Room For Debate tackles the question. Garrett Peck ponders marijuana taxes:
The nation’s powerful alcohol lobbies have managed to rebuff any federal alcohol excise tax increase, last raised in 1991. States should be on the lookout for what will inevitably happen: the marijuana industry will go along with taxation as part of the grand bargain for legalization – just as the alcohol industry did in the 1930s – and then over time change its position to be anti-tax. They will claim that taxes are bad for business and bad for consumers, neither of which is true, given that products like alcohol, gasoline, marijuana and tobacco have a fairly inelastic demand. Here’s a bit of advice to states: index marijuana taxes to inflation, and you will avoid a lot of big debates over raising taxes.
Among other suggestions, Kleiman recommends a strict advertising rules:
Don’t allow marketing. The legal marijuana industry, like the alcohol, tobacco and gambling industries, will have a financial interest directly opposite to the public interest. Responsible use is the goal, but dependent use generates sales volume. A public monopoly would probably work best; short of that, tight limits on advertising (the Supreme Court permitting) and keeping the industry fragmented to minimize its lobbying power might limit some of the damage.
The Dish 