PHONY PRO-POT TAX BONANZA CLAIMS

Besides the usual ‘marijuana is less harmful than alcohol’ crap, the most consistent argument by the pro-pot crowd for legalizing marijuana is that if pot were legal it can be taxed and fill America’s local, state and federal coffers with billions of dollars. If you believe that malarkey, take a look at this from the Summer, 2011 issue of The California Narcotic Officer:

According to the National Institute of Health, if marijuana is legalized we can we can expect an increase in the current 16.7 million Americans age 12 and older using marijuana. They estimate these figures to be around 24 million if and when marijuana becomes legal. According to the American Council For Drug Education, there were approximately 47 million tobacco users in America. If we took the early report which indicated that tobacco use costs the American public $72.7 billion yearly, it would not be difficult to assume that marijuana use would increase that to over $100 billion in health care related costs. In California that would be an increase on the taxpayer by approximately 10 percent; conservatively, about $4 billion annually. This brings the cost of legalizing marijuana to the California taxpayer of $2.3 billion annually in health care costs, after we subtract the $1.7 billion in tax generated revenue. Beyond the monetary issues, though, are those of the health and safety of society.

[Legalization] will encourage our students, teachers, business men and women, heavy machine operators and emergency services [fire and police] to possess and use marijuana. We will see a rise in marijuana use and subsequent addiction. Since drug addiction is a major factor in the rise of crime and blight in many communities, we will see an increase in criminal activity. The resulting increase in our prison population with marijuana addiction will affect counseling, rehabilitation, psychiatric care and medical costs.

According to Allan Zaremberg, the President of the California Chamber of Commerce, California’s medical marijuana laws and future marijuana legalization laws will drastically affect the state’s workmen’s compensation for the public, private, law enforcement and other public safety entities. A majority of these laws currently have what they call “zero tolerance” policies of drug use in the workplace. However, when marijuana legalization is passed, these laws will have to change. The medical marijuana laws have clouded what used to be a clear cut issue for workers and employers.