Why not a pigovian tax on cannabis...???

Arthur Cecil Pigou had an interesting idea of how to deal with actions within society that post negative externalities, tax them. Yet excise has existed within the United States since our beginning.

For example, fuel in this country is taxed via excise, and nobody can argue against the effects of fossil fuel combustion engines on pollution totals. Therefore, their use as a consumer staple creates a negative externality. Alcohol is also (in reality) a consumer staple as it is always in demand within our society, yet it does in fact have many negative externailties.

Why is it that cannabis is discriminated upon, as a durable good, that might have a negative externality associated with its use? Would a pigovian tax be financially sufficient to provide those who desire (and find it impossible) to stop using cannabis for recreational use provided rehab?

Do not get me wrong, i love the plant more than anyone. But, would a tax of the plant (produced and sold in a commercial fashion) be an effective and decent compromise to prohibition?

indeed a good question

Tobacco, Alcohol and Gasoline cannot be produced @ home except for some very professional wine maker who can make good stuff:D

marijuana however can grow in the wild and in any1s home

however, lack of evidence and research in this matter is one issue: The government wont know how people will respond to this in means of demand cuz if sale of marijuana is OKd like tobacco or alcohol there really is no way to prevent growing it @ home for free

what it will do however, is it will extinct marijuana dealers !

and i think this is something to be researched. i for one would pay a reasonable price for marijuana to be sold to me by others if quality & variety was desirable

Growing is not all that easy, it takes time and effort and care and money, not that im against it or anythin, but i as a lazyass prefer to just have my desired strain ready for consumption and im willing to pay a reasonable price (with its SIN TAX) for it

I think the people in favor of this legalize + tax idea should seriously do some consumer research somehow to find out how will the demand work. im pretty sure there are lots and lots of lazyasses out there like me who rather skip the hassle and have their herb without growing it.

u just gotta find the equilibrium point for the price/quality and demand. im sure it will work. and it will make a shit ton of tax revenue for govt

however: I hardly believe financial issue is the only issue thats involved. somehow i feel the idealism plays a big role. although role of money being made by federal and local LE and justice/prison system and number of jobs directly and indirectly involved plays a huge role here. they are the major force pushing for keeping it illegal cuz their jobs and lives depend on its illegality and they will find every excuse to cover this cause and legitimize the ban for marijuana

if the world doesnt end within a very few years with a WW III i think time will soon tell us that justice and truth will prevail... 100 years of prohibition is more than enough and i see signs that prohibition is close to its death but not quite there yet

Democracy is a double-edged sword. The government has to abide by the will of the people, and right now most people don't support the legalization of marijuana. Until they do, weed will almost certainly stay illegal.

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Originally Posted by khronik

Democracy is a double-edged sword. The government has to abide by the will of the people, and right now most people don't support the legalization of marijuana. Until they do, weed will almost certainly stay illegal.

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i bet in current financial mess a suggestion about "decriminalization" and reducing costly and worthless penalties will have many people rallying behind it.

keep it "illegal" change the penalty of jail to fines and keep everything else regarding first, second or more convictions the same.

more money to be saved and more money to be made. I hardly think any1 is opposed to this, it wont send the wrong message to lil idiot kids without any caring parents either. we are speaking of non-violent small time offenders.

I very much will have it that way as the first step towards change of status regarding mj.

Each arrest and detention even for the shortest amount of time costs taxpayers roughly about 2000-3000 USD.

any hillbilly will get this simple logical math equation no matter what their beliefs are.