marijuana’s social stigmaInjurious to health

marijuana’s social stigmaInjurious to health

Gateway drug

marijuana’s social stigmaInjurious to health

Gateway drug

Addiction

marijuana’s social stigmaInjurious to health

Gateway drug

Addiction

Against culture

Prologue

Dutch government commissioned a study on risks of marijuana in 1970s.

Commission concluded marijuana has no fatal risks.

Commission said that it made little sense to imprison over possession.

The Dutch policy

Distinction between “Soft drugs” and “Hard drugs”

Hard-drugs illegal to possess.

Soft drugs for personal use “tolerable”.

Adults can go in licensed ‘Coffee shops’ to purchase limited soft drugs for consumption.

Selling to foreigners is banned. Rule left to be enforced by municipalities, which don’t.

Growing plants: only 5 weed plants per person allowed.

The Results

Dutch “coffee shops” along with red light districts contribute $3.4 billion to the Dutch economy every year.

The industry amounts for about 0.5% of the total GDP of the Netherlands.

The Dutch government makes around $600 million in taxes a year from 730 shops.

The Results

Fewer cases of minor drug offenses.

Decriminalisation did not lead to more drug use.

Helped regulate the black market for drugs.

Still need to control hard drug use.

Prologue

A study by 300 economists states that he US government would save $13.8 billion if it were to legalise the recreational use of marijuana.

If legalized, the 50 states would in total earn $3 billion in tax revenue.

There already exists a large black market for drugs with 40% of US population admitting to have smoke marijuana once in their lives.

The PolicyThe use, sale and possession of cannabis (marijuana) in the United

States is illegal under federal law. However, some states have created exemptions for medical cannabis use, as well as decriminalized non-medical cannabis use.

Alaska, Colorado, and Washington, the sale and possession of marijuana is legal for both medical and non-medical use, and it will be legal in Oregon as well.

23 states have provisions for marijuana for medical purposes.

Colorado State Policy

Amendment 64

Adults 21 or older can grow up to three immature and three mature cannabis plants privately in a locked space, legally possess all cannabis from the plants they grow (as long as it stays where it was grown), legally possess up to one ounce of cannabis while traveling, and give as a gift up to one ounce to other citizens 21 years of age or older.

Consumption is permitted in a manner similar to alcohol, with equivalent offenses proscribed for driving.

Colorado State Policy

Amendment 64

Licensing of cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities, testing facilities, and retail stores.

Local governments can now regulate or prohibit such facilities.

requires the first $40 million in revenue raised annually by such tax be credited to the public school capital construction assistance fund.

The ResultsLegal marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the United States. Can

overtake organic food industry.

U.S. market for legal cannabis grew 74 percent in 2014 to $2.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2013.

Taxes on recreational marijuana netted $44 million for Colorado during the last calendar year

7,500-10,000: The estimated number of marijuana industry jobs that currently exist in Colorado.

The Results

Prologue Since 1961, the US has been campaigning for a global law against all drugs, both

hard and soft. Given that ganja, charas and bhang were a way of life in India, we opposed the drastic measure.

In 1985, the Rajiv Gandhi government buckled under the pressure and enacted a law called the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Prologue Law that clubbed marijuana, hashish and bhang with hard drugs like smack,

heroin, cocaine and crack, and banned them all.

The minimum punishment for violation of the NDPS Act was 10 years of jail.

What happened as a result of this law was that almost overnight the entire trade shifted from peddling grass or charas to smack or worse because same risks but 10 times the profits in hard drugs.

The poorly thought-out NDPS Act had actually created a drugs problem where there was none.

Current Scenario

Cannabis in the form of bhang is fairly prevalent during festivities.

Large tracts of cannabis grow unchecked in the wild in many states such as West Bengal, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

Moreover, Hashish has been used for medicinal and religious purposes for thousands of years and was sold in government shops during the times of the British Raj and in independent India until the 1980’s. It is still being sold today.

Legalise it! Legalisation v/s De-criminalisation.

Cheapest intoxicant.

Computing Taxes

Revenues

Legalise it!

Cigarettes (pack of 20)* Alcohol (1 excess oz)* Marijuana (1 joint)

Net Health Costs$0.15 smoking diseases$0.23 passive smoking

$0.26 $0.01-.02 smoking

Accidents $0.93 $0.38-$0.93

Total $0.38 $1.19 $0.40-0.95

Legalise it!

Excise Taxes $2.2 - $6.4 Billion

Sales Taxes $0.2 - $1.3 Billion

Enforcement Savings $6 - $9 Billion

Hemp Industry $6 - $10 Billion

Others:Spinoff industries, Reduced hard-drug and

alcohol abuse