In the United States there are some states that have their own state regulated marijuana industry. Though these states have decided the production, distribution, and consumption of these cannabis products are in fact legal, the federal government still holds restrictions on marijuana use and it production. This causes the few states that are allowed to use marijuana to be in a small minority, but also gives them an advantage. These advantages can be seen as a result of the state regulated marijuana industry in place, and they can be very persuasive in the argument for legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. The most noteworthy advantage a state regulated recreational marijuana industry would create is the vast economic growth that would occur in the United States. Individual states and the federal government can both produce revenue through cannabis legalization due to the increase in tax revenue from the sales of marijuana, and the major law enforcement spending cuts that would come as a result of legalization. In addition to the obvious economic benefits provided through taxation, and law enforcement spending cuts; marijuana is a much healthier alternative to tobacco and alcohol, which are both legally produced and consumed. Even though marijuana does have some health ramifications, they are not near as vast or detrimental to ones health as the risks present with tobacco and alcohol. This can also be an economic benefit as the cost of health care could decrease with people turning to state regulated marijuana instead of alcohol or tobacco (Volkow). Though there are many people opposed to legalization it can be seen through these benefits that legalization would be advantageous for many states economically. Also it is evident that these advantages from legalization far outweigh the consequences.

The legalizing of recreational marijuana could be extremely beneficial for both state and federal governments. This is partially due to the amount of tax revenue that would be generated from marijuana legalization. According to Ranjit Dighe of the Huffington Post, the influx of tax dollars generated through the production and sales of marijuana would be one of the larger benefits of enforcing a state regulated marijuana industry. This can be seen very clearly through Jonathan Caulkins book Considering Marijuana Legalization : Insights for Vermont and Other Jurisdictions. This book was in fact a report requested by the governor of Vermont to display the consequences of legalizing marijuana. To establish a nonbiased viewpoint, the author claims, “the report does not make a recommendation about whether Vermont should change its marijuana laws”(Caulkins 1). Though this report does not take a stance on the issue of legalization, it displays multiple facts that could sway people to believe marijuana legalization would be primarily beneficial. It is believed that the revenue from taxes provided by a state regulated marijuana industry would be quite large though Caulkins states that the margin of revenue would vary from state to state as there are differences in each states overall supply architecture for legalization in addition to tax and regulatory parameters. This shows that there are high tax revenues to be generated through legalizing marijuana, but that there is some variance depending on the states specific tax code and other outside forces.

Due to the ability for states revenue from legalizing marijuana to vary according to the system in place, it is beneficial to look at specific states and their means of running a state regulated marijuana industry. Roger Roffman’s, Legalization of cannabis in Washington state: how is it going? is yet another report issued by a state to weigh the pros and cons of marijuana legalization, this time though it was issued by Washington state as opposed to Vermont. In addition to simply weighing the benefits and consequences of legalizing cannabis, this report looks at different methods in which to tax and regulate the distribution and production of marijuana. This was helpful as the report was able to provide many different variations of a state regulated marijuana industry so that the state of Washington could pick the system that best suited the state and it’s economic needs. In addition to Roffman’s report, Philip Wallach also was also writing a report for Washington State to inform the state on methods in which to approach legalization. The primary difference between these reports would be that Roffman was primarily focused on just the state of Washington and possible improvements for the states marijuana industry, whereas Wallach inspected other state regulated marijuana industries already in place, such as the system in Colorado or Uruguay. He observes the regulations and laws in place in these other states and assesses whether they would work in the state of Washington. He then discusses a unique aspect to the way in which Washington State went about legalizing marijuana. This difference between other systems in place and the one in Washington state is that the state of Washington’s state regulated marijuana industry is not just focused on creating potential revenue for the state or providing patients with proper medicine. They also will be utilizing some of the money made through taxation and other regulations in the industry to further study the most effective means to run a state regulated marijuana industry. This is very important as the industry is constantly changing and therefore regulations and tax codes need to be adapting with it.

For a more specific case for the revenues caused by state regulated marijuana industries one can look at Katie Rucke’s story showing how legalizing marijuana effected the state of Colorado in its first six months of legalization. She provides a brief summary on the state regulated marijuana system in place in Colorado. Though it is thought that six months is not a long enough period of time to assess the success or failure of a policy, there are prevalent legalization impacts that can be seen just from six months of implementation. Through this she was able to show that the state of Colorado has already produced about $20 million in tax revenue and other fees through their state regulated marijuana industry. This profit margin is undeniable as the millions of dollars in tax revenue could be allocated to a plethora of different government functions, such as education or public health. 

Instead of looking at only specific states and their personal approaches and benefits of the marijuana industry, Dan Schneider explores potential revenue and benefits for the US economy as a whole. Schneider states that in the United States it is estimated that 24 million people use marijuana on a semi-regular basis. If marijuana were to be legalized recreationally in the United States those 24 million potential customers would not have to rely on the black market. This could result in the US producing an estimated $10 to $40 billion in tax revenue yearly. He also declares that there would be numerous economic benefits present through legalization that have nothing to do with THC. For example, the cannabis plant produces a material called hemp that could be traded and create even more economic growth in the US. This displays that there is too much money being poured into the black market for a substance that could be legalized and taxed producing astronomical amounts of revenue.

In addition to tax revenue and other fees that would benefit the economy, a state regulated marijuana industry would also cut down crime so considerably that major, but safe, spending cuts could be made to law enforcement in the United States. Dighe makes the point that there would be major spending cuts in law enforcement throughout the country as a result of marijuana legalization. This is possible due to the large decrease in the number of cases and criminals for the justice system would have to account for. Rucke also mentions in her article that just six months after legalization in Colorado the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report showed that overall crime had dropped roughly 10%. Because of this drop in crime there would be a much smaller number of inmates in prisons. This could result in tens of millions of dollars to be saved or allocated to something else for the state of Colorado. With the amount of crimes in the US that marijuana accounts for, its decriminalization would create more money for the government to use elsewhere that is potentially more important than pumping more money into prisons and courthouses.
