Legalize Marijuana. Save Social Security.
Day #1, by executive order, with no further ado, I will remove marijuana from its current listing as a Schedule 1 drug. Henceforth, it will be treated as any other previously-prohibited item, such as whiskey. Due to emerging science, the governmental research website will be updated to contain ALL studies to determine the efficacy of the plant. Eventually, my Surgeon General will be instructed to send out directives to the medical profession. Data shows that the states that have medical marijuana have significantly less opioid deaths than other states.
The $300-per-pound-sold tax from all domestic & even more for international sales will save Social Security, which is expected, per the 2010 doomsday report posted on Social Security Administration’s own website, is expected to drop to a 75% payout of benefits in 2035. A study from the Cato Institute is an easier read. Other more recent reports are even drearier.
However, under my plan “Legalize & Tax a Plant to Save Social Security”, this specific tax will be directly tied into bolstering millions of the elderly and disabled poor, sub-existing on the margins of society, they can expect to see an increase in their subsidies until they are lifted above the Federal Poverty Line, as benefits any human being.