Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2002 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Jason Proctor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) TAXES COULD REACH $2 BILLION A YEAR: SFU ECONOMIST The Tax Windfall on Legalized Marijuana Could Reach Nearly $2 Billion a Year, Says an Economics Professor Stephen Easton of Simon Fraser University told The Province yesterday that using fairly conservative figures, he has estimated that the tax on Canada's annual marijuana consumption could yield anywhere from $180 million to $1.9 billion a year. "It's a reasonable thing for them to contemplate," said Easton, also a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute. "The rules make the law an ass." Easton said if you use someone who smoked one joint a week as a guide as a moderate user, then Canadians would consume about 63,500 kilograms a year. At a tax rate of nearly $2,900 per kilogram, that works out to $184 million - -- and that's the low end of the scale. If there were 7,000 grow-ops in Vancouver and each produced 34 kg a year that would total 238,000 kg. Taxed at $2,900 per kilogram, that could yield about $690 million. If there were 20,000 grow-ops, it could reach $1.9 billion. As vice-chairman of the House of Commons committee studying the non-medical use of drugs, Alliance MP Randy White said he is baffled as to how the Senate reached its conclusions in yesterday's report calling for the legalization of marijuana. He characterized the recommendations as a Liberal tax grab. "We have met with witnesses across Canada, in the United States and in numerous countries in Europe -- and the general consensus is that legalization is not the route to follow," said White. "Legalization will, by the Senate committee's own admission, increase the number of users of cannabis with the only true benefit going to those who run the licensed distribution centres -- the federal government." - --- MAP posted-by: Alex