Florida voters will get the chance to legalize medical marijuana this November during the 2014 Election. Amendment 2 has already been approved for the ballot. In order for it to pass, Amendment 2 will require at least 60% approval because it’s a constitutional amendment. The battle to legalize medical marijuana in Florida has been fierce, with both sides raising millions of dollars to use for their campaigns.
The medical marijuana industry in Florida would no doubt generate a lot of revenue, but how much revenue? According to Marijuana Investor News:
According the report, the state estimates that medical marijuana in Florida could generate somewhere between $138 million and $5.6 billion in sales revenue. The report also estimates that medical marijuana could net the state of Florida an estimated $8.3 million to $338 million in tax revenue. The estimated cost of regulating trade in Florida is projected to cost a measly $1.1 million for the first two years.
$8.3 million to $338 million is a very wide range for tax revenue. However, I think it’s safe to say that Florida will make a tremendous amount of money, and more importantly, patients will get much needed safe access to their medicine. It’s been my experience that most people that use dispensaries are older people who don’t have the social networks that younger people do in order to find marijuana. Florida of course has a very large older population, and a large overall population, so I think the numbers out of Florida could be huge.
