The Case For Legalization
   

The world presently has no example of a completely legalized cannabis market, since this is forbidden by the Single Convention Treaty on Narcotics. The nearest approximation may be seen in the Netherlands, which officially tolerates the possession and sale of up to 30 grams of hashish or marijuana in coffeehouses, although distribution and manufacture are technically illegal and large-scale traffickers are punished. The apparent success of the Dutch in controlling hard drug abuse without a major hashish abuse epidemic has led a league of 15 European cities to endorse the principle of legalized cannabis in the so-called Frankfurt Resolution. An important advantage of legalization is to open the door to taxation of marijuana - a potentially valuable source of public revenue - while eliminating the need for an illegal market.


    Marijuana legalization offers an important advantage over decriminalization in that it allows for legal distribution and taxation of cannabis. In the absence of taxation, the free market price of legal marijuana would be extremely low, on the order of five to ten cents per joint. In terms of intoxicating potential, a joint is equivalent to at least $1 or $2 worth of alcohol, the price at which cannabis is currently sold in the Netherlands. The easiest way to hold the price at this level under legalization would be by an excise tax on commercial sales. An examination of the external costs imposed by cannabis users on the rest of society suggests that a "harmfulness tax" of $.50 - $1 per joint is appropriate. It can be estimated that excise taxes in this range would raise between $2.2 and $6.4 billion per year. Altogether, legalization would save the taxpayers around $8 - $16 billion, not counting the economic benefits of hemp agriculture and other spin-off industries.

 

Yet the plant remains illegal today!

 

 

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