Economists: legalizing cannabis delivers many billions for the government

Economist Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University calculated that the legalization of cannabis (cannabis seeds) will gain the U.S. government about 5.7 billion per year. More than 300 economists, including three Nobel laureates, have already signed a petition that endorses the conclusions of Miron. In addition, the government would save an additional 4.5 billion if the tax on alcohol and tobacco would also be applies to cannabis. It involves a total of 10.2 billion euros, but that amount is only a fraction of the total U.S. debt (last year the debt reached a height of 1.1 trillion).

Debate
Although economists are not directly calling for legalization of cannabis (marijuana seeds), they hope for an open and honest debate about the benefits of legalization. Policymakers in a U.S. state used the economic argument rather vain. Democrat Tom Ammiano proposed in 2009 a law for the legalisation of cannabis seeds in California. According to him, the government would have gain billions of dollars. The population voted against the bill in 2010.