I say legalize marijuana in all 50 states. Find a way to have the government tax it and make good revenue off of it. It will help many states out with their financial numbers.
Colorado has had medicinal marijuana for a couple of years now and collects somewhere in the $2-3M range for sales tax. Expect that to jump over $10M, but probably not that much more. You’ll get a first year bump for the novelty aspect, then it will drop. Also keep an eye on what the feds do. So far they’ve turned a blind eye to medicinal uses, but if you start to see a booming recreational business in these states you’ll likely see the feds step in.
Its hard to say how it will play out with the feds. They cant go around busting every single citizen who exercises their rights under state law. I can guarantee they will however target some of the biggest shops and try to make an example out of it.
All for pot. Im pro-pot, and honestly believe that if you want to put something in your body, then so be it. Portugal has a system where drugs are legal, and instead of spending ridiculous amounts on “the war against drugs” They focus their efforts on treating addicts and the spread of infectious diseases. Reduced crime rate, reduced sick population and accidents involving substance abuse.
This county really needs to open their eyes. Certain drugs are really fucked up, and should be strictly regulated somehow (wish i could think of something logical and effective). Shift the focus from fighting the war against a guy who grows 20 plants in his basement or buys a bag of coke, with a different system. You take away most of the violence, money spent on incarceration and can shift focus and resources of law enforcement that could be spent on more worthwhile avenues that effect the social problems this country has.
There are a TON of “what if” situations surrounding the recent developments, but I believe its a monumental step in the right direction. Dont like pot? Dont smoke it. I dont like tobacco (both of my parents dying from problems stemming from smoking). No one is forcing you to do anything you dont want.
/end KK rant. Its going to be a very interesting outcome, i’ll be keeping an eye on it
The funniest part of legalizing pot…the state wont make much revenue off of it. Well pending the price of it anyway. Do you really think everyone is going to buy it and pay tax on it just because its legal? Just because its legal doesn’t mean the guy on the street corner can just sell it whenever, it will most likely be like alcohol and you will need to get a license to even sell it. And that drug dealer on the corner isn’t going to give up his job of selling it.
Of course, its going to be next to impossible to collect taxes on most of it. I believe I saw a figure of $10 billion dollars a year is spent by government agencies fighting JUST marijuana. That’s a lot of resources and funding for such a petty plant, that could be better focused elsewhere in this nation, IMHO
Difference is, making it illegal to buy/sell without a license, or buying from someone without a license means that people will be more inclined to go to someone who has the license to grow/sell vs risk getting in trouble buying off some dude on the street.
For someone who isn’t authorized to sell pot in that state, which is now a taxed substance, the state government can now file tax charges, possibly on top of controlled substance charges.
Even though the state isn’t making much in revenue off of pot, it’s still better than nothing.
Legalizing pot federally will allow a federal tax on it, and also will ease a lot of border control issues with Mexico, as well as reduce their crime rate since there may no longer be any fighting over importing the pot between cartels. Pot is Mexico’s #1 illegal export, so if it became legal, it’d solve quite a few issues with both us and Mexico.
If you were in the position to buy some pot, would you want to go Sketchy McDealerson downtown, buy what product he has, and maybe be happy with it? Or would you rather go to what can only be described as a Weed Store, a brightly lit storefront that has a wide choice of strains and prices to choose from? Honestly prices aren’t going to change a whole lot, and there’s a good chance dealers aren’t going to be able to compete with that buying experience, forcing them to either go legit, or find a new business to go into.
If I had to guess, the most immediate effect of these passing is that state and local law enforcement won’t bother you for pot. If you were unfortunate enough to run into a federal drug enforcement agent, you might get in some trouble if they decided to bother you about the eighth you are carrying around. The feds aren’t likely to waste too many resources on individuals.
