A number of states throughout the nation have legalized the usage of marijuana for both medicinal or leisure functions, producing further tax income which these states use in quite a lot of methods.

At the moment, in response to KDVR, 37 states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. In 18 states and Washington D.C., the leisure use of pot has been deemed lawful.

In states the place the leisure use of marijuana is authorized, the tax income generated from the drug is within the lots of of tens of millions of dollars and in some circumstances, much more.

Marijuana
Marijuana crops in Sullivan County, New York on October 7, 2021. States which have legalized marijuana are utilizing their tax income from it in quite a lot of methods. Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty Pictures

In California, which handed a regulation legalizing pot in 2016, the state introduced in additional than $1 billion in taxes from the sale and cultivation of hashish in 2021 alone. The Golden State, in response to KDVR, makes use of that cash to fund packages aimed toward protecting younger individuals away from medication.

Oregon handed a regulation permitting the leisure use of pot in 2014, and greater than $170 million was made off the hashish gross sales tax in 2021. That cash helps fund quite a few price range gadgets within the state, together with police and psychological well being therapy. However the greatest recipients, KDVR reviews, of Oregon's tax cash from marijuana are the state's colleges.

Within the Midwest, Illinois made almost $320 million from taxing hashish final 12 months. Like Oregon, Illinois makes use of that tax income in several methods. Ten % goes to assist pay the state's payments, and 20 % goes to initiatives to help with substance abuse and psychological well being.

Washington, which legalized marijuana for recreation in December 2012, introduced in nearly $560 million final 12 months off the taxing of marijuana, KDVR reviews. It divided the 2021 cash generated from its marijuana tax for public well being packages, native governments, and the state's common fund.

The legalization of marijuana has introduced in billions of dollars in tax cash for the primary state – Colorado – to authorize its use for leisure functions.

"Since legalization of retail marijuana we have seen over $12 billion in gross sales and over $2 billion in tax income," Shannon Grey, a communication specialist with the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, informed KDVR.

Whereas not all states within the nation have legalized marijuana, the United States Home of Representatives handed a measure to decriminalize it on the federal degree. The Marijuana Alternative Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, in early April, handed with a 220-204 vote, sending it to the U.S. Senate.

The invoice's sponsor, New York Democratic Consultant Jerry Nadler, in an announcement earlier than the vote, referred to as the measure a "lengthy overdue laws that might reverse many years of failed federal insurance policies primarily based on the criminalization of marijuana."

Newsweek reached out to the Marijuana Coverage Challenge for remark.