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Link the Price of Legal Cannabis to Its Potency
The Case for Taxing the THC Content of Cannabis
Writing in The Hill, Marron Professor Mark Kleiman and Beau Kilmer of the RAND Corporation make the case for taxing legal cannabis based on THC content in order to reduce problem use.
One advantage of a THC tax over the widely used taxation based on a percentage of price is that the THC tax won’t fall as market prices fall. Another is that a THC tax counteracts the tendency of the cannabis market to move toward more potent products. There is still much to learn about the health consequences of higher-potency cannabis products, but a handful of studies have found the more potent forms may carry higher risks of negative mental health outcomes and excessive impairment.