The California Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance predicted that legalizing the adult marijuana marketplace would see “Reduced costs in the low hundreds of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments related to enforcing certain marijuana-related offenses, handling the related criminal cases in the court system, and incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders.”

The assessment was included in a ballot title and summary released December 24, 2013 by state Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office regarding a proposed 2014 state ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for adult cultivation and use.

The full impact of legalizing cannabis in America’s most populous state is impossible to predict, but the state Legislative Analyst has precise information on how many pot-related arrests, court cases and incarcerations California has. The “low hundreds of millions” figure, while vague, is based on hard evidence, analyzed by an impartial body, that adds serious weight to the law enforcement pillar of the legalization argument.

The specific ballot measure described, the Marijuana, Control Legalization & Revenue Act, also taxes the production and sale of cannabis, which is expected to bring California additional annual revenues “in the low hundreds of millions.”

After years of huge deficits, California’s current budget has turned around and now runs a surplus of $1.69 billion. Based on these new estimates, the saved costs and added revenue from legalizing cannabis would raise that surplus by 20-30% as a buffer against spending. Should the state fall on hard times, that extra boost could be the difference between being financially in the black and being in the red.

Cannabis legalization would reverberate through society in ways that go far beyond the fiscal budget and are rooted in the social costs of keeping marijuana illegal.

“Legalization and regulation would not only be a huge boon to the state financially, but also a tremendous win for public safety,” says Lt. Commander Diane Goldstein (Ret.), board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of law enforcement professionals opposed to the war on drugs. “Marijuana is one of the primary sources of income for street gangs and enforcing its prohibition wastes a tremendous amount of police time and energy that would be better spent solving violent crime. Not only will California’s economy improve with legalization, it will be a safer and better place to live.”