and decrimnialzation bills have been recongized for years about marijuana in this country...

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A new report titled, “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” June 2005 was released by the Marijuana Policy Project to estimate the costs of marijuana prohibition in the United States. This report, created by Prof. Jeffery Miron, PhD, Visiting Professor of Economics at Harvard University is based on the report commission by DPFMA Dr. Miron completed in 2002. The 2005 analysis estimates that the United States spends $7.7 Billion per year enforcing marijuana prohibition at the federal, state and local levels. Specifically, Massachusetts spends $130 Million per year on police, court and incarceration costs for marijuana law offenders.

"The Effect of Marijuana Decriminalization on the Budgets of Massachusetts Governments, with a Discussion of Decriminalization's Effect on Marijuana Use," a report commission by the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts provides an estimate of the savings in criminal justice resources that would accrue to Massachusetts state and municipal governments under the decriminalization of marijuana. That estimate is $24.3 million per year. Prof. Miron also establishes through comparative data analysis that decriminalization would not increase marijuana use in Massachusetts.