(Image source from: The Times Herald)

New Jersey:
A new study by ‘The credit rating agency, Moody's Investor Service’ finds that that legitimating and taxing marijuana boosts revenue for state and local governments.

According the study released on Tuesday, legalizing recreational use of marijuana brings regime more wealth than it costs to regulate it.

Contempt of high taxes on the legal sales of the drug, the proceeds accounts for a small part of government budgets. Colorado being a first state to legalize recreational use, a marijuana tax brings in the tantamount of about 2 percent of the state budget.

In Washington, gross revenue from marijuana legalization equaled 1.2 percent of general fund revenue in the 2015-17 state budget.

The states that have legitimated marijuana earmark the revenue for law enforcement, drug treatment and other specific programs, which doesn't help the states' financial flexibility.

Philip Dunton Murphy, Governor of New Jersey who supports the effort is planning on having an additional $60 million in taxes from legalized marijuana in the next fiscal year, that's less than 1 percent of the state's annual spending.

At present, Twenty-nine states allow marijuana for either medicinal or recreational uses, and the business is flourishing rapidly. In the meantime, illegal marijuana sales are estimated at $40 billion.

By Sowmya Sangam