State economists recently said a potential ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana could bring in millions in sales tax revenue.
Documents from the state Office of Economic and Demographic Research said, if passed, the medical marijuana amendment could bring in somewhere between $12 million and $357 million. Those numbers assume medical marijuana will not have any sales tax exemptions.
Ben Pollara is the campaign manager for United For Care, the organization pushing the amendment. He said the point is to help people who are sick, but he recognized the economic argument might be another reason people would support it.
“If you look at states that have legalized marijuana like Colorado and most recently Oregon, the sales tax revenues have been tremendous and that’s been a big boon for those states,” he said.
At the same time, the program could cost The Florida Department of Health around $3 million to run it the first year.
That cost would go down the following year.
The Florida Supreme Court is currently reviewing the proposed ballot initiative.
Copyright 2015 WGCU
