Essay Example on Recreational and medicinal marijuana and cultivator will have to Pay

California is still working out its kinks but it currently has a 15 on recreational and medicinal marijuana and cultivator will have to pay 9 25 per dry ounce of flowers and 2 75 per dry ounce of leaves These taxes add to the overall production cost which causes a decrease in the supply of marijuana However Colorado alone had revenues over 638 million in just the last four years These revenues are deposited into two funds the Building Excellent Schools Today BEST Fund and the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund MCTF Sibuagh 2015 The first 40 million went into the BEST fund which is used to renew or reconstruct any public schools The MTCF fund receives the state sales tax revenue that is collected on medical and retail marijuana after the 40 million each year This money is supposed to be spent within the following year on health care health education substance abuse prevention and treatment programs and law enforcement Sibuagh 2015 So basically these taxes help the economy because they go back into the economy by creating more jobs and making the more efficient These taxes can create more jobs like construction on schools more teaching healthcare and law enforcement jobs because they have more funding so can hire more people construction on new hospitals etc However this only works if the tax burden does not exceed the optimal tax rate which is the percentage of GDP that comes from taxes Eichelkraut 2017 If the tax burden does exceed the rate then the economic growth will slow 

When taxes are too high people will not want to pay them which causes the national economy to no expand as much Decriminalization of Marijuana Legalizing marijuana throughout the United States would mean to decriminalize the drug Decriminalization of marijuana means that possession of the drug is not a criminal offense Legalizing marijuana would mean that users would not have to resort to crime to get the drug Since it would not be a criminal offense to smoke or be in possession of the drug then more space would open in jails and prisons Law enforcement could then focus on more serious crimes which will reduce corrections and court costs According to Evans out of 1 531 251 drug arrest almost half are marijuana offenses n d If the number of marijuana related arrest are reduced then there may be marginal growth in aggregate productivity because fewer employees will not need to miss work for court appearances and the incarcerated offenders will be able to potentially get jobs The incarcerated offenders out of jail and prison would also cause gains in productivity because they can now help their spouses raise their children allowing the responsibilities to be split between both parents which will result in less number of work days missed Cartels and other organized drug rings for marijuana would also be eliminated which would free up more time for law enforcements The legalization of marijuana would make police officers will have a new problem on their hands 

They will have to look for any issues that are created by the smoking or the ingestion of marijuana like driving under the drug s influence Kennedy 2014 Having this drug legalized will also make it more easy for minors to be able to get it which could be another potential problem for law enforcement However if the drug was legalized then law enforcement would have less to worry about with the drug than if it were illegal Jobs For an economy to grow more jobs must be created When jobs are created more people have the opportunity to take home pay which increases consumer spending When consumer spending is increased then more business can afford to hire more employees therefore more job opportunities This creates a multiplier effect If marijuana were to be legalized nationwide then it could create more than a million new jobs Various industries would have an increase in demand Growers need warehouse space and special equipment to grow marijuana Retailers need a place to sell the marijuana which will call for contractors and bookkeeping services This will also cause a spark to commercial real estate and construction industries Retailers will need employees to sell the marijuana The industry will need growers and supervisors trimmers and extractors budtender dispensary agents cannabis chefs lab workers and sales associates and security and delivery drivers Dixon 2016 As businesses expand supply will increase causing the supply curve to shift to the right This will also result in the price elasticity of supply to increase and the price of marijuana to go down This then makes the demand go back up because consumers can afford more marijuana In a mature market the multiplier effect will occur basically causing a circle to occur within the industry More jobs mean more people have money to spend resulting in the money going back into business businesses then can grow and have more job opportunities Conclusion Microeconomics explains how a decision can affect the economy This research discussed the economic impacts on legalizing marijuana within the United States While legalizing marijuana will have a huge impact on the economy it is still uncertain just how much of an effect this drug will have on the United States There are still a lot of answers that need to be known before the impact of the legalization of marijuana can be thoroughly identified