Pierre Kopp, a French Economist from the University of Paris, claims that legalizing cannabis could be the answer to France’s current economic problems.
Kopp who conducted a cost benefit analysis of a legal cannabis market estimates that France spends $420 million a year trying to stop people from smoking cannabis, that’s not taking into account any judicial costs. He also points out that despite the extremely high cost of trying to prohibit cannabis, its consumption is still widespread in France.
Kopp’s conclusion is that decriminalizing and regulating cannabis would save France all of these costs and pocket while also adding $1.4 billion to Frances economy from the taxing and sale of cannabis.
This money could be funnelled back into education and combating addiction to harder drugs.
Kopp tells Le Monde [translated]: “For economists, the public good is that which minimizes the cost to society, in other words those which permit the improvement of public well-being at the least cost.”
The full article “Are Drugs Good For France?” will be published in the Revue Economique in September.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting, isn’t it, that when talking about the benefits of legalisation, Pierre Kopp mentions the following: «the time and resources could be reallocated to prevention and the FIGHT AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN OTHER DRUGS. [my emphasis]» Have we not learnt anything?
In my view, what makes legalisation and regulation such critical an issue is the irrationality and the devastating effects of Prohibition and the so-called War on Drugs. Prohibition is not, and has never been, the solution to the so-called drug problem; on the contrary, it has only made things worse. Therefore, IT IS PROHIBITION ITSELF WHICH MUST BE ENDED. It should not be confined to a particular drug or to one side of the drug trade. It concerns not just marijuana, but all drugs; not just the legalisation and regulation of the demand but perhaps more importantly, the legalisation and regulation of the supply, too.
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org
JUST SAY NO TO PROHIBITION!
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org