mar1juana study (just for you, T_J)

mar1juana as Budget Saver? Study Looks at Implications of
Legalization in Massachusetts
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/302/mironstudy.shtml

Massachusetts has a $3 billion state budget deficit, Gov. Mitt Romney and the legislature are battling over multi-million cuts in education funding, and heroin users are dying at a record pace while tight times shrink the number of treatment beds by half. The Bay State budget, like those of about 40 other states, has been hit hard by tough economic times and could use some help. Boston University economist Dr. Jeffrey Miron has a simple, if only partial, solution: Legalize mar1juana.

In a study commissioned by the Massachusetts-based mar1juana reform advocacy group Change the Climate (http://www.changetheclimate.org) and released September 5, Miron reported that legalizing mar1juana in Massachusetts would save the state as much as $138 million per year. That translates to the salary equivalent of about 2,300 Massachusetts police, firefighters, or teachers. The report, "The Budgetary Implications of mar1juana Legalization in Massachusetts," estimates that the state could save $120.6 million in criminal justice costs by regularizing the herb and generate an additional $16.9 million in tax revenues on the legalized pot commerce.

Miron does not delve into the pros or cons of mar1juana prohibition -- only the budgetary impact. In the study's executive summary, he writes, "The report is not an overall evaluation of mar1juana prohibition; the magnitude of any budgetary impacts does not by itself determine the wisdom of prohibition. But the costs required to enforce prohibition, and the transfers that occur because income generated in the mar1juana sector is not taxed, are relevant to rational discussion of this policy."

And Miron parses those costs and transfers carefully, albeit with a relatively simple and conservative set of assumptions. For instance, to determine police costs in enforcing mar1juana prohibition, Miron calculated the number of mar1juana arrests, their percentage of all arrests, and the cost per arrest for police agencies. He discounted two-thirds of all mar1juana arrests as not "stand alone," or being arrests where other criminal behavior was the cause of arrest. Still, the study found that Massachusetts law enforcement agencies spend $40.3 million just to arrest pot smokers and dealers.

"We looked at the reduction in expenditures in criminal justice activities that would result from legalizing mar1juana," Miron told DRCNet. "We also estimated the tax revenues Massachusetts would earn if mar1juana sales were legalized and taxed, providing that the federal government would ever allow it. "We could save about $120 million in criminal justice spending and gain those tax revenues. That's a lot of money."

The state could also save $13.6 million spent by the Dept. of Corrections on the 10 people housed in state prison and 575 sentenced to County Corrections on mar1juana charges. That money could go a long way toward restoring $23 million in cuts to Massachusetts school districts affected by charter school enrollments. State Sen. David Magnani (D-Framingham), following a parallel path, has offered a budget amendment that would get that money back to the school districts by giving judges the ability to release nonviolent offenders who have served half their sentences.

Or the $68.5 million that the Massachusetts judiciary and prosecutorial systems spend enforcing mar1juana prohibition could take care of it, and then some. And that, according to Miron, is only counting felony mar1juana convictions, not the misdemeanors that clog the system.

For all the exciting budgetary implications of his report, Miron has not gotten much attention so far, nor, he said, were legislators ready to repeal prohibition. "There is not a lot of interest yet," he said, "a small story in the Boston Herald and the local NPR affiliate, WBUR, but it is starting to percolate," he said. "As for the legislature, well, there's not a lot of movement. I've talked to these guys lots of times, and I have the feeling that they think it would be perfectly okay to legalize it, but they fear their voters wouldn't go for it."

In recent elections, Massachusetts voters in districts across the state have endorsed decriminalization or legalization proposals, but legislators still weren't sure, Miron said. "The ballot questions were non-binding and it was an off-year election, so it is hard for them to tell how representative those votes were. Still, you would think this would be a relatively receptive state."

Change the Climate, the group which commissioned Miron's study, is working to make the state even more receptive. The group, which has done innovative mar1juana legalization ad campaigns in Boston and Washington, DC, is gearing up a new round of ads aimed at Bay State voters. Unfortunately, the campaign got off to a rocky (if subsequently well-publicized) start this week when its first billboard included a photo of a real life Massachusetts State Trooper. The trooper and his troop objected, and the billboard company, which inadvertently used the wrong photo, replaced the ad. But more are coming.

And given Miron's results, could this weekend's pro-pot Freedom Rally on Boston Commons hear the rallying cry of fiscal conservatism?

Visit http://www.changetheclimate.org/bu-study/mass_budget.pdf to read the study in its entirety online, and visit http://www.changetheclimate.org to view their ads and other information. Visit http://www.masscann.org for information about the Freedom Rally.

 

Let's see, 138 million times 50 is...6.9 billion dollars at the state level alone. That would go a long way toward erasing the red ink so prevalent in the states these days.

 

I agree with the post above, but would like to expand.

Over 80% of the street cost of illegal drugs is profit. I would have the system keep prices relatively stable, dropping overall prices only by 10% or so. That cost would go up with inflation, based on the cost of living index or some such metric. Everything over what it costs to produce turns into tax, creates jobs, and pays for the education, treatment, and distribution mechanisms I mentioned in the thread where I spelled out my plan. (I will edit and insert the link) EDIT : http://bbs.clutchcity.net/php3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=63243

The US negotiates with producers, both domestic and worldwide, to get the best prices possible. Costs go down, deaths due to overdose and cross reaction plummet, the black market is denied it's billions, and everything left over after we pay for the system is used to provide prescription drugs for the elderly, with coverage increasing as profits do. It is all the stupid young-uns that will be using the drugs, why shouldn't their reckless behavior actually be used to pay for NECESSARY drugs for people less able to afford them?

Even after all of that, it is likely that there would be money left over to go to the general fund to reduce the tax burden on the rest of us.

 

In the system that I have in mind, driving under the influence of ANYTHING would be a crime, and rightly so. If you are going to get high, the place to do it is in your home or when you are not going to be driving.

BTW, do the people who think the drug laws should stay know that there is already a breathalyzer for pot?

 

I appreciate it, I have known about this for quite some time. They have been pushing and pulling over this issue since the late 90s.

I get a weekly newsletter that talks about prohibition. www.drcnet.org. They don't spam outrageously and the newsletter is delivered Fridays. They have an archive from '97 of all of them and it is great reading for anyone against prohibition.

 

It will if you help to get the people close to you to vote about it, especially if you are young. Young people are the single most underrepresented group when it comes to political activity, and drug users even more so. It will take a large movement, but there are an estimated 70 million drug users out there (more if you include alcohol) that could create a movement that Paul Bunyon would be proud to shovel lime over, so to speak. LOL