Photo by ekelly80

The District is slowly working its way through the implementation of its medical marijuana program and Maryland is again considering moving in the same direction. Now Virginia wants to know just how much money it could pull in if it just chose to sell marijuana in liquor stores, reports WTOP:

[Delegate David] Englin has introduced a resolution that would create a subcommittee of five delegates and three state senators, whose aim would be to study the feasibility and potential revenue impact of selling marijuana through Virginia’s alcoholic beverage control stores.

“Virginia has an infrastructure set up for selling a controlled, addictive substance, and doing it in a way that underage people don’t have easy access to it,” Englin says.

The group would meet no more than six times by Nov. 30, and would be limited to spending $15,040 toward the study, which would be completed by the first day of the 2013 General Assembly session.

Englin admits that his proposal faces slim chances of passing, but it’s certainly a strategic way to approach the issue. He’s not proposing that Virginia actually legalize or sell marijuana, after all, but rather just study how much money they could make if they did. If the study ever happen, it might prove what most economists already know — it’s a lot. In 2005, a study found that if marijuana were sold and taxed nationwide, the U.S. could see a net benefit of between $10 and $14 billion a year.