Bill would legalize marijuana in Maryland, tax it like alcohol (sales, 2013)

[e30is]

Bill would legalize marijuana in Maryland, tax it like alcohol - The Washington Post

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by e30is

Bill would legalize marijuana in Maryland, tax it like alcohol - The Washington Post

Good luck Curt.

I did some rough calculations recently:
Total Population 300,000,000
Under age Pop - 100,000,000
Potential users = 200,000,000

Estimated (swag) Preference Rate @ 60%
Inclined to use at least to some degree = 120,000,000

Assumption: Of these inclined to use adults, even the regular users, they still aren't
likely to consume more than one ounce of decent quality product per year.
(some will use more but most will probably use less)

120,000,000 ounces /16 = 7,500,000 pounds (clean bud)

A comparable legal crop is beer hops:
The USDA reports a market price of $2.75 per pound for hops
That ($2.75/16) comes out to a whopping 17 cents producer price per ounce.

Allowing for the shipping and handling and some minimal packaging (coffee cans?)...
and allowing some margin for the growers, shippers and retailers of course...
we're still talking about a market shelf price of under $3 for that ounce.

Add an extra margin for more careful cultivation methods, or hybrids, or more finicky
manicured handling... and we're still talking about a market shelf price of under $5 for that ounce.

Seventeen cents to five dollars leaves a lot on the table for the wholesale end.
Not anywhere near what they're used to getting now from an illicit product...
but as they say: "them's the breaks"

Now we can get to add in the taxation.
It has to be high enough to motivate officialdom but low enough to not motivate (too many)
home gardeners. How about $30 an ounce?

That gets us to a RETAIL price comparable to what we used to pay for Gold Colombian.
Add another $5 per ounce for State and LOCAL sales taxes and we're at $40 per ounce.

How many ounces again? 120,000,000 ounces per year.
At $30 per ounce for federal excise tax (however managed) yields $3,600,000,000

That comes to Three BILLION six hundred MILLION dollars. Per year.
Divided by four hundred thirty five.... = $ 8,275,000 per Congressional district
Divided by fifty... = $ 72,000,000 per state

I could live with that. How about you?

[badchad]

I think people will look to Colorado and Washington for indices of how "successful" MJ legalization is. There will be an immediate, quantifiable amount of revenue coming in from taxation, but I think the real savings (or costs) will come indirectly through changes in public health expenditures.

For example, how much money are we spending enforcing existing MJ laws? How much does it cost to arrest someone, process them through the system, and (perhaps) imprison them?

If we save money there, will we see other increases in public health expenditures resulting from increased use? For example, in accidents, worker absenteeism etc.

I don't think the MD bill pass now, but the success of future initiatives depends on what happens in other "legalized" states.

[K-Luv]

The average pot smoker is smoking more than 1 once a year.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by badchad

I think people will look to Colorado and Washington for indices of how "successful" MJ legalization is. There will be an immediate, quantifiable amount of revenue coming in from taxation, but I think the real savings (or costs) will come indirectly through changes in public health expenditures.

For example, how much money are we spending enforcing existing MJ laws? How much does it cost to arrest someone, process them through the system, and (perhaps) imprison them?

If we save money there, will we see other increases in public health expenditures resulting from increased use? For example, in accidents, worker absenteeism etc.

I don't think the MD bill pass now, but the success of future initiatives depends on what happens in other "legalized" states.

While there might be many people who abstain from pot on the simple grounds that is illegal, I highly doubt these people are going to come out of the woodwork once marijuana is legalized. It is like the BS claim that putting wine in grocery stores is somehow going to encourage and increase the consumption of alcohol.

There will be no increased use, but people from DC, Virginia, PA, and WV might come into Maryland to purchase a "pack".

[selhars]

I hope it is legalized -- and taxed of course.

Any state that can legalize gay marriage, and giving illegals in state tuition -- can certainly legalize pot.
We're taxing everything else.

And of course there's the hypocrisy of alcohol being legal and pot isn't.

[Mahatma X]

Yep Maryland is def not southern.

[andrew_s]

Originally Posted by Mahatma X

Yep Maryland is def not southern.

I guess arkansas isnt anymore for a bill they put out last november...Stop thinking mono-lithically about the south.

[e30is]

I flipped on the radio this morning and guess what I heard?

Those lovely cartels are now moving to crystal meth since states are legalizing pot according to TX authorities. I wonder if that makes it a bad thing?

[Johnbiggs]

Makes sense both socially and economically, because this state needs some revenue other than those damned traffic cameras.

Don't criticize it, legalize it