"Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually"
About this Quote
The subtext is a quiet indictment of the drug war’s political economy. “Enforcement and incarceration costs” names the hidden subsidy taxpayers provide to policing, prisons, and the sprawling apparatus that profits from criminalization while delivering dubious results. By emphasizing taxpayer savings, Soros positions skeptics as people paying for a failing program, not guardians of social order. He’s also preempting the familiar moral panic by swapping “users” and “crime” for “billions” and “revenue,” turning a taboo into a budget line item.
Context matters: Soros is a businessman whose public influence often arrives through policy advocacy, philanthropy, and the language of incentives. That makes the quote strategically legible in legislatures and editorial boards where “freedom” arguments stall but fiscal ones move. It’s not just pro-weed; it’s pro-state-capacity. Regulate it, tax it, and you turn a black market into a managed industry, while forcing opponents to defend an expensive status quo.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Soros, George. (n.d.). Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/regulating-and-taxing-marijuana-would-54503/
Chicago Style
Soros, George. "Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually." FixQuotes. Accessed February 1, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/regulating-and-taxing-marijuana-would-54503/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/regulating-and-taxing-marijuana-would-54503/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.


