Legalising cannabis 'could stop recession'

12 October 2009 | 02:14:27 PM | Source: AP/Sky News

Cannabis advocates in Oakland, California say the financially troubled state could increase its cash flow by taxing medical marijuana.

17

Comments | Add yours

In July, Oakland City Council voted overwhelmingly to tax the city's medical marijuana dispensaries to increase its profits.

At the time of the vote the city faced an $US83 million budget shortfall, and expected the marijuana tax to raise $315,000, according to the report.

The city auditor projected the tax would ring up to $17.5 million in sales.

Richard Lee, Head of Oaksterdam University, the US's first cannabis college, told Sky News the rest of California could follow suit.

He estimates the Californian cannabis industry is worth around "$15 billion, so just the 10-percent sales tax alone would be one and a half billion dollars."

However Special Agent Bob Cook from the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement doubts the tax collected would offset the damage he thinks may be caused from the use of the drug.

He points to people who are now ill from smoking tobacco, now in hospital.

"We're not making enough money now to care for all these people who are in hospitals who have developed emphysema, lung disease, throat cancer, circulation issues..who's going to pay for all of that?" Cook told Sky News.

Advocates of marijuana in the state of California have started their push to get a marijuana legalisation measure on California's 2010 ballot.

Supporters of the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign need nearly 434,000 signatures to make the November 2010 ballot.

Under the proposal, adults 21 and older could legally possess up to an ounce of pot.

Homeowners could grow limited amounts, and local governments would decide whether to allow pot sales.

Supporters argue taxes levied on marijuana sales could help strapped cities weather revenue shortfalls caused by the recession and California's budget crisis.

 

 

top

Your Comments

Display: 20 | 40 | All comments per page
Previous 10 | Page 1 | 2 | Next 10

20 Oct 2009 17:36 AEST

Stuart

From: Canberra

Pot

Dont care wheather its legal or not.. the choice is ours.. You cant make a living organism, illegal..

Agree (4 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 17:25 AEST

Marie

From: Australia

Less health problems not more

I cant understand what this Cook guy is on about. Legalisation will not increase the total number of pot smokers (people who don't smoke it now probabli never will, legal or not) so why does he think that adding a tax will cause all these extra health problems? If anything the negative effects experienced by pot smokers because of growth hormones and other crap that criminals put in the pot to make it heavier will be reduced as a result of regulation by the TGA.

Agree (7 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 17:04 AEST

pete

From: SA

Sooner or later people ...

It will happen, so why not cut back on wasted cash (no pun intended) and do it sooner? Oh that's right - because some self-righteous, ignorant fools don't want to "send the wrong message". I don't know what 'message' these people think they're 'sending' but I'm certain of one thing - no one's listening.

Agree (4 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 16:10 AEST

Matt

From: Melbourne

MY choice.

Cannabis legalization WILL happen in the US in the coming years. More and more states are signing up to medical marijuana laws, its only a matter of time. When Australian law makers start seeing the massive tax savings by taking Cannabis out of the equation of the War on Drugs, I believe we will do the same. Cannabis criminalization is the epitome of hypocrisy and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Agree (6 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 16:04 AEST

Socratic pothead

From: High up in the clouds of Melbourne

Careful what you wish for fellow potheads

Careful what you ask for. Once it is legallised, it will be taxed which will make it a criminal offence against the Commonwealth with severe penalties. The tax rate will be increased over time - justified the same way tobacco is. You will not be able to grow it - ever. The you can never have clean, organic pot. It will be a just another infringment on your civil/human rights. Don't believe the hype! Have a smoke and think about it....

Agree (4 people agree)
Disagree (6 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 9:49 AEST

Cathy

From: Ca

My kids, my choice

The government can lie about whatever it wants, we have brains in our household, 2 parents both with their masters and we think for ourselves. Our children, both of them are taught that marijuana is the safest mind altering substance their is, and that it is FAR safer than alcohol. If our kids are going to try anything, we would much rather it be the least harmful, you do the math and tell me who is trying to fool who. Related deaths per year Tobacco 400,000 Alcohol 200,00 Marijuana 0

Agree (19 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 9:37 AEST

Legalize

From: City

Save Lives!

We should have legalized marijuana years ago! Every year it's illegal the cartels make $8 - 10 BILLION and murder thousands of people to protect this cash flow. We MUST be allowed to undercut their prices with legally grown weed! That alone will eliminate two-thirds of their incomes and end the 6,000+ murders they commit every year. Legalize - Save Lives!!

Agree (9 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 9:17 AEST

lightning

From: State of Awareness

Be A LERT

The war on drugs has been a total failure, the drugs won! The cost to Australia of waging this exercise in human futility is measured in the billions each year. It appears that the ONLY reason it continues is the pollies feel a need to pander to the bigots who believe they have a right to dictate what others do and do not do to their OWN bodies. No wonder the pollies are speaking out against a human rights bill. The only solution to the violence in our streets. Legalise, Educate, Regulate Tax.

Agree (10 people agree)
Disagree (0 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 7:36 AEST

Unmisinformed

From: us

Cannabis is not tobacco

What is Bob Cook talking about? Where are the studies to support his inference that smoking cannabis leads to emphysema, throat cancer, etc.? I have only seen one study linking simultaneous tobacco and cannabis smoking to CPOD (lung disease.) More and more studies conclude that cannabis smoking actually protects users from head and neck cancers. So more people using cannabis (especially if they vaporized it instead of smoking it) could mean fewer people in hospital.

Agree (13 people agree)
Disagree (3 people disagree)
 

13 Oct 2009 4:04 AEST

mike

From: baltimore maryland u.s.

Cannabis causing cancer? I don't think so

I cannot take the Special Agent's comments on cannabis and cancer seriously. Where's the scientific or anecdotal evidence that cannabis use actually causes cancer or emphysema? I've heard of none. The expectation that it would does not appear to be holding up. Very different ingredients from tobacco. The lower level damage cannabis smoking does do to lungs etc can be largely eliminated by use of vaporizers etc. If cannabis was legal, gov't could promote safest smoking practices.

Agree (11 people agree)
Disagree (1 people disagree)
 
Display: 20 | 40 | All comments per page
Previous 10 | Page 1 | 2 | Next 10

Join the Discussion

E.g. Suburb / City
You have characters remaining.
Validation (
) :
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.