New Bill Peddles Big Pot’s Fantasy about Big Revenue, Ignores Massive Costs
(NASHVILLE, TN) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement in response to HB0703, the “Tennessee Pot for Potholes Act,” which would legalize commercial sales of high potency marijuana to use the tax revenue to improve roads and transit infrastructure across the state:
“Any legislator pitching ‘pot-for-potholes’ is digging a big hole for Tennesseans. Supporters of this bill are either woefully uninformed about the real costs associated with marijuana legalization, or they’ve bought into Big Marijuana’s big lie that more drugs in Tennessee’s communities would be a good thing. The data across the country is clear and unmistakable—commercial sales of marijuana and THC drugs don’t produce revenue to fill potholes, pay for schools, or recoup other societal and government costs. More than a decade after opening the state to commercial pot sales Colorado is among the worst states for road quality and Michigan, long held as having some of the worst road conditions in the country, continues to be among the states with the worst roads more than five years after legalization. More broadly speaking, a 2018 study in Colorado found that every $1 in tax revenue was associated with $4.50 in costs, including from lost productivity, traffic fatalities, and hospital visits.
“Nearly every state that has experimented with legalization has seen roads become more dangerous, dramatic increases in marijuana related hospitalizations, significant mental health impacts and an explosion of the illicit market. Tennessee would be no different. While drug-pushing politicians like State Representatives Aftyn Behn, Gloria Johnson, John Clemmons, and State Senator Heidi Campbell might think they can fool voters with a plan that makes a good sound bite, they’d only be drilling a hole in the pockets of taxpayers.”
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