General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Patrick Kennedy spouts nonsense on Amendment 64 (Legal Cannabis in Colorado) [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)From 2010 figures. Although it seems nearly impossible to get really accurate figures on an illegal market when studies are done by agencies with vested interests in promoting one pov or another.
Simple reports that poll the numbers of current users and their ages and other demographic data, for instance, will be skewed toward those who are younger, with fewer professional or societal reasons to avoid answering such a question at all, or to answer it dishonestly. This doesn't mean that most users are not in the 18-34 demographic (as most studies claim) - but it does illustrate how numbers may not be accurate.
http://www.ycsg.yale.edu/center/forms/debunking-mythical-numbers168-175.pdf
The ONDCP had to back off of an early estimate that 60% of all marijuana consumed in America came from Mexico.
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP315.pdf
This pdf tried to model various scenarios related to legal cannabis in California. It contains lots of interesting projections and povs.