Would legalizing pot boost the economy?
 

One of FDR's supposed reason for repealing Prohibition in the 30s was to help boost the economy out of the Depression. It's an open question whether FDR's policies really did help the US get out of the Depression (others claim it was WW2 that finally got the US economy going again). Regardless, do you think legalizing pot would boost the US economy?

Maybe.. I think it would take time.. like 5 - 10 years.. It'd have to be the same quality people are getting now for the same price or better..

Yes it would boost the economy and it would have an almost immediate effect.

It'd boost the food delivery businesses.

Yes. :2 cents:

I will be the first to say no.

Not only would it help with income on taxes, but the government could stop paying billions putting marijuana users in jail.

http://chronicreparations.com/

I think you're right. Plus it would SAVE money too... Just think of all the $$$ saved on the failed "war on drugs" and the payout money to corrupt cops, politicans, and deaths related to the transport/sale of this commodity.

No doubt.

There shouldn't even be a war on marijuana. There's FAR more dangerous stuff out there. They should focus on the hard drugs (meth, cocaine especially), not a plant that grows in the wild and is less dangerous than alcohol.

It could very well hurt the pharmaceutical and alcohol sectors of the economy.

I don't know about boosting the economy, because right now people buy it and the money is part of the overall economy. (dealers buy food and cars and clothes etc with the money)

It would definitely be a boon to the U.S. Treasury when we taxed it though.

Actually, that's a good economics argument--the idea of "offset" since, at least in the short term and within some parameters, economics works on substitutions.

Its not like people have much disposable income to spend on drugs to begin with. I think it would help shift the economy but take away from other sectors such as alcohol or entertainment.
WG

Well, if marijuana is legal then certainly hemp production would be too so there would be a considerable economic boost from that as well.

it would be the best thing this country could do right now

Legalization would most likely give a insignificant boost to the economy.

the drug war employees too many

The money they spend on the war on drugs would not drop it just would transfer to a different boogieman drug. So you would have no cost savings as far as that goes.

You would however have a whole lot of people either laid off or phased out who do currently work in marijuana eradication funded programs. This is lost income to those people and to every side business they pay money to.

It would land less people in court and thus jail. Courts always have plenty of cases to hear anyways so any gaps would be filled up with other trial types. There would be income lost for defense lawyers of course. The courts would see less fine money for marijuana crimes. Could also be said, less people in county jails and thus less federal money.

One less source of income for drug testing companies, not to mention all of the companies that sell piss testing cleaners.

It already is a crop that has a micro brew status almost. So it is not like some super large corporations could easily step in and dominate any given area. Typically this would not pose that much of an issue, yet we are looking at people that are currently criminals running these crops. They are not really conditioned to be legit businessmen so to speak. So assuming we would be taxing this we would need tax enforcement officers or something to make sure all of these small growers were paying attention to the laws and even so this does not touch on the issue that many can and would just home grow.
As it currently stands California has a legit state medical ID card that all medical users are supposed to pay for and own, a very small number of people even have one of these and this allows them to be legal in the state. Scaling this up just would show that few would bother with paying.

That is just a few of the No reasons off the top of my head.

California takes in something like $50m a year from medical pot shops

How and source please?

thats all?? i dunno about that, the clubs just here in my area pay that much in taxes :pimp

no since all the workers would be stoned and unable to work :)

CNBC did a special on this called Marijuana, Inc. It's on YouTube...

I know one thing for sure, it would increase the amount of potheads and people smoking weed and getting high. What effect would more potheads have on the economy? It's hard to say whether it will be negative or positive. Perhaps instead of sitting around doing nothing, some people will want to go out and get a job and work and make money so they can support their pot habit, which will strengthen the economy.

why do people that hate the feds intervention in their lives all of a sudden thing it's ok for the feds to get involved with weed?

keep it illegal.

There is so much ignorance in this thread. The streets of our major cities are littered with drugged out bums, yet there is no decriminilization. Look at cities where pot is legal and other countries and you dont see that shit. Fucking retards need to wake the fuck up. 10 of the most successful men in the world are open pot heads. get a life you god fearing pussies.

