David Leonhardt

The same way we should say that as a society, we want to find ways to discourage excess use of alcohol and tobacco, we should be able to say we want to discourage excess use of marijuana.

And another thing that should happen is we should tax marijuana based in part on its THC levels.

That's the primary psychoactive compound in pot.

And the same way the taxes are higher on whiskey than they are on beer, taxes should be higher on stronger levels of marijuana than weaker levels.

So I think taxes are really kind of a central way to do it.

And as the three of us and our colleagues were talking about this, Herman made a really nice point, which is there's another beauty of taxes, which is that not only do they discourage excess use, but they're not that big a deal for the person who wants to have gummies a couple times a month.

or smoke a joint with friends on the weekend because they're not heavy users of it.

And so the tax doesn't hit them really hard from an economic standpoint.

A tax is really well designed to discourage excess use, but not punish people who are using a product quite safely and getting enjoyment from it.

And not just heavy users, but kids and teenagers.

I mean, there are products called Trips Ahoy, which obviously evokes Chips Ahoy, and Double Stuff Stonio, evoking Oreos.

And this is a classic playbook of corporations that care much more about their own profits, and by extension, their executive salaries,

than the well-being of Americans.

So there is some of that risk there, but this is one of the things that on the editorial board we actually end up talking about a lot.

It is true that no law is perfect, and sometimes things will go to the margin.

But to then argue that therefore we should not have laws ends up being really nihilist.

And it actually ends up being this technique that people who don't want any regulation use.

Often, corporate lobbyists and lobbyists for wealthy people say, we shouldn't tax rich people or increase taxes on rich people because they'll find ways to get around it.

So let's step back and ask ourselves, well, wait a second.

If they would actually be able to find ways to get around all the tax increases, why are they so upset about the tax increases?