No Taxation

There has been much discussion surrounding the United States, within the past few years, about the legalization of marijuana. As a young adult who is considered a frequent smoker, it was very easy for me to jump on the bandwagon to legalize marijuana. It is a recreational activity-that I would love to enjoy partaking in-without worries. My worries mainly consist of getting arrested trying to purchase it or getting ticketed by the police for smoking it. However, as I’ve looked more in-depth at states that have legalized the use of marijuana (such as Colorado), I began to uncover the economic truths behind the legalization of this drug. It is important for my age demographic to take a moment and to reconsider legalizing marijuana throughout the whole country based on economic regulations.

            In the state of Massachusetts, according to the Washington Post, says that 25.7 percent of marijuana users are in the age group from 18 to 25 years-a little more than a quarter of all who smoke in this state. I am a 22-year-old college student and a part-time worker. Along with many people my age, my life comes with a budget. I have school loans, tuition, car payments and repairs, rent, bills, and, of course, marijuana to pay for; let alone the numerous other expenditures that cost money. As I stated earlier, I am considered a frequent smoker. I am smoking at least an eighth of an ounce every week and that amount of usage costs from 40 to 45 dollars per given week. This would not be the case if marijuana were legalized. In the state of Colorado, where marijuana is legal, the average consumer price is $47.50 for an eighth of an ounce. That doesn’t seem so bad, until I looked further into the pricing. I realized that the price is missing something that your local drug dealer would never ask for: taxes.

The state of Colorado implies an excise tax, a sales tax, and a city tax on all marijuana purchases. According to the Colorado Pot Guide, if one were to buy an eighth of an ounce from a dispensary in Denver, he or she would pay the base sale price of the eighth ($47.50), plus a 15% excise tax (for the transfer or marijuana from growers to retailers), a 10% state sales tax (over the standard state sales tax of 2.9% so its really 12.90%), and a 3.5% city sales tax (every city implements their own tax). If you add all of these taxes together at 28.5% to the base sale price of $47.50, the final price one would pay for an eighth would be around $61. That is 20 dollars more than what I pay for decriminalized marijuana. If marijuana were to be legal across the country, expect every state to impose tax regulations on the purchase of this product. As a young adult barley scraping by on a tight budget, I much rather see marijuana stay illegal for the benefits of saving money.