I am very pro marijuana and have more than done my part to at least get it allowed for medical usage.
This is not an argument about the social benefits of it being legal, it is about it boosting the economy if it were to be legalized.

Not sure where you saw any reference to someone being successful and smoking, where anyone associated it with god, or anything else you spoke about really. Hell I have not even seen any real ignorance posted yet and just basic opinions on how it would effect the overall economy.

Correction - some do think it being legal would lead to more usage which I do see as ignorant.

here issome 4 ya

false

and this is a great list of potheads

http://coedmagazine.com/2009/02/06/t...h-to-admit-it/

Already had added that, then went back and edited the word "think" since it was typed as "thing".

the new deal did help, but the major fix for the great depression was WWII and the subsequent perpetuation of a massive military industrial complex.

the reason the new deal alone didn't pull the country back in to balance was because it was a trivial amount relative to our GDP at the time. monstrous pervasive economic problems require massive and pervasive stimulus packages.

speaking to the topic of your original post though, gene, i think the legalization and taxation of marijuana would actually help out quite a bit in several ways.

there would be direct revenue from the taxes, more jobs and money being created due to the sudden need or large scale commercial farming operations, but also there is the added benefit of the hundreds of millions of dollars law enforcement currently wastes perusing and prosecuting marijuana users and dealers. that's a substantial amount of funding that could either be cut or redirected to other more productive areas.

would it be a magic bullet that would immediately fix all of our current economic woes due to the revenue it generates? absolutely not, but it could be a great weapon to add to the arsenal. with the point this country, and in fact the world economic system as a whole is at currently, every possible avenue of stimulus should be pursued.

not to mention, come the fuck on. it's just weed. :)

Thats why Holland has a bellow average # its of citizens smoking pot as compared to most other 1st world countries ??

It for fucking sure would boost the economy. It's going to take something ballsy like that to save us, if we are even able to be saved.

The short answer: no.

what Smack said, yes.

and I think all the people saying "no," have no idea how much money people spend on cannabis. Seriously. :1orglaugh

Don't know about fixing the economy...but I don't think the govt. has any goddamn business telling a so-called "free" person what they can and can't do in that regard. I don't even smoke pot because it makes me sleepy...but the federal govt. has NO business telling someone that they can't grow and/or smoke a goddamn plant! Totally ludicrous. And no, I don't believe it would lead to more useage.

Me and every 15 year old kid that ever lived smoked pot in high school. It was easy to find and buy then, and it's even easier now. I'd almost say that the fact it's illegal makes teenagers even more tempted to try it. I know I smoked pot before I drank my first beer just because it was more anti-authority to do so.

The "War On Drugs" is really our countries War On It's Own Citizens. People enjoy partying on the weekend and getting high and getting drunk sometimes. You know, going out having some drinks, getting a little stoned, nailing some good pussy. It's as American as apple pie. And putting people in prison for it is just about as oppressive as anything anyone can do.

if you could tax good weed, at decent to high prices, making it legal only to buy there, and encourage farmers to sell to the clinics. Taxes on pot sales from distributers to US, and then from the US to the customers should do wonders.

not to mention I'm sure alot more people would prefer to get a job farming legal weed then say corn, smoke what you want and work.

it's a costly thing to keep illegal, lot of wasted money and time in the prosecution of marijuana based charges, with the defendants usually just being normal people that wanted some herb, bloating some of the system with basically frivolous court cases.

if it were legal, Big Tobacco would be one of the first to open up factories etc to prepackage weed like cigarettes, which should open up even more jobs.

just me 2c.

Yeah Thurbs, but I was thinking about this today...I'll bet that Law Enforcement lobbyists are a HUGE part of keeping it illegal.

If pot were legal...then guess what? Less cops would be needed. Less prisons. Less judges. Less courthouses.

It's in the interest of the law enforcement community to keep it illegal. :(

I know very well how much is spent. I know marijuana inside and out for the most part. I just am not about to associate how much someone spends now on pot with how much it would make the government. Especially since the major reason people spend so damn much on it is the simple fact that it is illegal. It is dirt cheap to produce and the only reason it carries a high price is the risk associated with growing it.