The legalization of dangerous consumption: a comparison of cannabis and gambling policies in three US states

Abstract

Gambling has been legalized due its capacity to provide tax revenue in times when additional tax revenue is difficult to collect from large corporations and wealthy individuals. Especially state lotteries have been introduced on the premise that they provide additional funding for “good causes”. Given the harm that potentially results from gambling, it is possible to question whether education or other “good causes” truly form a ground for governments to align themselves with the gambling industry. There is no agreement on values in a modern pluralistic society, and although the purpose of education is used in legalization campaigns, after legalization it is possible to derive funds for whatever governments deem appropriate, or where there is a lack of public funds. In the US legalization of marijuana has been accomplished by using gambling as model how to gain acceptance for addictive product, and use of tax revenues seems to follow at least first the pattern developed for lottery proceeds. There is still a lack of research regarding gambling-related harm and the resultant social costs, and the situation is even more pressing with research dealing with harms and costs related to use of cannabis. The legalization of the use of recreational cannabis has occurred on basis that cannabis is relatively harmless, and after using cannabis for relatively limited medical purposes. The harms resulting from the use of cannabis do not necessarily diminish after legalization, and public officials will again face a conflict of interest similar to gambling, when collecting taxes from cannabis industry.

Keywords:

• Addiction
• gambling
• marijuana
• conflict of interest
• cannabis
• regulation
• social ethics

Disclosure statement

This research was conducted with the support of the Academy of Finland, which obtains a substantial part of its annual operating budget from the Finnish gambling monopoly. The author has also acted as a consultant for NGOs and government institutions in Finland, and the fees for these services have been paid from hypothecated funding derived from gambling revenues.

Additional information

Funding

Academy of Finland10.13039/501100002341

This work was supported by Academy of Finland, 277405