Being illegal – for now – makes it hard to pin down just how big the market for marijuana is, but one estimate suggests it’s at least as large as hard liquor sales, about $5 billion annually.
The report, from financial services firm Deloitte, estimates the market for legalized recreational marijuana could give Canada’s economy a $22.6 billion annual boost when you include growers, equipment suppliers and the like.
With that much of an economic boost at stake, it’s a little hard to understand the fear-mongering coming from many levels of society as the date for the promised legalization approaches. Especially since marijuana has been readily available to anyone who wanted it for decades.
A number of individuals and groups have started listing off a number of reasons to delay the pending legalization, scheduled for July 2018. Opponents suggest legalization will lead to more youth using the drug, a rash of intoxicated drivers, higher policing costs and lower productivity due to a stoned workforce.
But there is little evidence to suggest these fears are based in reality.
For example, in the case of youth lighting up, well, they already do, just as they also manage to get their hands on alcohol and cigarettes, also items prohibited for minors. Legalizing marijuana and taking it out of the hands of street dealers isn’t going to make it easier for youth to get pot; it’s likely going to have the opposite effect.
Higher policing costs? Why would that happen if cops need to spend less of their time hunting down illegal grow-ops? Recreational users getting stoned at work? About as likely as someone bringing a case of beer to the jobsite. Legalizing pot doesn’t mean it’s suddenly going to be a free-for-all of people lighting up every chance they get and marijuana available everywhere you turn. Like alcohol, it is going to be regulated.
What legalization does do is bring an existing economy into the light of day, generating tax income for governments and taking the profits out of the hands of criminals. There’s no doubt legal marijuana won’t be without its challenges. But we’ve seen the alternative, and it’s clear that just isn’t working.
– Black Press