10 Facts on the Economics of Weed
1. Prohibition harms society, free markets enhance it
As has been previously noted, drug cartels have had their bottom lines noticeably reduced by the policy changes of a small number of states. This is not due to increased law enforcement activity or a sudden sweeping weed abolition movement among Americans, it is due to people being allowed to make their own choices. As it relates to the tired old “gateway drug” claim, research has proven that wrong.
The numbers are certainly impressive and it would be difficult for anyone to find a quicker, easier way to have a profound positive impact on our nation and its economy than to quit treating a plant that has existed, been utilized, and even helped people for thousands of years, like it was an imminent threat to the entire civilized world. Free markets make free people and you are not really free if you can be arrested and jailed for a plant that could really only hurt you if it were in a big enough container and dropped on your head.
