I dont see the math, but lets do it. First off...if it became legal, im pretty sure everyone would end up growing it themselves unless they use very little of it like half an ouce per year or so. The hard core smokers are going to grow it themselves. So say they go thru 2 plants per month on average and paying a 50 dollar tax on each plant so that 100 plants per month. How many people in the US are going to be these hardcore smokers? 10 million? 20 million? Lets give it a really high number...lets say 1/3rd of the population smokes the equivilant of 2 plants per month(which if you smoke it, you know that can be quite a bit if its just YOU smoking it and you are not sharing it). So 100 million people times 100 bucks in taxes brings in revenue of 10 billion dollars per year. The only customers are US citizens as its illegal in every other country so its not even an exportable crop. Also...we know weed smokers do not like paying taxes so you know alot of people are still going to secretly grow it without paying the 50 dollar tax. I also do not believe that 100 million people will smoke weed, but I used a high number to show that there is not much profit even in a best case scenario. Also, there will have to be some kind of policing to make sure everyone who is growing has a permit so that takes some of that revenue away. Realistically, you would be lucky if weed brought in 1 billion net tax dollars per year in revenue. And since weed makes you lazy, how many billions would be lost in productivity time? You know people will be out smoking on their lunch breaks and when they go back to work they would be less productive probably costing companies multi billions of dollars. So looks to me like its probably not a good idea to legalize it.
Nothing more pathetic than marijuana smokers trying to justify the legalization of their drug. They always crack me up, though.
Weed is de facto legal in Cal. The threshold to obtain a prescription is basically "I'm irritable, can I get a medical ok." I'd guess Eric Holder/Obama will lay off on enforcement of Federal pot laws in California. There are more med-pot dispensaries in Los Angeles than Starbucks!! In Hollywood there's two on opposite corners of one intersection.
Hmm how is it a drug? Please explain. I bet you're the druggie who takes pharmaceutical contortions full of chemicals. Last I checked it's a weed that just grows and has more useful purposes than any other resource on the face of the earth.
Hemp is a big threat to a number of industries, such as chemical, textile, pharma and even oil. It allows the people to be self sufficient. Search about the "Hemp for Victory" campaign during World War II.
Don't forget the cotton industry. They spend millions keeping hemp cultivation illegal. Hemp blows cotton away as far as ease of production (it's a weed and can grow anywhere), cost (no pesticides needed, no fertilizer needed), environmental impact (no pesticides and requires a fraction of the water cotton requires) and hemp fabric is MUCH more durable than cotton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIMQcdDmrY4&eurl=http://deoxy.org/vidplay?v=bIMQcdDmrY4 That video explains why weed is illegal.