* A classic he said/she said in the Sun-Times…

An anti-cannabis group estimates legalizing recreational marijuana use will cost Illinois $670 million a year. But pro-legalization pols say they’re just blowing smoke. Smart Approaches to Marijuana, in collaboration with Healthy & Productive Illinois, concluded in a report on Thursday that drugged driving, as well as greater levels of workplace injury and absenteeism, would be the biggest contributors to the estimated cost. […] But state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who helped introduce legislation for legalizing and regulating the substance, was critical of the research. “To call it a study is overly generous,” Cassidy said. “It relies heavily on data that has been debunked repeatedly, from an organization that has been repeatedly debunked.”

* The Healthy & Productive Illinois “study” conflates state government revenues from pot sales with overall economic costs of legalization. Those are two very different things. Not to mention that their projected economic costs are mostly goofy.

For instance, they claim legalization will cost the economy $210.4 million in increased absenteeism. Wow, that sure is precise. But real studies do no corroborate this projection (click here).

* They say that costs of workplace injuries will rise by $58.5 million. But this is from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine…

There is no or insufficient evidence to support or refute a statistical association between cannabis use and… Occupational accidents or injuries (general, non-medical cannabis use)

Click here for another one.

* They claim that increased drugged driving fatalities will cost society $231 million and increased drugged driving injuries will cost $85.2 million. But, while the number of Colorado’s car accidents increased after it ended prohibition, the state’s population increased as well and two studies showed no correlation (one actually showed that deaths fell).

They even project that “Marijuana concentrate lab explosions” will cost $13.3 million a year. Um, OK. Most of those explosions that I could find were in illegal “labs.” Legalization brings regulations.

* So, who’s behind this Healthy & Productive Illinois group? The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Drug Enforcement Officers Association, the Mid-West Truckers Association and the Illinois Association Of Housing Authorities.

In other words, you have two police groups which have members who directly benefit from drug seizure laws. And the Mid-West Truckers Association has operated a drug testing service for well over 20 years, so it may be making a few bucks off of that. The group’s director told me they oppose legalization because “federal law pretty much has zero tolerance for it” and flunking a drug test “will put a transportation worker out-of-service and often out of a job.”

* Back to the Sun-Times story…

“It’s important to consider studies like this, that show costs may outweigh revenue the state could bring in, and see the impact of experiments with legalization going on in Colorado, California and other places before making any decision about it in Illinois,” Rachel Bold, spokeswoman for Rauner, said.

*Sigh*