Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Stonedbirds
In BC alone the estimates on the worth of their pot trade are around $6 billion annually. The timber industry in comparison was worth $7.6 billion in 2009.
There is a goldmine there for generating revenue, and the thing with pot is that if you want it, you can get it. It's not rare, and I don't believe its dangerous except for potentially in youth due to brain development. Basically if people want to smoke it, they are going to get it.
Legalize it, regulate it, and tax it. I'm all for strict control of hard drugs, but pot IMO has less ramifications on society at large than say alcohol.
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One major factor in this though is that BC can export its timber internationally. Weed won't be able to be sold that way. There's no doubt it would significantly boost BC's economy, it is their largest cash crop. But even to the border-state of Washington, I don't think they'd be able to move it across the border.
So while there still remians a huge, untapped, international market, until those markets legalize the product, they are non-existent. But I think we know there is a significant internal market within Canada.
Honestly, if you look into a lot of the stats and just anecdotes surrounding MJ I really don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that MJ usage (in various frequencies from once a year to habitual) borders on 50%. $14 mil in tax revenue for COL in 1st month of legalization. 70% of Canadians supporting decriminalization at least. I had a vet friend tell me that whenever she tox screens pets, they find traces of THC over 1/2 the time. And really, the health issues are likely minimized by legalization as it allows sale in various forms (mostly edible) that we potheads had to put effort into concocting ourselves previously (ie, the actual smoking part of it will likely decrease significantly). Not to mention not having to buy it in pretty large quantities from dealers. I would probably use less MJ if I could just go buy a brownie or a couple joints rather than 1/2 once of raw weed.
In the hilarious, immortal words of Stephen Colbert, "The market has spoken and the market is tokin'."