Capitalizing on California’s number one cash crop

California is currently experiencing a budget deficit of over $26 billions. With cost reduction coming primarily from education and social programs we have chosen—either for ideological or political reasons—to ignore marijuana legalization as a possible solution. As we are faced with economic hardship we continue to spend $35 billions every year on fighting drugs; in addition, the cost of incarcerations continue to account for about $50,000 a year per inmate.

The idea that we want to live in a drug-free society serves only as a mechanism to favor certain drugs over others. For example, alcohol related violence and crime is inarguably a major challenge in our society, however the societal costs that we witnessed during the Prohibition era prompted Americans to allow the federal government and states to take control of this substance. This demonstrates that the perceived dangers of marijuana spawn directly from specific social and historical conceptualizations of the drug. As we have seen in the past prohibitionist policies serve only to intensify crime and violence.

We must switch our approach towards marijuana the same way we did with alcohol during Prohibition. As a society we must stand up and understand that the societal costs of illegality are far greater than the benefits of a legalized program. First of all, according to a latest study, marijuana crop is worth more than our nation's annual production of corn and wheat combined. Furthermore, current policies guarantee that 100% of the proceeds from marijuana sales go to unregulated criminals.
According to a study by Harvard Professor Jeffrey Miron, marijuana generates—in California alone—around $15 billion dollars a year. A legalized but heavily regulated and taxed regime would save $7.7 billion in enforcement costs and yield up to $6.2 billion in revenue.

A controlled marijuana legalization will be a gradual evolution, with many opportunities to rethink and reexamine policies when they prove to be counterproductive or simply to costly. The federal government must clear the way for the states to implement their own drug legalization policies.