Americans aren’t divided on everything. Sixty-seven percent favors legalizing marijuana, according to a Pew Research Center survey. When including those who support allowing its use for medicinal purposes, the proportion jumps to 91%.
In November, five more states, including deep-red Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota, passed ballot measures allowing marijuana use. That makes 46 states with laws permitting or decriminalizing the use of marijuana or marijuana-based products. Adults may now consume marijuana recreationally in 15 states, though it remains illegal at the federal level. One day, it seems, marijuana could be as American as apple pie.
Also as American as apple pie: Taxes. Consider the billions in revenue that flows into federal, state and local coffers each year from the estimated one-in-seven adults who smoke cigarettes. Now consider that more than one-in-10 Americans already use marijuana products on a monthly basis, according to the Tax Foundation.
Rising cannabis use
Unlike cigarette smoking, which has been declining for decades, the use of cannabis is surging. This despite the fact that recreational use is still illegal in most of the country, and at the federal level. But this is changing quickly.
“We’re approaching critical mass,” says Ulrick Boesen, who tracks cannabis matters for the Tax Foundation. He says state…
