A mob is quietly planning to sell drugs in Chester County, and generate massive profits from those sales. This mob is virtually guaranteed success because they plan to eliminate all competition and have a monopoly on those sales. The mob is a group of Pennsylvania politicians and they are ruled with an iron hand by Governor Wolf, the “Don” of the outfit.
The drug in question is recreational marijuana.
You may think that the governor thinks it is time to decriminalize the use of weed because of the enormous costs and ineffectiveness of the long-time War on Drugs. Or you may think that the governor feels that it is unjust to throw people in prison for simply possessing the substance. Or you may think that the ‘Don” feels that this would be an opportunity to grow private business and distribution legally, especially in this time of massive unemployment.
But you would be wrong.
Instead, Wolf sees money. Lots and lots of money. The governor has proposed that the sale of recreational marijuana be legalized to be sold only through the Pennsylvania State Store system – the antiquated monopoly that increases consumer prices, restricts selection, and drives Pennsylvanian’s to other states to buy their liquor. Here in Chester County we have it good, since Delaware is minutes away with lower prices, and better service and selection. But if you live further in the state you are out of luck.
According to union leader Wendall Young, this is why the State Stores bring in over half a billion dollars annually. Of that half billion dollars, over 80 percent is tax revenue. Sounds great? Not compared to lottery sales. This legalized gambling system had brought in over one billion dollars every year for nearly a decade.
According to the Daily Local News, Governor Wolf has fretted about Pennsylvania’s state coffers, now lower due to his ill-planned mandates to close business and reduce tax revenues. According to the paper, Wolf wants to use marijuana sales to “plug a hole”. He has noted that Colorado has so far raised $1.4 billion dollars from the sale of the drug, and he wants his share.
Some legislature members have pointed out the large numbers of prisoners languishing in prison due to the victimless crime of marijuana possession. But the governor has had little to say about these poor suckers. He has his sights on new suckers, and they are us.
When the state stores inevitably creates a the monopoly for drug sales, it will join other massive state monopolies of liquor and lottery. This puts Pennsylvania in the strange lead for monetizing gambling, drinking and drugs, while crushing any attempt to privatize these retail industries.
Even stranger is the fact that the state may be passing up revenue in the process. The Commonwealth Foundation has pointed out that privatization of the state stores would actually increase net tax revenues by retaining out of state shoppers and creating new retailers paying retail taxes. https://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/policyblog/detail/fact-check-pennsylvanias-liquor-store-revenue
As usual, this is about control. When the state is permitted to eliminate competition and employ thousands of workers, the state controls more of what we do and how those workers will vote.
Libertarians in Pennsylvania should not sit back and accept this mob rule that “Don” Wolf is attempting to impose because “he knows what’s good for us”. This may all be sales on vices, but they are our vices, and no state has the right to monopolize them. At the same time, we should demand the immediate release of all non-violent people incarcerated for possession and sale. It’s time to bring these people home from these dangerous prisons instead of keeping them wards of the state.
There are many good reasons for re-legalizing marijuana but raising money for the state through taxing is not one of those good reasons. Ultimately, legalization should be for the sake of liberty. That’s the best reason.