Marijuana to soften economic blow (again)?

[Flash Walken]

DUNCAN - Eric Nash can barely contain his excitement waiting to hear from Health Canada whether he can start growing marijuana for 250 patients.
That would be just the start. There are tens of thousands more who are ailing across the country clamouring for his organic B.C. bud.


"There is a great opportunity here for the government to collect significant tax revenue currently being lost to the street market," Nash, one of the best-known legal cannabis producers, enthused.

Now that the Federal Court of Appeal has struck down the government's monopoly on supplying medical marijuana, Nash believes commercial agricultural production of pot is around the corner and the sky's the limit.


His local company, Island Harvest, has cleared the industrial security regulatory hurdles so the company meets the standards set by Ottawa to grow the much-demonized plant.

Between 1990 and 2000, the Canadian pot market doubled in size fuelled primarily by the increased hydroponic production of B.C. bud.
Nationally, we apparently spent $1.8 billion toking up - just shy of the $2.3 billion we burned on tobacco.


By 2006, when he did his calculations, Easton said the numbers indicated a provincial wholesale market of $2.2 billion. You could increase that to $7.7 billion retail if consumers paid top dollar for their bud.


That dwarfed any other B.C. agricultural product.


The result on the street was easy to see: a proliferation of gangs duly documented by the RCMP, as every crook plucked what Easton called "the low-hanging fruit."


The tightening of the border has had several effects.


Not just everyone can take it across now, with underground sensors, heightened air traffic scrutiny and the deployment of the military. Smuggling now is more the purview of the very organized and the very desperate.


At the same time, U.S. authorities have charted the rise of their own domestic production as American states relaxed enforcement and sentencing - the opposite of the 1980s and 1990s when their stiff attitude drove marijuana growers north.


In California alone, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and San Francisco all have officially told police to make marijuana offences their lowest priority.

Nevertheless, Easton explained, when you are looking at a commodity and domestic production, it's all about the money. The rise of the dollar in recent years worked against growers and exporters, but its recent fall provides an upward fillip.


"I imagine with all the market turmoil the domestic marijuana industry will pick up a bit," Easton said. "it's just had a 15-to-20-per-cent bump in two months."


Some estimates in the 1990s suggested as much as 50 cents of every dollar generated in some Kootenay towns could be traced directly to pot.


With the international financial tempest wreaking havoc again with commodity prices, B.C. bud may yet help ride out the storm but probably not to the same extent.
"We'll just have to watch housing prices in Nelson," Easton laughed.

Those legalization nuts are at it again. This time with help from the government.

[Burninator]

Why in the hell would you be excited about the government collecting more taxes? Crazy hippies. I think they are good reasons to have marijuana legalized, but giving the government more money is not one of them.

[Robbob]

in 2006 the government made around 2.6 billion dollars off tobacco. If they could bring in the same amount off marijuana it could go a fair way to help a budget. Hell the colalition could pay off Quebec two times. It doesn't even consider how much money would be saved on policing, courts and prisons.

[flylock shox]

I'm certain the drug trade will, to a certain extent, recession-proof BC. And I can see why legalization activists would trumpet the tax implications: it brings non-marijuana users around to their cause. It's actually a very rational argument. I think organized activists have realized that their best bet is to chip away at marijuana laws rather than go for broke. They've been very successful in doing so, to the point where we now have people like Mr. Nash legally growing marijuana for commercial sale to an albeit limited market. Those baby steps are starting to amount to huge strides.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Why in the hell would you be excited about the government collecting more taxes? Crazy hippies. I think they are good reasons to have marijuana legalized, but giving the government more money is not one of them.

You could tax the crap out of pot and still have it be less expensive than it is now. The extra money in a person's pocket will also make it back to the economy in other ways.

The extra money for the government is just a bonus.

[CaptainCrunch]

Dude . . . like my hands are huge.

[Hack&Lube]

If the coalition comes to power and brings back the old liberal promise of decriminalizing marajuana...I would not feel so bad about it.

[Flames_Gimp]

the prohibition of marijuana is just ridiculous.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

the prohibition of marijuana is just ridiculous.

I agree..................its affects on society are definately no worse than that of alcohol, but since the government says it's OK to purchase and use booze, people don't see it as a substance that is bad for you.

I have never seen a stoned guy do any the following:
-beating his wife out of pure rage
-puking outside of a bar
-poisoning/overdosing and heading to the hospital (is it even possible to OD on weed?)
-starting fights in bars

I have however, witnessed them eating too much Doritos and driving slowly.
PS I do not support driving while stoned

[czure32]

You ever see the back of a twenty dollar bill... on weed? Oh, there's some crazy sh*t, man. There's a dude in the bushes. Has he got a gun? I dunno! RED TEAM GO, RED TEAM GO.

[Flash Walken]

The economics are actually pretty interesting.

Tracing 50 percent of the income of an entire region of Canada back to one illicit drug is pretty amazing.

The idea of BC's drug trade ''Recession proofing'' the province is an even more fantastic idea. That's in the realm of a country like Colombia.

British Colombia?

[driveway]

I support the legalization of marijuana, but I feel that the tax-revenue argument consistently over-estimates the amount of revenue the government would derive from legal pot sales.

The thing that, as far as I can tell, no one takes into account is how much marijuana would be produced and consumed at a private level, with little to no money changing hands, and thus no tax revenue being collected.

