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• Estimated annual revenue generated by marijuana, the nation’s largest cash crop: $35.8 billion
• Estimated annual revenue generated by corn and soybeans, the second- and third-largest cash crops: $23.2 million and $17.3 million
• Price of an ounce of sinsemilla, high-quality marijuana, in Florida: $300 to $500
• Price of an ounce of high-quality marijuana in California if voters legalize it for recreational use: $38*
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• Number of marijuana-related arrests in the U.S. in 2008: 847,864
• Number of arrests for violent crime the same year: 595,511
• Frequency of marijuana-related arrests in the U.S.: one person every 38 seconds
• Estimated revenue for Florida if the state’s 7 percent sales tax were levied on marijuana: $48.2 million
• Amount cut from Healthy Families Program by the state in fiscal year 2010-11: $10 million
• Number of people in Florida who died with alcohol in their system in 2009: 4,046**
• Number of people in Florida who died from prescription drug use in 2009: 2,488**
• Number of people in Florida who died from marijuana use in 2009: none**
• Maximum penalty in Florida for anyone caught holding an ounce or more of marijuana: five years in prison and a $5,000 fine
• Maximum penalty in California for anyone caught holding an ounce or more of marijuana: six months in jail, $500 in fines, and probation
• Estimated annual cost of arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating marijuana offenders nationwide: $4 billion
• Rate of marijuana use among blacks, compared to whites: 25 percent higher
• Rate of marijuana arrests for blacks, compared to whites: 300 percent higher
• Number of people in Florida serving sentences on federal marijuana offenses in 2006: 274 dealers
• Number of Florida prison inmates who tested positive for cannabis in 2007: 1,965
• Number of people arrested on marijuana-related charges in the U.S. in 2000: 734,000
• Percentage of people in Florida arrested on marijuana grow-house-related charges who are Cuban nationals in 2008 and 2009: 85 to 90 percent**
* “Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets,” by the nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Center
** Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Now find out how a South Florida man tokes legally.
