Coming Soon: Marijuana Legalization
By Randall Holcombe • Thursday March 25, 2010 7:21 AM PDT • 15 Comments
This November California voters will have the opportunity to vote for a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana for personal use. Californians would be able to cultivate gardens of up to 25 square feet, and possess up to an ounce for their own use.
Not everybody is happy about this. In addition to the “war on drugs” types, this article says California pot growers are unhappy, because they believe legalization would lower prices and cut into the profits they now reap from selling illegally. They are surely right about that.
My conjecture is that marijuana will be legal throughout the United States within a decade, not for the benefit of pot heads, but because the government will want the revenue from taxing it. We’ve been fighting a war on drugs for 30 years, apparently without success. As the federal government continues to hemorrhage red ink, partly to pay for health care “reform” that will surely cost more than currently projected, it will seem increasingly pragmatic to legalize drugs and tax them.
Tags: Budget and Tax Policy, California, Drugs, Personal Liberty, Taxation 
I’m not so sure. The political class has a huge interest in production. Somebody has to create (produce) or the entitlement state will collapse. And marijuana is not, in my experience, conducive to productive behavior. Not to mention that a huge entitlement has already been granted to those who suppress the user of marijuana. Its a huge entitlement, and ending would be a challenge all on its own.
Randy | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
Marijuana is a brain killer, and anyone who has had personal contact with “potheads” can attest that they tend to waste their lives. Nevertheless, the market for the substance doesn’t seem like it will stop its demand any time soon. If the substance reaps less profit legally than illegally, that will probably make it less likely that criminals will see it as a cash-cow.
Michael Powell | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
The drug war cannot possibly reduce use and therefore increase productivity by any substantial measure. Besides, plenty of resources are wasted in enforcing and circumventing the law. Income taxes cut production down far more than marijuana ever could, but the political class loves taxes. Of course, I agree there are other reasons they are addicted to the drug war.
Anthony Gregory | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
“it will seem increasingly pragmatic to legalize drugs and tax them.”
Has the gov’t ever done the pragmatic thing, at least in our lifetimes?
I realize legalization sounds like a no-brainer source of revenue for the state and it would be lunacy for them not to seize upon it, but I don’t think you’re properly appreciating the size of the fiefdoms that have developed around the so-called Drug War. I don’t know of any detailed study on this topic, but I suspect there is a sort of military-industrial complex for the Drug War, with select firms and politicians devoted to preserving it. I believe Prof. Higgs has written about the fact that local police departments in recent years have become increasingly equipped with state-of-the-art gear. There are entire enforcement agencies within the Federal Govt that work to restrict drugs, it’s hard to imagine that they will go along quietly when their bureaucracy’s entire mission is eliminated.
Although I hope you’re right, I have significant doubt in the Congress’s ability to do the reasonable and effective thing.
Ryan S | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
Regarding Michael Powell’s Comment:
Your response is typical of the kind of attitude prevalent throughout our society, and usually found behind the reasons of those advocating this useless war on drugs. I have been smoking for over 4 years now, a few times a day, every day. I have two degrees, one in music, and one in philosophy. I have a steady job, and am involved in a band in northern Florida. I also teach scuba diving on the side, have been diving for over a decade, and I’m only 23. No studies show marijuana as a “brain killer”. In fact, it has a whole array of benefits. It has been used throughout history as a spiritual and medical catalyst. Only recently has it come under fire (historically speaking). Until that paradigm is broken, marijuana will remain illegal. It’s not because of facts, but because of fear and misunderstanding. Just my two cents, I don’t imagine you will agree, but I’m hopeful that you will open your eyes and research some things on your own. Most of it is a lie, and the rest is just wrong. Peace and Chicken Grease Comrade.
~Nick
Nick | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
What would the wardens, prison guards, bailiffs, judges, and donut-eating cops do without hounding pot-smokers? Gainful employment? Please!
Steve Hogan | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
I suppose the government might set up a marijuana cartel by making it a prison industry. Sort of like ante-bellum plantations since they already have the slave labor in prisons. The prison guards keep their jobs, the Narcs protect the transportation and sale of weed. And they still keep busting free market weed.
History is fully of such mechantilist precedents.
D. Frank Robinson | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
The attitude of the Humboldt growers in the article is righteously capitalist and unlibertarian. ‘We want marijuana to stay illegal so we can continue to reap huge profits!’
Free markets scare people with this sick mentality.
TC Bell | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
“Marijuana is a brain killer, and anyone who has had personal contact with ‘potheads’ can attest that they tend to waste their lives.”
I’d say this is much more the case with drunks, but fair enough. Only a very small percentage of users come across as “potheads,” just as a small percentage of drinkers come across as winos.
Anthony Gregory | Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
I have a tendency to agree with Ryan S. Sadly, there are too many folks who benefit from the drug war for one of the main sources of drug busts to be declared legal any time soon.
shill | Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
Randy, the political class’s “interest in production” is not a CONSCIOUS, SUPPORTIVE interest. It is a predatory interest akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Meantime, what is it that the enforcement establishment (the beneficiaries of the “entitlement” you correctly identify) produces? If they produce something, you’re working with a (variable?) definition of production that doesn’t work for me.
N. Joseph Potts | Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
Ryan S is correct, however, we are not talking about the entire “drug war” we are just talking about pot. As one who works very closely with the Federal, State, and municipal corrections “industry”, I can assure you that we have a VERY long haul before we ever dismantle the drug war, but marijuana is doable in the near term. You would also be amazed buy the percentage of officers within the system that admit that the drug war is a failure... but the system in which they work is dependent upon it. Having said that, as long as we have Meth in the forefront, we can get marijuana legalized (because the police/corrections don’t care about that any more).
as for Michael Powell, I once thought that, and with all due respect, just as I had, you have a lot of learning to do... I’d start with Anthony Gregory’s comment and work from there. (Although smoke is bad for the lungs though, so I might suggest ingesting rather than inhaling).
joe4liberty | Apr 1, 2010 | Reply
Do you think marijuana should be legalized?
Legalizing Weed | Jun 16, 2011 | Reply
Do you think marijuana should be legalized?
Legalizing Cannabis | Jun 18, 2011 | Reply
Yes.
Randall Holcombe | Jun 18, 2011 | Reply