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Still, there are economic implications for a Canada where pot is legal or, at the very least, smoking a joint is no longer grounds for a criminal record. One estimate puts the possible tax revenue at as much as $7.5 billion annually.

Another, a policy paper released by the British Columbia Liberals in January, estimates governments would rake in more than $4 billion a year in tax revenue if marijuana were legalized. It said legalization would also create “thousands of new direct and indirect employment opportunities.”

But while experts agree that making pot a taxable product could line government coffers, they are skeptical about the other economic benefits of legalizing it.

“There might be some jobs created, but I don’t think it will be particularly important,” said Stephen Easton, an economist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver who published a paper on the economic potential of legalizing marijuana in British Columbia.

Today’s agricultural practices are heavily mechanized and don’t employ huge numbers of people, he explained. At the same time, marijuana distribution will inevitably be overseen by existing bodies — such as liquor control boards — leaving few opportunities there for new jobs.

Easton said government profits would depend on the tax rate and the ability of police to crack down on those buying pot on the black market. At the upper end, he speculates a marijuana tax could “raise roughly the same amount of money as the tobacco tax.” According to data compiled by Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada, this figure was just under $7.5 billion in 2011-2012.