More on the Marijuana Tax

I’ve posted about the idea in California before, see e.g., but here’s a post (from Tax Prof blog) about the projected revenues according to the top 20 states. If it’s highly regulated and taxed, then I suppose conceptually it differs little from alcohol. My concern, however, is that this is a slippery slope. What is the difference between legalizing marijuana and cocaine or heroin, which are also both “naturally occurring?” My other concern is that this is just a quick fix, like the whole lottery system, which was supposed to “save our schools.” Yet how many years later are we still running into the same budget problems?