marijuana." The Tax Foundation reports that Colorado imposes a 15 percent excise tax on the cultivator who sells to a retailer and a 15 percent sales tax to the customers.
When the market is established, Maine plans to assess a ten percent sales tax on customers and an excise tax on growers. Massachusetts raised its excise tax to 10.75 percent in 2017 after concerns that the initial 3.75 percent would lead to lost tax revenue. Oregon, another state that does not use a general sales tax, has a 17 percent sales tax on marijuana.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) records data on taxes collected on alcohol and tobacco sales nationally. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau reports are released quarterly and can be found on the bureau's website.
EMPLOYMENT
Summer Meza of Newsweek reports that New Frontier Data estimates that 782,000 jobs would be created immediately if marijuana were federally legalized, and that number is expected to grow to 1.1 million jobs by 2025 (Meza, 2018). For example, using the 2018 unemployment rate of 4% reported by the National Conference of State Legislatures (2019) and the estimated US population of people reported by the United States Census Bureau (2019) in 2019, the total number of The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployed in February 2019 as 6.2 million citizens eligible for work.
The growth in job openings from marijuana legalization could help provide job seekers with a path to a well-paying career. For example, bartenders who are highly sociable and experienced in public service can be successful as budtenders by creating a safe and fun environment to experience the hallucinogenic aspect of marijuana. Legalizing marijuana can indirectly provide a large economic cash flow by directly providing more economically beneficial opportunities for millions of citizens.
Because the average salary for one of these positions is around $45,000, it is estimated that the 1.1 million marijuana workers will spend an estimated $49.5 billion per year in legal salaries by 2025. This increase in consumer spending, due to the increase in obtainable wages, could drive growth. to retail, the housing market, urban infrastructure and the restaurant industry. If these industries were to experience growth or greater fiscal stability, it could lead to fewer layoffs or more hiring.
The causal employment effects of marijuana legalization could provide support to many industries if the marijuana industry reaches expected growth levels.
CRIMINAL ACTION COST
If more money were allocated for education and less for imprisonment, then it seems reasonable to assume that there would be a reduction in the need for imprisonment in the future. Also, funds saved by ending legal action. distribution, possession, consumption and imprisonment of thousands of prisoners. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2,205,300 people incarcerated in 2016.
The Washington Post's Christopher Ingraham (2017) states that marijuana arrests are so frequent that one arrest is made every minute in the United States. Ingraham (2017) also states that Portugal has one of the lowest drug overdose rates in Western Europe since personal possession and use of drugs were decriminalized in 2001. Kent Hutchinson (2017) stated that a study he co-authored showed alcohol use, in adults who had been drinking for many years, was associated with reductions in gray and white matter in the brain.
Additionally, the state saved $60 million in the first year of legalization by eliminating marijuana prosecution for legal possession, distribution and consumption, and some believe this estimate is conservative. In my opinion, if a state saves $60 million in the first year of relaxing marijuana prohibition alone, this would provide impressive support for federal legalization. In 1987, more than 400,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana possession, blocking the justice system, leading to the release of thousands of violent offenders and making a virtual mockery of the integrity of the US.
What these enforcers failed to realize, however, was that even this major "victory" did nothing more than raise the price of the banned drugs, increase the profit margin for drug dealers, and send an economic signal to drug manufacturers to increase production (which of course is exactly what happened). Also, the tax revenue collected could be spent on education, rehabilitation programs, or many of the other programs that are beneficial to society but are still underfunded.
MEDICINAL EFFECTS
Buds are what most people think of when they talk about marijuana, as it is the flower of the plant. The prices of these units of medical marijuana and medical marijuana extracts are much lower than the cost of Aptiom and do not include severe side effects such as urinary tract infections, suicidal thoughts, and high blood pressure (Aptiom, n.d.). Additionally, epilepsy is just one of the many diseases or diagnoses that can be treated with medical marijuana.
Americans who are struggling with these diseases and want to reduce the infrastructure costs of comprehensively treating these diseases. Additionally, data suggests that medical marijuana treatment can reduce the dose of opioids prescribed to pain patients, and a recent study has shown that the availability of. Grinspoon (2018) discussed that another large study is underway on the effect medical marijuana may have on veterans' PTSD.
Many of the main reasons given for not legalizing marijuana are the adverse health effects and the burden it would have on society if it were so easily accessible. There have been few or no adverse health effects recorded with medical marijuana and few with recreational marijuana. If the same effects were to occur here in the United States, then one of the biggest reasons advocated for not legalizing marijuana, which is the increase in teen use, would be alleviated.
Medical marijuana is not something our country's citizens and politicians should fear, but something we should embrace. Most medical journal articles report that this sedative effect of opiates is a problem and very difficult to solve.
MEDICINAL VS RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA
Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/221018/record-high-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx?g_source=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles. I believe that if marijuana is legalized nationally, it could bring growth to the many publicly traded stocks of marijuana companies. Legalizing marijuana at the national level could have a major impact on the United States economy.
From looking at states that have legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, the trends show that taxing marijuana is a beneficial fiscal option from collecting excise and sales taxes on cultivation, distribution and sales to the end customer. The majority of excise taxes collected will mainly go towards funding programs that help drug addicts and programs that help reduce the societal costs of using marijuana. Legalizing marijuana also has the potential to create many employment opportunities, from growing to dispensing marijuana.
Crimes of Imprudence: The Nature, Extent, and Costs of Marijuana Arrests in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/banking-regulations-create-mess-for-marijuana-industry-banks-and-law-enforcement/. Retrieved from https://sites.duke.edu/urbaneconomics/files/2014/04/Interactions- Between-Crime-and-Schooling-in-the-Housing-Market.pdf.
Hentet 24. marts 2019 fra https://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-gov- brown-estimates-marijuana-taxes htmlstory.html. Hentet fra https://news.gallup.com/poll/221018/record-high-support-legalizing- marijuana.aspx?g_source=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles. Hentet fra https://www.marketplace.org world/how-much-does-it-cost-send- someone-prison.
Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/12/pot-legalization-is-transforming-californias-criminal-justice-landscape-heres-how/.
EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL MARKETS
CONCLUSION
Salaries from these created jobs in states that have legalized marijuana have been shown to be higher than the national average salary. Another possible economic benefit of national legalization is the saving and/or reallocation of law enforcement resources previously allocated to minor marijuana-related prosecutions.
