Can legalisation of Cannabis help US economy?

[Juggy777]

According to former Senator Tom Daschle legalising Cannabis can partially solve US economy’s problems in the short term, and it can even help to stabilise the US economy in the long run.

The Senator has further claimed that Cannabis is an $16 billion dollar industry, and it has the potential to become a $75 billion industry in the long run.

Also he’s acknowledged the fact that Cannabis is approved in 40 states, and if it’s legalised in all the states then it could create much needed jobs, and even the government can benefit from the taxes levied on it’s sale.

Last in my opinion whoever wins the upcoming election will not approve this idea instantly, but what do you’ll think can legalising Cannabis can actually help the US economy in the short term?.

Source:

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/515299-one-cure-for-an-ailing-american-economy-legalize-cannabis

[jackg]

It's a weird one based on the article. Also is cbd still legal (with a max of 0.1-0.5% thc)?

I think the police in the US are extremely overmilitarised, they may as well not be separate institutions from what I can tell based on the amount of legal favours the police have there.

Drug prohibition in general is just a way for most governments to prosecute the poor - if you're rich enough you're getting a drug dealer to come near your land: you're not meeting them in an alleyway somewhere. I think weed is much safer than cigsrretes too - and it smells nicer.

The $4bn budget as an argument doesn't sound much though, the US and UK spend about that funding weapons against isil (so they can fight their proxy war with Russia).

[Lucius]

For an economy that measures its problems or needs in trillions of dollars, I personally think that $16 billion or even $75 billion would not represent any significant financial benefit. But legalization across the United States would certainly help reduce the crime rate associated with the illegal production and distribution of cannabis.

I don't know what Trump thinks about it, but neither what position does his opponent have - but if 40 states have legalized cannabis use, then the only question is why the rest don't do the same - obviously there are those who are conservative and have the view that legalization of drugs is not in the interest of their state.

[stompix]

The title made me smile:

One cure for an ailing American economy: Legalize cannabis

Yeah, legalize it, smoke the shit out of it, and dream everything would be fine.

Incarceration for nonviolent drug crimes is often unjust. It creates long-term consequences throughout that person’s lifetime, namely the obvious challenge of getting a job and an average reduction of wage growth by about 30 percent for those who can find work.Nationally, police dedicate nearly $4 billion annually to enforce cannabis possession laws. Can we honestly say the staggering human and economic costs are worth it?

4 billion compared to a $966 billion deficit, lol, that will solve a lot.
So, incarceration hurts the job market but the author somehow forgets that they have a 10% unemployment, that those 4 billion are also spent on wages, when this money is not spent a lot of people will simply go unemployed and have to look for one, but when you're looking from the start to redact a biased article, of course, you will forget about it.

Local law enforcement has been transformed into a paramilitary force focused on arresting low-level users, with overwhelming racial disparity in possession arrests skewed toward people of color.

Yeah, elections are near let's throw some bs racial injustice stuff to gain a few voters. After the votes are in, let them solve their problems on their own.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle is one of the longest-serving Senate Democratic leaders in history and one of only two to serve twice as both majority and minority leader. In 2019, he joined the board of advisers for Clever Leaves, a multinational cannabis operator, to bring his experience in health care policy reform to the company’s expansion in the global medical cannabis market.

What a surprise!
Not against the whole cannabis thing, I don't give a damn if it's legal or not but when you start painting something as the savior of everything it's clear it's bullshit.

[Yatsan]

Well, it could gradually help the economy of US if the legalization of cannabis would take place for a short run for the price it do could possibly have in the market. But if that would also happen, you would be taking into risk and putting into stake the health and mental issues of people who would manufacture cannabis because you cannot duly assure that once cannabis would be legalized is you can regulate the usage of it for many people would surely patronize it because coming from a categorized illegal doing is you will be allowing it to get legal, surely people using it for a long term are free now to use for they would not have any cases against law once such thing would be passed into congress.

Thinking of saving the economy using legalization of cannabis would just bring a negative impact once it have been done for a long run because you know why, there would be a big probability of income to come but the health of the people would be put into stake for many would surely get addicted whether you say that cannabis have been proven to have health benefits. Yes it do have but that was just a small percentage of the overall composition of cannabis that would be in need to get extracted for medical purposes. Legalizing cannabis would take negative consequences in the future just for wanting to save the economy and make use of legalizing cannabis as an exit point to solve the problem when it comes to finance.

[so98nn]

In my country where a 28 year old girl is under 24*7 surveillance by Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB, India)  who barely traded some 350 gm of cannabis for her bf and brother (also unproven). She is a Bollywood actress and already destroyed her career due to this act!

And here you are plotting complete masterplan to run the $75 billion economy of US by trading cannabis. Dam, thats nuts! 

I dont know, may be things are very different in your country. But inhere people has got no chills! It can ruin everything for you.


Despite the general stuff, I believe there are few of the methods which are now used to extract and synthesise the chemicals Viz., delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, potent chemical constituents responsible for the whole hallucination thing.

Well, this pathway is for medicinal purposes though.

