Letter: Legalizing Marijuana Sales Would Raise State Revenue
Greg Callaway
March 31, 2009
The News Journal (Wilmington, DE)
Obviously, all levels of government in Delaware are seeking ways to increase revenue, which includes increased taxes on the already beleaguered middle class.
Although I applaud Gov. Jack Markell for his budget cuts, raising taxes in a recession is counter-productive to revitalizing the economy. So let me put forth this idea to our elected elite.
California projects a $14 billion tax revenue from its legalized medical-marijuana laws, if it chooses to do so. Not to mention the savings from not incarcerating pot smokers.
The last time I looked, it cost Delaware approximately $26,000 annually to keep one inmate in jail.
Of course, legalizing marijuana for even medical purposes would take some rather large political muscle, as such would threaten the turf of the criminal justice industry, which in part includes jobs dependent on locking people up, the anti-drug thing, all the way down to the folks who oppose comedian George Carlin's seven words you can't say on television.
Greg Callaway, Middletown | 
