Unless you’re following Libertarian Jeff Davis, you’re probably not hearing a lot about legalizing marijuana in all the Hawaii Governor’s race commercials and forums. Davis, like a good Libertarian, is for it.

“If I’m elected, we’re gonna legalize marijuana and treat it like wine,” the website Motherboard quoted Davis as saying back in August. “You’ll be smoking pot in the governor’s mansion.”

Alas, Davis is the only candidate in the race who holds such views–despite recent polls that show legalizing marijuana is popular with voters. And a new Nerd Wallet report states that Hawaii’s hesitation to legalize it (bills doing exactly that went nowhere in the recent legislative session) could cost the state millions of dollars.

“According to the report, there are some 54,185 people in Hawaii [who] admit to smoking marijuana. An estimated 5.69 percent of the population says they smoked within the last month,” Hawaii Reporter noted in an Oct. 6 post on the Nerd Wallet study. “In total, Hawaii has a marijuana market size of  $71,965,783 and with state and local taxes, could bring in $13,925,379 annually, the report said.”

Click here for the Nerd Wallet report.

Photo: Cannabis 01 bgiu/Wikimedia Commons

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