They stated “In 2012, 43% of Canadians reported that they had used marijuana at some time in their lives, and 12% reported using it in the past year.” (Langlois & Rotermann) As shows, the use of Marijuana used to be one of Canada’s major concern because of the consistent illegal recreational uses despite the prohibition. The government had concluded the prohibition law has been ineffective for the economy and finally legalized the recreational use of Marijuana expecting economic benefits. However, some insist the legalization will not be helpful due to the concerns about the government’s policy on new taxation, threatened public safety and the resultant total decrease of jobs related to Marijuana. Nevertheless, the legalization of recreational Marijuana will boost the economy of Canada by proper taxation of sales, reducing the enforcement cost, and job increase after all.
It could be believed that taxations of recreational Marijuana will not necessarily be beneficial when the tax amount is too high or too low. Since it is the first try to legalize recreational uses of Marijuana, it is possible that the government are not sure how much should they tax on sales. If the tax is too low, the expected economic boost would fail. If the tax is too high, instead of increased tax revenue, it would rather trigger the consumers to use black market (illegal market) instead of paying a lot. However, if the proper tax amount follow, the expected tax revenue is high enough to stop the concerns of opponents. For example, Colorado has benefited from tax revenue by legalizing marijuana. In 2015, Colorado had collected nearly $73.5 million, contributing the U.S. to the collection over $125 million for the year. (Keyes) Because of the growth of the economy, the support rate for the legalization of Colorado residents is growing and it shows the clear possibility of economic boost by the legalization. Actually, annual tax revenue for Canada is estimated for about $1.7 billion. (Bogdanvo& Goltz) How can the government decide the ‘proper’ tax amount? There are examples of successful economic growth followed by taxations especially in several states in the U.S. For instance, Alaska has a unique style of taxation which charge consumers tax by weight, $50 apply per ounce, and it has benefited not only the state but also the whole country’s economy. In addition, California will also apply the ‘tax-by-weight’ system in the future. The government of Canada can make these reliable examples as models for the future taxations and expect successes in legalization. Taxations on other ‘sin taxes’ such as alcohol and cigarette could be a good example too. Since the use of recreational Marijuana has become much more alike the uses of alcohol and cigarettes in the way it has become very common in Canada, it may be inflexible to keep differentiating Marijuana from alcohol and cigarette. Now may be the time to admit the consistent increase of Marijuana use despite the prohibition and learn from history of alcohol and cigarette taxations. With these efforts, taxation not only will bring economic benefit but also prevent consumers switching to black market.
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Opponents against the legalization might point out possible threats to the public safety caused by legalization. In their point of views, most Marijuana users are threat to societies of Canada. They might assume criminals related to Marijuana more likely commit other crimes that can intimidate communities than other criminals. Is that really true? If their opinions are true, the total crime rate should be increasing now with the surging rate of Marijuana use. However, according to Macqueen, “Canada’s crime rate has plummeted to its lowest level in 40 years.” It proves almost of the irrelevance between general crimes in Canada and Marijuana users. Of course, such serious criminal related to Marijuana such as illegal Marijuana dealers are major harm for Canada. Nevertheless, who the opponents should consider about are simple possessors. Now, there are dramatically high numbers of Marijuana users despite the prohibition. In 2013, police in Canada reported over 405,000 criminals involved in Marijuana, approximately equivalent to Regina and Saskatoon combined population (Macqueen). Larsen stated “In the statistic-driven world of policing, pot users are the low-hanging fruit. We’re seeing crime drop across Canada. Police feel they’ve got nothing better to do. You can throw a rock and find a marijuana user.” (as cited in Macqueen) More importantly, many of them are simple possessors. In 2013, there were roughly 73,000 of Marijuana related crimes and nearly 59,000 (80%) were simple possession offences while Marijuana supply offences (approximately 20%) such as trafficking, importing, exporting, and production have reduced in recent years. (Cotter, Greenland, & Karam) When the use of Marijuana is out of the government’s control and has become common as alcohol or cigarette, it has no meaning anymore to keep banning the use. That will be nothing less than keep wasting money with imprisoning simple possessors consistently. According to Hajizadeh, the annual enforcement cost required for current Marijuana policy and legal system is nearly $500 million to $1 billion. Admitting the rage of the uses out of control, it will be much more efficient for the government to rather legalize and regulate the recreational use. Wisely, the government can save the costs for enforcement by narrowing down the range of crime related to Marijuana.
The total employment number related to Marijuana might seem decreased in the short term because the number of new legal jobs could be smaller than illegal jobs used to be there right after the legalization. However, possible areas of new jobs related to Marijuana is not only limited on sales such as growing, packaging, accounting, and distribution. There are more potential jobs related to tourism, education, and public health. First of all, tourism is growing expectations of travel companies. Weed related companies are happy about planning tourism businesses, such as farm tours or retreat sessions with weed in mountains. With broadening variety of tours related to Marijuana, employment will surely follow. Secondly, since people will be able to consume Marijuana by their own preferences, the government will have to educate the users and potential users for the public health. The government will require experts on Marijuana, and health instructors specialized for adults and minors which is another new area of employment. Even though it might seem decreasing at first, the overall employment related to recreational Marijuana will grow a lot because of additional jobs in another new area other than sales.
It is true the legalization could cause some concerns on public safety or health. Nonetheless, the economic benefits following the legalization of recreational Marijuana is certain with tax revenue, reducing enforcement costs, and increasing employments. By admitting the use of Marijuana is out of control of the prohibition, economy of Canada will benefit from the legalization.
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