Legalising cannabis could generate up to 144 million euros for Belgium

Groupe du Vendredi has estimated public spending on activities related to cannabis to be 223.9 million per year
The Brussels Times (Belgium)
Monday, April 29, 2019

belgium court cannabisLegalising cannabis could generate up to 144 million euros for the Belgian State, reports Le Soir, citing a study by the Groupe du Vendredi. The think tank carried out an analysis of the current situation in Belgium, called Cannaconomics, which measured the impact on public finances, according to three scenarios. The first was legalisation with regulation, where the state controls production, distributes licenses and sets the price, would generate 144 million euros. In another scenario, a "simple" decriminalisation - lifting the ban on consumption, but not on sales and production - would result in a reduction in public spending by 42.8 million. Finally, a competitive market where private companies are free to set the quantity produced would generate a margin of 78.4 million.