Cannabis is in the day allowed for medical use in Belgium. Now want the opposition party, the Socialists go a step further and legalize the drug even for personal use.
– of course, This is not an initiative for cannabis smoking. It is, instead, on the contrary, and the very best would be if no one at all was smoking cannabis, said the party leader, Elio di Rupo, when the proposal was presented.
His motive, rather, is that if the state takes over the production and sale prevents the mafia business. Provide the state cannabis of good quality and check the prices there will get away the criminal forces, according to di Rupo.
in several parties want to legalize cannabis. Against the background of the debate, the belgian newspaper Le Soir has given the think tank Groupe du Vendredi commissioned to explore the issue from an economic perspective.
the think Tank has come to the conclusion that the state’s costs related to cannabis is almost 224 million, about sek 2.4 billion. It is primarily about the judicial system, healthcare and the police. In the calculation includes, for example, not road accidents caused by drivers under the influence.
In the various scenarios of legalization, as the Groupe du Vendredi counted on, will the costs for health care would increase, while the costs for the police and the judiciary would be reduced. In addition, the state would be able to collect tax revenue on sales.
that the best outcome will be if the state controls the sale and price. Then the costs would drop to € 80 million, about sek 850 million. The assumption is based on the number of cannabisrökare in the country continues to be at the same level as today, about 330 000.
But economy is not everything. Alexis Goosdeel, head of the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction, warns that see cannabis as harmless.
– When talking about these so-called therapeutic effects, which, at times, lacks scientific evidence, you risk to forget about the tangible health risks, he says to Le Soir.
it is difficult to evaluate what happens in a country or a state after cannabis has been legalized.
At the recent conference in north America about cannabis, the only thing that is not controlled financially by the cannabisindustrin, complained of various stakeholders from different institutions, the lack of evidence, ” says Alexis Goosdeel.
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