The drive to legalize marijuana has drawn an eclectic group of supporters. You can count conservative economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth among them.
"Everyone knows marijuana use carries risks and is potentially harmful. But does that mean governments should spend valuable resources policing its use and putting people in jail?"
she writes on MarketWatch.
The answer is no. To be sure, Furchtgott-Roth isn't urging a national smoke-in or anything like that.
"If passed, marijuana legalization should be accompanied by other laws that would levy substantial taxes on the drug, and prevent the sale to minors, in the same way that minors are not allowed to drive cars or purchase alcohol and tobacco," she says.
Under the current system, criminals reap the profits of the pot business. "However, if marijuana were instead legally sold and taxed, states would get revenues that could be used to help drug addicts, expand public-safety programs, provide new community resources such as parks and schools, and lower existing taxes," Furchtgott-Roth writes.
Meanwhile, a report from
GreenWave Advisors, a marijuana research firm, estimates that if the drug was legalized in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., marijuana sales could total $35 billion a year by 2020.
"The legal marijuana industry is emerging in the United States (and globally) at a steady, though deliberate pace," the study says.
"Although uncertainty persists as to the nature, extent, and timing of universal legalization, we believe that change is coming, and that investment opportunities in the burgeoning marijuana industry are and will be substantial."
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