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Originally Posted by cubsfan-budman
i have heard that those figures on how big the industry might get (and the taxes able to be levied from it) are pretty over-inflated. Not sure if that's true or not, but it should be legal and every little bit helps. Very strange that something like that wouldn't be left up to the states anyway.
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I have never, and I mean NEVER, spoken with anyone that thinks pot is worse than alcohol, in almost any way. ....As for the revenue, if we count all of the money (41 billion?) it takes to enforce the laws against marijuana, then it seems the economy could benefit quite a bit from legalization. Who knows, but I think it's inevitable it gets legalized everywhere in the US eventually. Here are a few snippets-
Including lost tax revenues, a 2007 study found that enforcing the marijuana prohibition costs tax payers $41.8 billion annually, Forbes reports.
Marijuana growers account for $14 billion a year in sales in California, making it the state's most valuable cash crop, TIME reports.
It's estimated that illegal marijuana is a $36 billion industry in the U.S., MadameNoire reports.
Mendocino County, California's zip tie program aimed at regulating medical marijuana growing by charging permits for each plant raised $600,000 in revenue in for the Sheriff's department in 2011.
The city of Oakland, California raised $1.3 million in tax revenue from medical marijuana dispensaries in 2011, 3 percent of the city's total business tax revenue, according to The New York Times.