Reasons Marijuana Legalization Seems To Be Failing

Forbes.com 5 November 2019
Family First Comment: Reasons marijuana legalisation seems to be failing:
– Black market operates in plain sight, killing legal marijuana companies
– Marijuana tax revenues are missing expectations
– Marijuana arrests are actually increasing, despite

When it was first proposed, the concept of marijuana legalization seemed solid enough. Take the world’s most popular illicit substance, establish a taxed and regulated marketplace and watch all of the evil associated with the herb – the criminal activity, the youth consumption –fade away into a footnote of American history. And by all accounts, it was a plan that should have worked. After all, we weren’t dealing with a new idea or anything. It was one that advocates borrowed from a time when alcohol was once prohibited across the United States, causing an uprising in crime, death and a vast array of other debaucherous behavior that could only be tamed in a legal regime. So rather than reinvent the wheel, the cannabis community forged ahead along the same path. Only, things are not exactly shaking out the same way they did for booze. It could even be said that, at some level, marijuana legalization in its present form is failing.

One of the biggest arguments made by cannabis advocates when trying to sell their spiel to politicians and voters was that legal weed would eliminate the black market. This, they said, would make it more difficult for children to get their hands on pot than in decades past while also generating significant tax revenue for the states. But the underground pot trade hasn’t really gone anywhere. In fact, it is only growing stronger now that criminal organizations have the luxury of being domestically based instead of running distribution from Mexico.

All one needs to do is take a look at California, which legalized the leaf a couple of years ago, to see that this is true.

While the Golden State was predicted to rake in $643 million in pot taxes in the first year, it only collected right around half of that. This is because the black market continues to dominate leaps and bounds over the legal sector. High taxes (the highest in the nation) and licensing issues are said to be the cause of this mess. A recent forecast from BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research suggests that it could take five years before the legal market begins to outsell the underground.

That’s a huge fail.
READ MORE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeadams/2019/11/05/reasons-marijuana-legalization-seems-to-be-failing/#3734e1587eba