We’ve checked the Budget Office site and there’s no public report published via their website yet . So we’re not sure where the information is sourced as none of the following publications actually provide a link.
Here are the reports and as soon as we find the document we will publish it
The Guardian
Legalising cannabis adds $3.6bn to Australian economy, budget office says
Legalising cannabis would reap the Australian economy almost $2bn a year, the Parliamentary Budget Office has found.
The Greens plan to not only decriminalise cannabis but also legalise it for adult use is the latest case study of political differences, with both Labor and the Coalition looking into legalising it for medicinal use, but going no further.
But claiming that the “war on drugs had failed”, the Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, last week proposed the full legalisation of cannabis, which would allow adults to grow up to six marijuana plants for personal use.
The Australian Financial Review
http://www.afr.com/news/greens-pot-plan-worth-2-billion–parliamentary-budget-office-20180421-h0z2yj
A Greens’ plan to legalise marijuana for adult recreational use in Australia could add as much as $2 billion a year to the federal budget.
Costings from the independent Parliamentary Budget Office show legal cannabis use with a 25 per cent excise and GST could raise about $3.6 billion over the coming four years and lead to savings for law enforcement agencies, including by the Australian Federal Police.
The Sydney Morning Herald
$3.5 billion budget boost from legalising marijuana, costing shows
Legalising marijuana for recreational use would boost the budget by up to $1.8 billion a year, the Parliamentary Budget Office has revealed.
The independent costing of the policy submitted by the Greens shows a tobacco-style 25 per cent excise on each sale with a 10 per cent Goods and Services Tax and a reduction in law enforcement would net $3.5 billion by 2020-21.
Marijuana tourists travelling to Australia would add up to “10 per cent of total sales”, earning $130 million in revenue by 2020.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said the boost would be used to fund drug education and treatment programs.
“The Greens see drug use as a health issue, not a criminal issue,” he said.
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“It will reduce crime because the black market will be wiped out, and it will clear our courts of literally hundreds of thousands of cases.”
The costing assumes a regular marijuana user consumes up to three grams a week and that legalisation would increase demand over the next decade.
The initial price price is set at the current street value of the drug, approximately $20 a gram, according to UNSW’s Drug Policy Modelling Program.
A 25 per cent excise and a GST of 10 per cent would raise the cots of a legal gram or “stick” of cannabis to $27.
Under the plan the proposed Australian Cannabis Agency would have a monopoly over the wholesale market, with growers selling directly to them.
Producers would have to pay an upfront application fee of $3500 and annual fees of between $1750 and $2300 depending on the size of their marijuana field to legally sell their crop.
The marijuana would then be supplied to shops where staff would be forced to undergo responsible service of drugs training and cannabis varieties would come in plain packaging detailing strains and health warnings.
Retail outlets would have to pay a $1500 application fee and $1000 a year to legally sell the drug to Australians aged 18 years and over.
