Legalization didn't seem to substantially affect crime rates — Proponents of legalizing weed claimed it would reduce violent crimes. Opponents said it would increase violent crimes.
A study by the CATO Institute finds, "Overall, violent crime has neither soared nor plummeted in the wake of marijuana legalization."
Legalization seems to have little or no effect on traffic accidents and fatalities — Opponents of marijuana legalization argued it would wreak havoc on the road. A few studies have found that's not the case. Economists Benjamin Hansen, Keaton S. Miller & Caroline Weber, for instance,
found evidence suggesting it had no effect on trends in traffic fatalities in both Colorado and Washington.
Legalization has created jobs. Lots of jobs — A
new report by Leafly and Whitney Economics finds the marijuana industry is booming. In 2020 alone, they calculate, it created 77,000 jobs. Across the country, there are about 321,000 jobs in the legal marijuana industry. That's
more than the mining industry.
Legalization is good for state budgets — Tax revenue from legal recreational marijuana has surpassed everyone's expectations. Colorado usually collects more than $20 million a month. In 2020, the state collected a total of $387 million. The California government collects
more than $50 million a month. You can find similar stories in other states that have legalized.
Legalization may be good for states' workers' comp programs — A
new working paper by economists Rahi Abouk, Keshar M. Ghimire, Johanna Catherine Maclean and David Powell finds that states that legalized recreational marijuana saw a significant decline in the use of their worker compensation systems. They estimate that the number of workers aged 40-62 who received income from workers comp fell by about 20 percent following legalization. Evidence suggests that the reason for the decline is that marijuana provides "an additional form of pain management therapy" that reduces use of opioids, which are highly addictive and can be much more debilitating. Marijuana's effect on reducing opioid abuse has been documented in
other studies.