Boston, MA: Enforcing state and federal marijuana laws costs taxpayers an estimated $7.7 billion annually, according to a report released this week by visiting Harvard University economics professor, Jeffrey Miron, and endorsed by more than 500 economists.
The report, entitled “Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States,” estimates that legalizing marijuana would save state and local governments $5.3 billion annually, while saving the federal government $2.4 billion. A previous analysis of marijuana arrest expenditures published by the NORML Foundation in March estimated that enforcing marijuana prohibition, primarily at the state level, costs approximately $7.6 billion per year.
Miron’s report also estimates that legalizing cannabis would yield $6.2 billion in annual revenue if it were taxed at rates comparable to those imposed upon alcohol and tobacco.
“We … urge the country to commence an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition,” states an open letter accompanying the report, signed by over 500 economists, including Stanford University’s Milton Friedman. “We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods. At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition.”
A previous survey published in the April 2004 issue of the journal Econ Journal Watch found that most US economists believe that current drug prohibition strategies are ineffective and favor liberalizing American drug policies.
Full text of the report, “Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States,” is available online at:
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html