FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 2, 2005
Milton Friedman, 500+ Economists Call for Marijuana Regulation Debate;
New Re****t Projects $10-14 Billion Annual Savings and Revenues
Savings/Revenues Projected in New Study by Harvard Economist Could Pay
For:
**Implementing Required ****t Security Plans in Just One Year
**Securing Soviet-Era "Loose Nukes" in Under Three Years
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- In a re****t released today, Dr. Jeffrey Miron,
visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, estimates that
replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation
similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined
savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per
year. In response, a group of more than 500 distinguished economists --
led by Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Milton Friedman -- released an open letter
to President Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and
honest debate about marijuana prohibition," adding, "We believe such a
debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and
regulated like other goods."
Using data from a variety of federal and state government sources,
Miron's paper, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,"
concludes:
**Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation
would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on
prohibition enforcement-$2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3
billion at the state and local levels.
**Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4
billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to
$6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.
These estimates may be conservative. Because available data is
incomplete, assumptions necessary to produce national estimates
inevitably allow for some variation up or down. For example, Miron's
re****t does not include estimates for certain potential savings -- such
as the likelihood of fewer criminal justice referrals of marijuana
offenders to drug treatment and reduced prison costs stemming from
persons on parole or probation being reincarcerated after positive urine
tests for marijuana. In addition, Miron based his figure for corrections
costs stemming from marijuana prohibition on an estimate that one
percent of state prisoners are imprisoned for marijuana- related
offenses. A re****t released May 18 by the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy put the figure at 1.6 percent, acknowledging that
tens of thousands of Americans are incarcerated in state or federal
prisons for marijuana offenses.
While Miron notes that many factors beyond costs and tax revenues
would need to be considered in evaluating possible changes in marijuana
laws, he said, "These budgetary impacts should be included in any
rational debate about marijuana policy."
Those impacts are considerable, according to officials of the
Marijuana Policy Project in Wa****ngton, D.C. For example, $14 billion in
annual combined annual savings and revenues would cover the securing of
all "loose nukes" in the former Soviet Union (estimated by former
Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb at $30 billion) in less
than three years. Just one year's savings would cover the full cost of
anti-terrorism ****t security measures required by the Maritime
Trans****tation Security Act of 2002. The Coast Guard has estimated these
costs, covering 3,150 ****t facilities and 9,200 vessels, at $7.3 billion
total.
"As Milton Friedman and over 500 economists have now said, it's
time for a serious debate about whether marijuana prohibition makes any
sense," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy
Project in Wa****ngton, D.C. "We know that prohibition hasn't kept
marijuana away from kids, since year after year 85% of high school
seniors tell government survey-takers that marijuana is 'easy to get.'
Conservatives, especially, are beginning to ask whether we're getting
our money's worth or simply throwing away billions of tax dollars that
might be used to protect America from real threats like those unsecured
Soviet-era nukes."
Dr. Miron's full re****t, the open letter to public officials signed
by more than 500 economists, and the full list of endorsers are
available at http://www.prohibitioncosts.org.
With more than 17,000 members and 120,000 e-mail subscribers
nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy
reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm
associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the
laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the
greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more
information, see http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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This site is paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project, P.O.
Box 77492, Capitol Hill, Wa****ngton, D.C. 20013=A0=A0=A0
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