Pubdate: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 Source: Journal-Pioneer, The (CN PI) Copyright: 2016 Journal-Pioneer Contact: http://www.journalpioneer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2789 Author: Russell Wangersky Page: A4 LEGALIZED MARIJUANA Smoke 'em - and tax 'em - if you've got 'em In Newfoundland and Labrador, the latest budget brought huge debt, a two per cent increase in the HST and shutdowns of everything from seniors' dental programs to more than half the province's public libraries. In Prince Edward Island, the HST's up one per cent, while Nova Scotia has gone through public sector wages to eke out the barest slender slip of a balanced budget. New Brunswick? It also raised HST by two points to 15 per cent and is talking about public sector job cuts. All in all, governments seem to be fixated on cutting their way to success, a model businesses already know is more about mitigating and delaying decline than it is about making a company stronger. Nowhere in the Atlantic region does anyone seem to have anything more than the usual chant of "we need to diversify" without ever having seen or heard of a diversification model that actually worked. And all it really shows is that no one is willing to look ahead to much more than the next provincial election. Here's a date: April 2017. That's when the federal government has announced it will introduce legislation to legalize recreational marijuana, something that's already been done in states like Colorado and Washington. You could, of course, simply operate like those states: regulate private sellers and reap tax on sales. Or you could do much more. Right now, provincial governments should be moving full speed To reap the best financial return, provincial governments should be involved from the seed on up, right to licenced sales. They should plan to grow, process, ship, package and sell cannabis - and in the process, maintain the same types of regulatory oversight used for cigarettes and alcohol. Newfoundland's liquor corporation is expected to bring in $183 million this year, merely on the basis of a tax levy on other people's products; cigarette taxes in Nova Scotia are expected to bring in $227 million - once again, by merely adding a tax to someone else's profitable product. Plan it, be vertically integrated and have it firmly under provincial control, both to have the revenues benefit people in the Atlantic region and to have the same kind of sales oversight that the provinces already have over alcohol and tobacco. You can of course, simply say, "Governments shouldn't be in a business like that." Sure. And that's why our governments aren't in the lottery business, aren't benefiting from addictive VLTs, and aren't depending on smokers and drinkers for huge sums of revenue. We've already established what we are; we're only quibbling over the unseemly nature of particular individual vices. Legal or not legal, marijuana sales are already happening, and millions upon millions of dollars are being spent. Having the government move into this particular business also has the huge benefit of not cutting off established, legal businesses at the knees. I've said myself that there are still concerns to be dealt with about legalizing weed, right down to establishing a simple test to see if drivers are impaired by drugs. But once it's legal, it's a revenue opportunity that all four Atlantic governments should be well into seizing. If it's going to happen anyway, let's all get ahead of the weed curve. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom