Legalizing prostitution and cannabis would make the State so rich ...
I was thinking of a Seita-like approach here in France. By which the State grows the stuff, packages the stuff, sells the stuff, and on top of all that taxes the stuff (for social security or whatever other good reason they could find). And I'm not even necessarily talking about packaged joints, because that's nocive ... even chewing gum will do.
According to INSERM & SOFRES studies, there are an estimated 2 million regular cannabis smokers in France (and 3 million occasional), "regular" meaning god knows what as no quantity/regularity studies have ever been made. But judging from friends who used to be heavy smokers but who are now reasonable due to having work/children etc, I would say that regular, at an average/working age, would mean 2 joints a day.
A joint (or gum) could easily yield a 90% profit margin (including 60% tax). Sell it at 1.11 euro piece, and that's a 1 euro profit a take. Or 4 million euros a day for the State. or 1.5 billion a year on regular users only.
Ok I'm off to watch the match now, alala Togo or not Togo.
Ok now I think I should really get going.
Now in a weasselly move, the right-wing liberal VVD party decided to play nice with the government (of which they're part). The parliamentary proposal was in a direct collision course with Minister of Justice, Donner, who has been a strident opponent of anything that looks like legalisation, also claiming it would be unacceptable within the European framework. He threatened to resign if parliament would push through. Opposition parties PvdA (Labour) and others who've been working for nearly a year on the experimental project are, unsurprisingly, furious.