But yeah, sure get some ideas here, $75 bn is huge amount to risk it all. 

The fact that I mentioned the second part is because they are already having scientific pathways to synthesis is and they are swiftly using it in pharmaceutical sector.

So the way you have mentioned everything in OP is for illegal use, may be you need different plan to set 75 bn plan.

[NotATether]

A point even more important, from an economic point of view, than the health risks of cannabis*, it is foolhardy to declare that opening a couple-billion dollar industy is enough to save a county with a 20 trillion dollar GDP, and even that implies that all the global trade will be conducted by US interests which is simply not the case. At any rate, they are late to this bandwagon and will only get a small slice of the market.

Even more dangerous and silly is to project said market to multiply by a large factor in the long run i.e. making a long term prediction, and hedging the economy against that projection. I mean, don't actually think you can get a few dozen billion dollars share of a market that doesn't exist yet.

In other words, if approved, this proposal will fall flat on it's face when it's time to show results.

*How much is the US health sector losing per year treating medical conditions caused by cannabis anyway?

[Xembin]

I think legalisation of cannabis can help economy of US right now. US are loosing a lot in their investors, due to the lockdown, it's time for their government to take a risk to legalized cannabis to give life to their economy.

[Coyster]

I think legalisation of cannabis can help economy of US right now. US are loosing a lot in their investors, due to the lockdown, it's time for their government to take a risk to legalized cannabis to give life to their economy.

How did you come up with this ridiculous idea, well would you also postulate that the U.S. government start trafficking drugs to also make money from it to restabilize the economy? Wannabe economic experts have been on the rise since the pandemic with all sorts of panacea to the fallen economy and inflation, but if many of their suggestions like this one on cannabis be implemented, it'd have more cons than pros.

Imo, there's no policy the government can implement to revive the economy as fast as people want, any of such policies, like printing more money as we've seen already will have major consequences on the economy in the long run, as the nation continues to gradually open and businesses restart, the economic situation will slowly start it's recovery process, legalizing what the government considers illegal is not an option to revive the economy.

[Reid]

Drug prohibition in general is just a way for most governments to prosecute the poor - if you're rich enough you're getting a drug dealer to come near your land: you're not meeting them in an alleyway somewhere. I think weed is much safer than cigsrretes too - and it smells nicer.

I agree.  
I like the smell of it rather than the irritating cigarette smoke.

I don't really know why they are taking long talking about it.
That damn weed is medicinal and it's pure. While with cigarettes they put so many chemicals that you won't even recognize if there is still tobacco there.
Just like vape, are the big tobacco companies behind the slow approval?
Maybe. 70 percent.

[bakasabo]

I think legalisation of cannabis can help economy of US right now.

Think about prostitution and all other drugs. Just imagine how they "can help economy of US right now". What are both turnover per year? Probably many times more than current deficit. Just make them legal for few years, cover with taxes and voila, your country is the richest one.

[Rikafip]

Can legalisation of Cannabis help US economy? Most certainly, but it's not some kind of magic cure as its portrayed in the article. It's step in the right direction certainly and full legalisation is imminent, sooner or later.

Drug prohibition in general is just a way for most governments to prosecute the poor - if you're rich enough you're getting a drug dealer to come near your land: you're not meeting them in an alleyway somewhere. I think weed is much safer than cigsrretes too - and it smells nicer.

+1

This so called war on drugs that started with Nixon is nothing but a joke that had no positive effect, costs shit load of money both directly and indirectly and didn't bring anything good to the people, except to the prison-industrial complex in the United States.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

I think legalisation of cannabis can help economy of US right now. US are loosing a lot in their investors, due to the lockdown, it's time for their government to take a risk to legalized cannabis to give life to their economy.

I know many people would consider buying cannabis for medication because it can help people to relieve their stress, to sleep better at night and to reduce anxiety. But I don't see legalisation or selling cannabis would help the US economy because the only thing what the US economy needs is a vaccine to stop the pandemic of the COVID-19 to resume the productivity or for people to have jobs again.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Also is cbd still legal (with a max of 0.1-0.5% thc)?

CBD is definitely legal in my state, though I don't know about the maximum THC content can be, if any.  I don't live in a state where marijuana has been legalized. 

I think the police in the US are extremely overmilitarised, they may as well not be separate institutions from what I can tell based on the amount of legal favours the police have there.

Yep, you're right about that--but luckily the youth of today are realizing this and are fighting back against the militarization of police (and cops in general) all across the country.  Though I don't agree with a lot of their demands (like complete defunding of the cops), it's great to see all the protests happening.

As to the topic, I do indeed think making cannabis legal can help the economy, and I wish it was legal in all 50 states with minimal restrictions, or at least not more restrictive than alcohol.  The tax revenue certainly could help the government fund all this money printing and stimulus and everything else they're doing to dig the country into a hole that our kids and grandkids are going to have to dig themselves out of.  And yeah, there's a possibility that it would create jobs, but I think the taxation would be the primary benefit.

[Febo]

Also he’s acknowledged the fact that Cannabis is approved in 40 states, and if it’s legalised in all the states then it could create much needed jobs, and even the government can benefit from the taxes levied on it’s sale.

