Pubdate: Wed, 12 Mar 2014
Source: Metro (Toronto, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/toronto
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3462
Author: Scott Taylor

LEGALIZING WEED BRINGS IN THE GREEN STUFF: PROF.

Tax revenue. U.S. test case shows regulation cash crop could provide a
$60M public pipeline

A London economist says that Colorado has proven what many have been
saying all along: Legalize and regulate marijuana, and the tax dollars
will come flowing in.

It's been estimated that in the first month of legalized weed sales,
the state made a cool $2.1 million in taxes. That's outside of the
$1.4 million it made taxing medicinal marijuana.

Ivey School associate professor Mike Moffatt said the tax works out to
about 40 cents for each of Colorado's 5.2 million people.

"Assuming the usage would be similar among Ontario's almost 13 million
people, the tax the government would earn would be around (a) lofty $5
million," he said.

That's for a single month, equating to $60 million a
year.

"A lot of this tax money is money that would otherwise be going to
drug dealers and organized crime," Moffatt said. "Instead of financing
that, why not finance schools and hospitals and all the things our
society needs?"

He cited a Fraser Institute report that stated the federal government
could realize more than a billion dollars a year if pot was legalized.

But London West Conservative MP Ed Holder said he couldn't disagree
more with the figures. Price, he said, will still create competition
between the legal outlets and drug dealers.

"That does not go away because it's been legalized," he said. "The
underground economy does not go away."

Plus, Holder said, he's never known of a situation in which a person
using hard drugs didn't start off with marijuana.

"If you ask our local (police) chief if he thinks marijuana should be
legalized, it would be interesting to get his reaction to that. I
imagine he'd say no. The previous chief said no ... because it leads
to other things," Holder said. "At what point do you put money ahead
of principle?"

Hi-Times manager Mike Gin, who's been in the London head shop business
for 25 years, argued it only makes sense for the government to cash
in.

"It's a revenue generator, so why lose the money if they can tax it?"
he asked. "They could regulate it like cigarettes so that people under
a certain age couldn't buy it."
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MAP posted-by: Matt