Will government in full-legalization states always need to keep trying to distinguish between patients and everyone else? Maybe, with full legalization, (1) economies of scale will kick in and (2) the prohibition premium will fade so much that non-medical users will pay an after-tax price lower than patients have ever paid (or maybe even hoped for). Even if the two groups (healthy folks and patients) are “served by the same system,” some costs of deciding who is a patient and who is not will continue — like doctor’s fees. Another category of costs is non-financial, like the disrespect for law that comes from healthy people beating the system and evading tax by pretending to be sick. But let me be clear: I am convinced that marijuana has real medical uses. To the extent that the public has confidence that medical recommendations do in fact separate sick people from healthy people, I backtrack.
Discussion is proceeding at the Samefacts blog.
The Center for New Revenue 