If Minnesota were to legalize marijuana for recreational use, how many people would buy it legally, and how much tax revenue would be generated?
These are hard questions to answer, as Colorado has found out. The Denver Post reported in August:
So projections can be a little tricky.
For what it's worth, NerdWallet has come out with some estimates of sales and excise tax revenue if marijuana were legal in every state.
The personal finance website estimates there are 155,912 people 25 and older who smoke marijuana in Minnesota, and therefore the size of the marijuana market in the state is $207,075,543.
Applying Colorado's excise tax and Minnesota's sales tax, that would mean Minnesota would bring in about $46 million in tax revenue.
That's a ways off. The state has just legalized medical marijuana for a narrow group of people suffering from pretty severe diseases. The next step would likely be to make marijuana legal for people suffering from chronic pain, a much larger group.
For now, companies are lining up for one of two licenses to grow, manufacture and sell medical cannabis oil, and state researchers are still struggling to do basic studies of the drug.
