Canadian Think Tank Touts Tax Benefits of Legalization
The Fraser Institute, an economic think tank in Vancouver, British
Columbia, said that legalizing marijuana and taxing it would generate
more than C$2 billion (US$1.467 billion) a year in additional tax
revenues for the province, the Windsor Star reported June 9.
The estimate is based on a study involving British Columbia alone,
where there are an estimated 17,500 marijuana grow operations. The
researchers said that the annual marijuana crop, if valued at retail
street prices and sold by the cigarette, is worth over $7 billion.
"Using conservative assumptions about Canadian consumption,
this could translate into potential revenues for the government
of over $2 billion," the study said. "In British Columbia,
as in other provinces, notably Quebec and Ontario, it is a significant
crop that fuels organized crime."
The think tank also said that the extent of police resources needed
to destroy marijuana grow operations a year in British Columbia
is greater than the low penalties for conviction.
"If we treat marijuana like any other commodity, we can tax
it, regulate it, and use the resources the industry generates rather
than continue a war against consumption and production that has
long since been lost," said study author Stephen Easton, professor
of economics at Simon Fraser University and a senior fellow at the
institute. "It is apparent that we are reliving the experience
of alcohol prohibition of the early years of the last century."
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