Why Canada Should Legalize Marijuana
By: Peter BeckI
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I have many vices. Pot, however, is not one of them. I don鈥檛 smoke the stuff, and never have, but I don鈥檛 sit in judgment either. Recently, I started looking at what could happen to the Canadian economy if we didn鈥檛 just decriminalize marijuana, or condone medicinal uses for it, but actually allowed the free market to grow, package and sell it. What I鈥檝e found out is pretty startling.
To begin with, most estimates say the cannabis business in British Columbia alone is worth US$24 Billion dollars a year, street value. How much is that? That鈥檚 more than the forestry exports to the US from BC in any given year, and is about two and a half times the agricultural exports for the entire country.
So, let鈥檚 start with that number: US$24 Billion a year in profits. That鈥檚 roughly CDN$34 Billion. I鈥檓 being conservative here, and forgetting the fact that if you were to legalize marijuana, Canadians would be growing it in every fallow field, window box, and basement in the country.
Now, factor in the tourist trade. Come to Toronto, or Vancouver, or Peggy鈥檚 Cove for that matter, and such back a Molson Canadian accompanied by a pre-packaged, filtered, high-quality spliff. I鈥檝e seen estimates in the range of $90 Billion for the country if even 1% of the American population comes north to buy their stash.
$34 Billion plus $90 Billion equals $124 Billion.
Here鈥檚 another number. Canada has about 600,000 citizens who have been indicted for using marijuana for personal use, and around 30,000 arrests are made each year. According to the Auditor General鈥檚 report, this translates into $500 Million for annual enforcement of drug laws, and about $500 Million for legal fees. Tack on about $50,000 a year for each incarcerated offender, and you end up with about $1.5 Billion a year. Again, I鈥檓 guessing on the conservative side.
$124 Billion plus $1.5 Billion equals $125.5 Billion.
Here鈥檚 another one: one acre of hemp produces the same amount of cellulose fibre as 4.1 acres of trees. Trees grow back in about twenty-odd years. Hemp grows back every four months or so, and produces paper at one-quarter the cost of wood pulp (creating one-fifth of the pollution). You can also make four times more gasohol or methanol from help stalks than from corn. Hemp is actually the strongest natural fibre there is, and until the 20th century, it provided almost all the world鈥檚 paper, clothing, textiles and rope. Even if we ignore the moral, ethical, or ecological reasons for using hemp to replace pulp and paper, it just makes sense economically.
First, cut the capital expenditures in wood pulp production 鈥?about $8 Billion 鈥?by three-quarters. We just saved $6 Billion. Now, quadruple the potential volume of cellulose fibre. With about $15-20 Billion in annual exports of newsprint and wood pulp, that would be roughly (let鈥檚 be conservative and call it $15 Billion) $60 Billion. Obviously, there wouldn鈥檛 be that much demand, so let鈥檚 simply double the present number to $30 Billion, and keep in mind that our resource is now virtually unlimited. We don鈥檛 have to keep spending all that money in reforestation projects, so our parks and woodlands can be saved as an added bonus to the $90 Billion we鈥檙e making on tourism.
$125.5 Billion plus $6 Billion plus $30 Billion equals $161.5 Billion.
Is this starting to scare you? We haven鈥檛 even touched on the potential tax revenues from selling weed in nice, neat packages. The federal government gets about $5 Billion annually in revenues from tobacco. While the average Joe won鈥檛 be smoking a jack of J鈥檚 a day, a joint is probably going to cost more than a cigarette, and will certainly be taxed heavily. Let鈥檚 round it off to another $3 Billion 鈥?not including the increased sales of both tobacco and marijuana due to, again, the increased tourism. Textile export increases, new business development, job creation, medical research and exports 鈥?throw in another $4-5 Billion.
$161.5 Billion plus $5 Billion plus, let鈥檚 call it $3.5 Billion (to round things out), equals $170 Billion.
That鈥檚 $170 Billion: around 15% of the entire GDP for the country in 2001. We could give every man, woman and child in Canada five hundred dollars every year, and have about $20 Billion left for foreign aid.
And there鈥檚 more. Legalizing marijuana, growing hemp and producing its products, supporting research and development into its many uses, and cutting down pollution and deforestation to levels well below Kyoto鈥檚 meager demands would certainly reverse the brain drain to the US. It would also attract thousands of liberal-minded, well-educated professionals to Canada鈥檚 industry, education, and health care systems. This would increase production, demand, and profitability.
The US is, of course, concerned about Canada鈥檚 potential to become the Holland of North America. Their decades-old war on drugs has been too much of a backbone for popular support to let it slip away. The best threat they have come up with so far is to suggest that border crossings will be much tighter. This is not a serious economic threat, as we鈥檝e already factored that in as of 9/11.
Over 70% of Canadians approve of the decriminalization of marijuana. That, in itself, should be motivational. Even the Canadian Medical Association has admitted that it鈥檚 鈥榥ot addictive, occasional use not harmful, not causal with criminal behaviour, no evidence of mental damage.鈥?br>
Take whatever stance you鈥檙e comfortable with on smoking the stuff yourself; I鈥檓 looking at this purely by the numbers. i did not write this myself, by the way.
its part of a senated commitees recomendation Good stuff. In all senses of the phrase. I dont think you will get many people from the USA reading your proposal. Their attention span is too short to digest this well balanced and neccessarily long presentation. I have read similar on other sites however they usually discuss the non THC strains. It would perhaps prudent to have a stronger stand on the issue yourself?! Canadians are ignorant Report It
**** you Carolina Girl, what's ignorant is calling Canadians Ingorant with out ever going to canada, which i would bet you haven't. Seriously **** you. Report It
Who on earth would read a question that long Is this a "question"? Hey, I've got an idea. I will ask a question, then you can paste these excellent numbers. Look for my question presently. rewrite the question and simple it pls Very Long Question. Good article, honest and logical points...But to no avail! The powerful lobbies of chemical/paper, fabric and fiber, and pharmaceuticals will spend billions to keep a cost effective natural product from competing. When it comes to business profits their purchased propaganda and politicians they are an almost insurmountable combination. I am an American citizen. I agree with you on almost all points.
However, being my ideal self, I do not think the legalization should be pushed just for marijuana, all drugs should be legalized.
However, marijuana is a good start.
Of course, if it were legalized in America, I imagine that it would hurt the Canadian marijuana industry. |