It is surprise to me that cannabis is a legal industry in 40 out of 50 USA states. It could take a decade to rebuild industry that was prohibited for over a century.  But overall this cant be a saviour of USA economy. Many other much bigger things will have to go right for that.

[exstasie]

In the early stages, it would be more about transitioning away from the informal, black economy and towards the formal economy than about actual growth. Cannabis already accounts for a massive underground economy, informally employing millions of people, or formally employing them only at the state level. They're just not paying federal taxes or complying with federal law.

So first comes the transition out of the informal, black economy. Displacing street dealers and brokers, illegal pop-up weed clubs and farmer's markets, illegal growers who will have a harder and harder time placing product on the black market, etc. This obviously causes job losses which are to be replaced by large corporate, licensed, taxpaying entities. This is what has been happening in legal markets like California and Colorado, with several giant companies swallowing up much of the legal industry because of the incredibly high state taxes and licensing costs. Adding federal compliance costs will consolidate things even more in favor of the biggest companies.

Eventually, if it were federally legalized, it would bring considerable growth to the US economy. Legalization of medical and recreational at the state level has obviously brought increased demand to the market as it becomes culturally normalized and regular people don't have to buy on the black market anymore. That would only continue. For the federal government that means a growing new base of tax revenue, so I won't be surprised if it gets legalized in the next 5-10 years.

It's a weird one based on the article. Also is cbd still legal (with a max of 0.1-0.5% thc)?

Federally, hemp is technically legal to grow with very serious restrictions. The threshold is 0.3% THC. In many states, it's legalized just like cannabis cultivation. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/12/14/the-farm-bill-hemp-and-cbd-explainer/

CBD (if manufactured in compliance with the Farm Bill) was removed from the Controlled Substances list but if grown and manufactured illegally, it's still illegal.

[mezzaluna]

According to former Senator Tom Daschle legalising Cannabis can partially solve US economy’s problems in the short term, and it can even help to stabilise the US economy in the long run.

The Senator has further claimed that Cannabis is an $16 billion dollar industry, and it has the potential to become a $75 billion industry in the long run.

Also he’s acknowledged the fact that Cannabis is approved in 40 states, and if it’s legalised in all the states then it could create much needed jobs, and even the government can benefit from the taxes levied on it’s sale.

Last in my opinion whoever wins the upcoming election will not approve this idea instantly, but what do you’ll think can legalising Cannabis can actually help the US economy in the short term?.

Source:

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/515299-one-cure-for-an-ailing-american-economy-legalize-cannabis

According to DISA Global Solutions, there are only eight states left in which the use of Marijuana or Cannabis is purely Illegal. That means most states really see this as an opportunity BUT it comes with proper laws. People are only allowed to use it medically at some states and on some states, its even subjected to a descriminalized status that lessens the years of punishment by using Marijuana. Some states really did some research to properly use it and that would boosts its economy.

[Oasisman]

According to former Senator Tom Daschle legalising Cannabis can partially solve US economy’s problems in the short term, and it can even help to stabilise the US economy in the long run.

Seeing the people hashtagging legalize cannabis through social media platform even before, I think there's a great number of them and could potentially help the economy If they put excessive taxes on it. Whether for medical or recreational purposes. If the US government put taxes that could easily afford by everyone, well I can say that's a recipe for disaster as more people will abuse the use of this drug.

Last in my opinion whoever wins the upcoming election will not approve this idea instantly, but what do you’ll think can legalising Cannabis can actually help the US economy in the short term?.

Of course it can, since it will generate a great income. But the main issue regarding this is the potential abuse for the recreational users. Before passing this bill, for sure there will be measures to limit the use of cannabis.

[hulla]

Firstly, to solve a problem ones actually have to find the source we know the printing of excess money was one of the thing that causes economy meltdown from the get go. The statement made by former Senate Tom Daschle about legalising Cannabis as solution to economy problem is ridiculous, why didnt they stop the printing of dollars to pump the stock market which is what Trump use to do and backed the US dollars with precious metals instead of oil and gas.

[Ludmilla_rose1995]

According to former Senator Tom Daschle legalising Cannabis can partially solve US economy’s problems in the short term, and it can even help to stabilise the US economy in the long run.

The Senator has further claimed that Cannabis is an $16 billion dollar industry, and it has the potential to become a $75 billion industry in the long run.

Also he’s acknowledged the fact that Cannabis is approved in 40 states, and if it’s legalised in all the states then it could create much needed jobs, and even the government can benefit from the taxes levied on it’s sale.

Last in my opinion whoever wins the upcoming election will not approve this idea instantly, but what do you’ll think can legalising Cannabis can actually help the US economy in the short term?.

Source:

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/515299-one-cure-for-an-ailing-american-economy-legalize-cannabis

Cannabis is an herbal plant that is good for medicinal purposes. If cannabis is legalized, it will certainly stabilize and even increase the country's economic value. This method can be used for export commodities as medical necessities and their derivatives, not for abuse and free to use.