Cannabis Corporates Should Be Taxed to Fund Mental Health Programmes TC_Africa: Africa
show that the global formal cannabis sector is valued at US$25 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach US$176 billion by 2030.
The growth projection demonstrates the risk of poor mental health as well as the viability of targeting the cannabis sector for special excise taxes. These can be used to finance prevention and promote mental health programmes that have remained neglected in developing countries.Take Tanzania as an example. The country has criminalised cannabis possession, despite being one of the largest consumers of cannabis in East Africa.
. The prevalence of spousal violence is highest in rural areas, averaging 52%. Such gender-based violence and assaults are linked with cannabis consumption.3.6 million TanzaniansBased on this reality, there appears to be room to legalise and allocate excise taxes on cannabis corporations for investments in mental health programmes in Tanzania. Taxing cannabis aggressively may reduce consumption. Tanzania collected aboutThis amount covers only about half of the government's expenses.
The Tanzanian government can learn much from the US and other high-income countries that opted to legalise and tax cannabis corporations aggressively. The criminalisation of cannabis is regressive. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, it coststo enforce laws on cannabis possession alone. Police officers must invest many hours and resources in arresting and booking suspects for cannabis possession.
Cannabis suspects spend a night or more in jail and are subjected to multiple court visits to resolve the case. Those detained by the justice system are subjected to poor treatment, inducing poor mental health outcomes. The public health payoff for all cannabis criminalisation is small.
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