I know that the first thing I'd do were legalization to occur is acquire m'self four clones, a light, and a small-scale hydro-rig. A large number of my pot-smoking friends would do the same, and I'd be more than happy to supply those who didn't with my home-grown at a reasonable price.

While there would be significant tax-revenue generated. I am always skeptical at the huge numbers thrown out by the pro-legalization crowd.

I think there are way better reasons for legalizing bud.

"Hard work good, and hard work fine, but first take care of head."
-Sublime.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by driveway

I support the legalization of marijuana, but I feel that the tax-revenue argument consistently over-estimates the amount of revenue the government would derive from legal pot sales.

The thing that, as far as I can tell, no one takes into account is how much marijuana would be produced and consumed at a private level, with little to no money changing hands, and thus no tax revenue being collected.

I know that the first thing I'd do were legalization to occur is acquire m'self four clones, a light, and a small-scale hydro-rig. A large number of my pot-smoking friends would do the same, and I'd be more than happy to supply those who didn't with my home-grown at a reasonable price.

While there would be significant tax-revenue generated. I am always skeptical at the huge numbers thrown out by the pro-legalization crowd.

I think there are way better reasons for legalizing bud.

"Hard work good, and hard work fine, but first take care of head."
-Sublime.

And then you'd get stoned, and lazy, and buy it off someone who has killer stuff.

It's the greatest business model ever.

[troutman]

blow could soften the blow

[Gozer]

giggle

[Temporary_User]

Originally Posted by driveway

I support the legalization of marijuana, but I feel that the tax-revenue argument consistently over-estimates the amount of revenue the government would derive from legal pot sales.

The thing that, as far as I can tell, no one takes into account is how much marijuana would be produced and consumed at a private level, with little to no money changing hands, and thus no tax revenue being collected.

I know that the first thing I'd do were legalization to occur is acquire m'self four clones, a light, and a small-scale hydro-rig. A large number of my pot-smoking friends would do the same, and I'd be more than happy to supply those who didn't with my home-grown at a reasonable price.

While there would be significant tax-revenue generated. I am always skeptical at the huge numbers thrown out by the pro-legalization crowd

Do you grow your own tobacco? How about your friends?
What about beer, whiskey, etc?
While some still grow their own tomatoes, most of us go to the grocery store and buy quality product for a decent price. Chalk it up to laziness I guess.

I agree that the amount of tax-revenue potentially generated is probably a high estimate, but a little money is better than no money...

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

Do you grow your own tobacco? How about your friends?
What about beer, whiskey, etc?
While some still grow their own tomatoes, most of us go to the grocery store and buy quality product for a decent price. Chalk it up to laziness I guess.

I agree that the amount of tax-revenue potentially generated is probably a high estimate, but a little money is better than no money...

I am currently unaware of any tobacco hydroponic set-ups and cigarettes require a huge amount of processing to produce. Cigars, on the other hand, require stringent quality control and expertise to make.

Beer is easily made in the home with kits, as I'm sure a number of people on this board will attest.

Whiskey is illegal to produce in the home.

Were marijuana to be legalized, I think it would be the single most-produced intoxicant by private citizens.

While I think there would be substantial tax-revenue, I am certain it would come in below everyone's calculations and therefore should not be used as a justification - at least not a major one - in the legalization debate.

[Swarly]

but i think the tax revenue is only a small part of the money the gov't would get, take into account the cost on police going after pot dealers. How about the 4 RCMP officers who where killed in 2005 in Mayerthorpe, wasnt it a grow op there they went to shut down.

The gov't could also legalize pot but say you cant grow your own. You would need to jump thru a few legal hoops first like getting a building permit or business licence. Sure a few people would still do it but the vast majority of people would go buy from a store.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by driveway

I am currently unaware of any tobacco hydroponic set-ups and cigarettes require a huge amount of processing to produce. Cigars, on the other hand, require stringent quality control and expertise to make.

Beer is easily made in the home with kits, as I'm sure a number of people on this board will attest.

Whiskey is illegal to produce in the home.

Were marijuana to be legalized, I think it would be the single most-produced intoxicant by private citizens.

While I think there would be substantial tax-revenue, I am certain it would come in below everyone's calculations and therefore should not be used as a justification - at least not a major one - in the legalization debate.

Meh, I think it'll be like beer.

Sure, some of us brew our own, but for the vast majority, we go to the store. Hell, even when I have made my own, I still frequent the beer store. Everyone likes a little variety. It is also much easier. Taste is consistant, as is quality.

Sometimes buying that 24 pack of pabst for 18 bucks is worth it. Sometimes though, those 4 cans of Guinness for 15 are what I'm after. Sometimes I am all about the seasonal beer. Variety is the spice of life, my friend.

Not to mention the spinoff products and industries, depending on your method of application.

Glass blowing could become a new staple of the Canadian arts scene!

[Temporary_User]

Originally Posted by driveway

Beer is easily made in the home with kits, as I'm sure a number of people on this board will attest.


Were marijuana to be legalized, I think it would be the single most-produced intoxicant by private citizens.

While I think there would be substantial tax-revenue, I am certain it would come in below everyone's calculations and therefore should not be used as a justification - at least not a major one - in the legalization debate.

I know beer is easily made in the home. My point is how many people do you know that actually make it though?
Of all the people i know, only 1 person.
It is heavily taxed, and easily home-produced. Many parallels to MJ.

FTR, I don't smoke pot. I have before, and probably will a few more times in the future. I actually don't care about tax revenue, the reason I would like to see it legalized, is for peoples personal freedom. I truely believe it is a harmless substance.