Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
The notion that anyone (or specifically me) has a "flippant disregard for mental illness" is frankly insulting, and nowhere in my post was that opinion reflected. Your issue seemed to be the monetary cost that a possible increase in mental health issues have on our society. I was just illustrating how A) your numbers are bogus which you state initially so that's fine, but if you actually want to make a strong point about an increase in mental health costs, you should at least try to hit a ball park. it took me 2 seconds to find that information. And it is very much skewed by the factors I mentioned to land on a monetary cost that is a very large and alarming number. But it's not even close to the truth. And it's flippant posts like that which get people up and arms who are too lazy to do the research themselves. Some error is fine in guess work, but when I cut your population size in half with 2 seconds of research (and apply a very liberal estimate on top of the stats I found) your point is, IMO, out to lunch.
If your issue is the studies showing ANY correlation to mental illness, may I suggest you expand your list of products to be made illegal, as weed is definitely not the only one, and most certainly not the worst.
|
This entire thread has weighed in on the impacts of marijuana, and utilized studies conducted from around the globe.
Choosing an arbitrary figure of 10 Million teenagers is not bogus in any way. If I was using that number as a representation of the Canadian population, then yes it would be inaccurate, but I wasn't, and clearly stated such.
So if you want a more accurate Canadian based estimate, here you go:
Per StatsCan 2011 census data:
Canadian population aged 10-24 = 6,285,940
Assuming 15% of population is a pot head = 6,285,940 * .15 = 942,891
Aggregate increase of incidence rate of mental illness = .042 -.007 = .035
942,891 * .035 = 33,001 aggregate increase in incidence of mental illness
33,001 * $150,000 = ~$5Bn lifetime aggregate medical burden increase.
So, just to break even on the social cost, the marijuana industry conservatively needs to generate $5Bn of tax revenue.
Without considering the impact or costs on families, employers, etc. etc. etc.
The world is your oyster, pot heads. Have at it.