Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jan 2016
Source: Manitoban, The (CN MB, Edu)
Copyright: 2016 The Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation
Contact:  http://www.themanitoban.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2665
Author: Seamus Hamilton-Pattison

THE GRASS CAN BE GREENER ON BOTH SIDES

Despite Conservative Opposition, Marijuana Legalization Agrees With 
the Party's Economic Principles

As a result of the recent federal election, the topic of legal and 
regulated marijuana has gone from a far-flung possibility to a nearly 
immediate reality for Canadians.

Legalization became a hot issue for Canadians the moment Justin 
Trudeau promised his Liberal government would work to do it "right 
away" if elected.

This declaration would be reiterated by Trudeau throughout his 
campaign, as the candidate adopted an unabashedly pro-legalization 
stance. Canada's Conservative party and its leader at the time - 
former prime minister Stephen Harper - were staunch in their 
opposition to legalizing marijuana, which led to much back-and-forth 
between Trudeau and Harper on the issue, Harper even going so far as 
to claim that marijuana is "infinitely worse" than tobacco.

However, with the election over and a Liberal majority government 
securely in place, it's really starting to look like legalization is 
inevitable. Despite this, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose's 
opposition to the plant means Canada's official opposition won't stop 
fighting legalization anytime soon.

It's not like Canada is the first country to attempt this, so for the 
politically minded and societally conscious, it would now be prudent 
to examine the effects marijuana legalization and regulation have had 
in places it has been tried so far.

When one looks at the beneficial aspects of pro-marijuana 
legislation, it becomes difficult to see just why our Conservative 
party is so against it. In fact, both recreational and medical 
legalization of marijuana has been shown to work towards many broader 
policies and goals espoused by the party that opposes it the most.

First and foremost, the effect legalization has on the economy must 
be examined. Where there's legal marijuana, there's a marijuana 
industry. The recent example of the state of Colorado proves that the 
legal marijuana industry is a lucrative one indeed.

Colorado's report on marijuana-related revenues (including taxes, 
licences, fees, transfers, and distribution) for November 2015 gives 
a year-to-date total of marijuana tax revenue as approximately US$72 
million. That's a large amount of government revenue that simply 
didn't exist before. Better yet, the state has instituted a 15 per 
cent excise tax on all marijuana sold commercially to direct revenue 
towards public school construction projects.

Colorado has a population of about 5.4 million, so if the same taxes 
and legislation were applied to Canada's 35 million, the country 
could potentially rake in tax revenue in the neighborhood of $810 
million on a yearly basis.

Even under high taxes (over 25 per cent in total), Colorado's 
marijuana industry is thriving. In August 2015, Colorado's total 
marijuana sales for the month exceeded $100 million for the first 
time, and they've been on a steady climb since May.

This lines up nicely with the first point of the Conservative party's 
current policy declaration on economic development, which states that 
"it is the responsibility of the government to create an economic 
climate in which Canadians can thrive and prosper."

Legalization is a massive, untapped source of potential government 
tax revenue and marijuana is performing very reliably as a sales item 
in Colorado, paying dividends for the state in turn. It is curious 
that Canada's Conservative party would shy away from blatant 
money-making machine that is legal weed.

It's not the just the economy itself, though - the Conservative Party 
of Canada cares about and prioritizes job creation for Canadians. The 
phrase "quality job opportunities" appears a few times in the party's 
policy declaration on economic development and Harper hard-lined the 
importance of good job creation in Canada on the campaign trail in 
September. According to Harper, if the Conservatives had been 
re-elected, the party would have kept its focus on "creating new, 
well-paying jobs over the next four years" by setting a target of 1.3 
million jobs by 2020.

Job creation is important, and goes hand-in-hand with keeping the 
current economy going. That's not really a refutable point - but the 
potential role of marijuana legalization in job creation can't be 
ignored either.

According to WeedHire, an online company meant to help people find 
employers (and vice versa) in the marijuana industry, 10,000 
marijuana-related jobs were created in Colorado alone over the course 
of 2014. This is an excellent start to an industry that's still 
growing at an astounding rate - from the third quarter of 2014 to the 
fourth, dispensary jobs alone grew by 90 per cent in Colorado.

If the Conservative Party of Canada wishes for the country to 
maintain a strong rate of job creation and a "competitive economy," 
embracing a hot new growth industry is a clearly logical move. Based 
on the aforementioned numbers, it looks like marijuana is a prime 
candidate to be that growth industry.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom