The bottom line in the marijuana debate is economic

Jul 08, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The marijuana issue is more economic than moral. The biggest opponents of the decriminalization of the use of marijuana are big businesses, including the entertainment, beverage and cigarette industries. These industries believe that if marijuana use is legalized, it will result in a loss of income, because it will divert monies from entertainment, alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking.

A person who normally would buy a beer or a packet of cigarettes, for example, might prefer to buy a spliff. The beverage and cigarette industries are major contributors to government revenues.

These industries, along with the entertainment sector and religion, have traditionally used their influence to characterize marijuana as being bad for health, safety and social order. Marijuana has long been presented by the media as a dangerous and addictive narcotic, which results in damage to the body, including mental illness and cancer. It is also said to lead to criminal and anti-social behaviour.

All of these criticisms were intended to mobilize public opinion against the legalization of marijuana so that big businesses can continue to get the bulk of consumers’ disposable incomes.

However, the situation has changed dramatically in recent years. Marijuana use is being legalized in a number of countries. Uruguay and Jamaica are among some of the countries, which have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. Later this year, Canada will legalize marijuana.

Legal marijuana is now available in nine states in the USA and in 29 states, medical marijuana is legal. In Argentina, medical marijuana is legal. All of this has not irritated big businesses, because they have now found a way to make money out of marijuana.

Big businesses are going to take control of the sale and use of legal marijuana and therefore the message is going to change. Marijuana, instead of being bad for you, is going to be presented as being something that you should enjoy.

Once big businesses found a way of commercializing and profiteering from marijuana, it was always going to be legalized. In Guyana, of course, this is not going to happen overnight, because Guyana does not have the sort of institutions needed for the monitoring and policing of legal marijuana.

Even though it has been pointed out that many youths are languishing in prison because of possession and use of small amounts of narcotics, the Guyana government is procrastinating on legislation to remove custodial sentencing for such offences. The government is unwilling to take even this small step, even though it does not amount to the decriminalization of marijuana.

To understand why, one has to understand the power of some companies in Guyana and the influence they wield, behind the scenes, over government. They do not wish to lose sales to marijuana use and therefore they have managed to convince the government that anything that will encourage an increase in marijuana use is ill-fated.

The churches will also lose money. Gambling and drug use removes monies from the coffers of religious organizations. And so the religious community is likely also to oppose any legalization of marijuana.

Governments have to face the electorate. And they do not wish to get on the wrong side of the religious and business communities that are portraying marijuana as the devil’s poison and that its use will lead to all kinds of moral and criminal activities which will lead to a breakdown of the family life.

The legalization of marijuana will reduce the need to incarcerate and upkeep persons convicted of marijuana use. These persons will no longer be branded as criminals and therefore have a better chance of leading productive lives.

The legalization of marijuana will end the underground trade and local trafficking in the drug. As some countries are discovering, a way can be found to tax the use of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes.

But those taxes are not likely to compensate for those which are lost from the decline in sales by businesses. As such, governments have to consider the tax implications of legalizing marijuana.

Since the main issue is economic, a cost-benefit analysis needs to be done concerning marijuana. The bottom line is economic. Once the benefits outweigh the costs, then there can be little reason for government not to legalize the use of marijuana.