Budgets/Taxes/Economics

Goodbye, Gil?

Heritage Foundation Says Cut Drug Czar's Office, Byrne Grants, More

The Republicans ran on a vow to cut the budget deficit, but were short on specifics. The Heritage Foundation has a few ideas, including axing the drug czar's office and some other anti-drug spending.

As the polls closed, Oaksterdam waited.

Prop 19: What Went Right, What Went Wrong [FEATURE]

Everybody's got an opinion on why Prop 19 lost. The Chronicle examines what a range of movement leaders and other thinkers think it means -- and what the discussion of why Prop 19 lost itself means.

marijuana money talks

California Cities Approve Marijuana Taxes, Reject Dispensary Bans

California voters may not want to legalize marijuana, but they sure want to tax it. A number of cities approved tax measures, and two rejected dispensary bans.

California Chamber of Commerce in Anti-Prop 19 Radio Attack Ad Campaign

The California Chamber of Commerce doesn't want employers to lose the ability to fire unimpaired workers who fail a drug test for pot, so it's now throwing $250,000 into an anti-Prop 19 radio ad campaign.

Cuomo as Attorney General

Cuomo Opposes Medical Marijuana, Paladino Says Let the People Decide

There are two major party candidates for governor in New York. Guess which one opposes medical marijuana.

LULAC of California Endorses Prop 19 Marijuana Inititiative

Proposition 19 has picked up the support of the California chapter of one of the country's most prominent Latino organizations.

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California Governor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill

While getting busted for pot possession in California is only a $100 fine, it is still a misdemeanor. Or at least it was. Now it's going to be true decriminalization.

Marijuana: the Victimless Crime That Costs New York State $15 Billion a Year (Opinion)

Kristin Davis opines that there is one fact that Americans, and New Yorkers, must face (as it slaps us in the face): Prohibition hasnât stopped the use and domestic production of marijuana. Marijuana is currently used by over 25 million Americans annually and cannabis is the largest cash crop in the United States. In fact, the only thing prohibition has done for the people of New York is cost them a huge amount of money â somewhere in the ballpark of $10-15 billion a year.

Drug Legalization -- a Windfall for State Budgets (Opinion)

Researchers say that if marijuana is legalized across the nation, there would be $8.7 billion in law enforcement savings and $8.7 billion in tax revenue. If all drugs are legalized, the savings figure becomes $46.7 billion and the revenue $41.3 billion. A budgetary benefit of $88 billion per year is not chump change, especially given the current state of the economy.

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End Drug Prohibition, Save $88 Billion a Year, Report Says

Drug prohibition costs Washington and the states $88 billion a year in law enforcement costs and lost tax revenues, Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron reports.

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