According to a UW-Madison study, the state of Wisconsin could stand to see a $1.1 billion economic benefit over the first five years if medical marijuana is legalized.
Graduate students at the La Follette School of Public Affairs looked over factors that would be affected by the legalization of medical marijuana.
These factors include administrative costs and consumer purchases.
The study had been requested by Dane County Sup. Yogesh Chawla. “We always talk about (medical marijuana) in moral terms. This found concrete evidence of financial benefit,” said Chawla.
The study analyzed whether decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana would affect the economic benefit.
“Despite the lack of federal-level research on the topic, our conservative estimate found a wide range of benefits, including reduced jail sentences, arrests and court cases, while also providing another tool to tackle the opioid crisis,” said researcher Jennifer Johnson.
