Legal cannabis could earn $1b tax revenue and create 250,000 jobs
By Matt Dunn 7th May 2019 (9NEWS)
It’s 2019 and marijuana is now recreationally
legal in Canada and across 10 states in the US.
And it appears allowing adults to legally
purchase and consume cannabis is big
business.
According to The State of Legal Marijuana
Markets report, Canadians spent $A2.28
billion on legal weed in 2018, with the
Colorado Department of Revenue saying the
state’s regulated pot industry has generated
more than $A8.5 billion in sales since legal
recreational marijuana sales began in 2014.
“Colorado’s state government’s $1b in tax is
not an insignificant number, with that money
poured back into social support and upgrading
schools, parks and public infrastructure,” he
said.
Mr Bernberg said in addition to attracting new
sources of tax revenue, the legalisation of
weed would also reduce the amount of money
spent fighting the war on drugs.
Currently NSW’s “intelligence-based” and
taxpayer-funded drug dog operations cost an
estimated minimum of $1100 per hour and
target train stations, bowling clubs and school
formals.
The Institute of Public Affairs Criminal
Justice Project also estimates a cost of
$110,000 to imprison someone for a single
year in Australia, with cannabis related crimes
accounting for a portion of people currently in
the country’s jail system.
“There would be a significant benefit to the
government and community with the surplus
of funds, previously spent arresting and
imprisoning people using cannabis, freed up
to be spent elsewhere.”
Investment strategist Mark Bernberg said
Australia was losing billions of dollars of
potential tax revenue from legal marijuana,
questioning why it’s not being addressed on
the election campaign.
“It’s a product very much like alcohol and
gambling that’s recession proof because it’s a
product of recreational consumption for
adults,” he told nine.com.au.
The said taxes from regulated marijuana sales
in Colorado, which include licenses and fees
from dispensaries, exceeded $A380 million in
2018 — up nearly 8 per cent compared to the
year prior.
To date, the state’s marijuana taxes since
recreational sales started have generated more
than $A1.3 billion in tax revenue.
“That money could go to helping people who
actually have a substance abuse problem.”
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
Legal marijuana has become the fastest-
growing industry in America, with a report
compiled by Whitney Economics claiming a
44 per cent increase in jobs in 2018, with
64,389 new positions created last year alone.
The report estimates there are now 296,000
pot-related jobs in the country.
“It’s not just people working in cultivation
and bud tenders – people that work in
dispensaries – who benefit from legal weed,”
Mr Bernberg said.