New CCEA study: Cannabis legalization will create strong growth in jobs, revenue, and GDP in Connecticut

We wanted to share with you a study performed by Professor Fred Cartensen, Director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), and commissioned by MPP with the goal of better understanding the potential economic effects of cannabis legalization in Connecticut. The estimates are conservative and provide insight into the financial possibilities that lie ahead once Connecticut begins to regulate and tax cannabis like other states in the region and throughout the country.

The study projects Connecticut could generate:

• $692 to $740 million in total direct state tax revenue over five years of sales;
• $35 to $53 million in direct state cannabis tax revenue in the first year of sales;
• $223 to $287 million in direct state cannabis tax revenue in year five of sales;
• $71 million in municipal tax revenue over five years of sales;
• $21 million in municipal tax revenue in year five of sales;
• 10,244 to 17,462 new or preserved jobs by year five of legal sales; and
• 5,344 to 5,686 new or preserved jobs in year one of sales alone.

In summary, legalizing and regulating cannabis would lessen the economic pain wrought by COVID-19 by creating and preserving thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions in new tax revenue. A related article ran in today’s Hartford Courant, and we expect a flurry of additional coverage, including Prof. Cartensen being a guest on NBC’s Face the State this Sunday.

We hope that you’ll have an opportunity to review the study’s findings, spread the word, and consider writing your legislators urging them to support legislation to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults in the 2021 session.