A new book coauthored by two economists explains the economics of legalized marijuana are not very lucrative. The regulations for selling legal weed are so onerous that illegal marijuana sells for half the price of the highly regulated legal product when competing for the same customers. In fact, the regulatory maze is such that in most states where cannabis is legal aspiring distributors hire consultants to assist with the application process. Indeed, the people in the cannabis industry making the most (legal) money are the consultants and lobbyists.
Category: Policy & Legislation
Monday Links
- Colorado gets permission to include a public option in its (Obamacare) exchange. But as Ed Haislmaier and I showed, this won’t matter as long as the playing field is level.
- Buprenorphine is highly effective at preventing overdoses and treating opioid use disorder; but enrollees in Medicaid managed care rarely see a doctor who prescribes it. Even so, that’s better than regular Medicaid.
- Another article on medical debt, missing Devon Herrick’s point that Obamacare is the reason for its rise.
- Responding to the Roe decision, Matt Holt completely loses it. Lesson for us all: don’t write blog posts when you are having a temper tantrum.
- If housing is a health care issue, should Medicaid pay the rent?
Friday Links
Alcohol, Drugs, Homelessness and Crime
Scott Alexander reviews Michael Shellenberger’s San Fransicko:
putting it all together and squinting really hard, I think we can tell a story where 10-20% of the homeless are seriously psychotic, and another 20-30% have contributing mental health conditions including depression, PTSD, and others. Somewhere between 25% and 50% of the homeless have substance abuse problems, and this probably mostly overlaps with the 25% – 50% who have psych diagnoses.