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Legal Cannabis is Literally Transforming Cities — Funding Roads, Schools, Charities and More
The Free Thought Project ^ | May 29, 2016 | Justin Gardner

Posted on 05/29/2016 1:06:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Two years after Colorado began its first retail sales of cannabis, towns and cities across the state are enjoying the benefits in a number of ways. With sales this year expected to reach $1 billion, local governments are seeing windfalls of tax revenue, which is funding education, recreation, infrastructure improvements, and even aid to the homeless.

The small town of Mountain View may be able to dispel its reputation for collecting revenue through speeding tickets, now that two pot shops reside there.

“We have such a small tax base,” said Mayor Jeff Kiddie, who opposed pot stores. “Medical and retail marijuana have definitely helped the town’s bottom line. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.”

Similar stories abound in the 22 counties and 62 cities that allow retail cannabis sales.

In Aurora, which has collected millions in sales taxes and fees since October 2014, the City Council keeps the money in a separate fund so it can show the public exactly where cannabis revenue is spent. $1.5 million will be used to address the homeless issue, $2.8 million will go toward a recreation center, and $3.8 million will fund an Interstate 225 crossing.

Northglenn uses the money for capital projects and to purchase water rights. Adams County will spend $500,000 on scholarships for low-income students. Filling potholes and fixing roads is a common theme in other towns.

“There’s a lot of money left over to address safety issues that come up or really take on projects that these local communities do not necessarily have the funds to deal with,” said Mike Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group. “For some communities, this tax revenue has made a huge difference.”

Denver collected $29 million last year through taxes and licensing fees; the capitol city prefers to spend this revenue on “ramped-up regulation, enforcement, public health and education efforts.”

While bureaucrats both honest and crooked are reveling in the flush of cash, more importantly, Colorado citizens are reveling in their newfound freedom. Judging by the immense market impact of retail sales, cannabis is a popular product.

Perhaps people are finding it a better and safer alternative than alcohol. There is evidence that people are giving up prescription painkillers in favor of medical cannabis.

A fifth major benefit of legal cannabis sales is the dwindling black market. The federal government’s own statistics show that since 2012, when Washington and Colorado voted to legalize cannabis, trafficking offenses have fallen sharply.

Violence is less of a concern in cannabis trafficking than the issue of unknown origin and handling. With legalization, consumers know exactly where their product comes from and what is in it, including the THC content.

Competition that can operate in the open, instead of having to hide from a senseless drug war, is able to produce the highest quality product using responsible environmental practices.

The temptation of tax revenue is certainly one reason why lawmakers in Colorado and other states have endorsed recreational cannabis sales. But taxation should not be the guiding force for legalization.

Oregon is proving this point. Authorities in the Beaver State have enacted a 25 percent sales tax on recreational cannabis, which is causing some people to consider going back to the black market. This eagerness to collect as much revenue as possible is a symptom of burgeoning government and threatens to drive people away from the legal market.

On the good side, Oregon does not tax medical cannabis at all, perhaps because their medical laws have been in existence since 1998 and sudden taxation would meet with fierce resistance. It is important that other states, as they legalize medical use and sales, follow this example of no taxation.

Colorado continues to provide an interesting experiment in the legalization of a plant that has been demonized by government for decades. While taxation of recreational use is allowing cities to provide community benefits, let’s remember that freedom is the number one reason why legalization must happen everywhere.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: gaykkk; hallucinations; homosexualagenda; libertarians; marijuana; medicalmarijuana
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Comments?
1 posted on 05/29/2016 1:06:16 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cities are selling their soul to the devil, one ounce at a time.


2 posted on 05/29/2016 1:10:19 PM PDT by moovova
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Spending every dime of their “windfall” and then some...

And they will not save a dime of it.

They should look at Atlantic City. The good times come and go quickly.


3 posted on 05/29/2016 1:11:54 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So I say, I say welcome, welcome to the Boomtown
Pick a habit, we got plenty to go around
Welcome, welcome to the Boomtown
All that money makes such a succulent sound
Welcome to the Boomtown


4 posted on 05/29/2016 1:12:32 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“”””Colorado continues to provide an interesting experiment in the legalization of a plant that has been demonized by government for decades. “”””””

Good thing the government doesn’t demonize plants. Oh wait, have they heard of a plant called tobacco? They used to say that was just a plant, too.


5 posted on 05/29/2016 1:12:52 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My son became psychotic after going to college in Colorado and using cannabis.

Google: ‘psychosis’ and ‘cannabis’, and you will find many studies proving a connection.

“They found that those who used cannabis by the age of 15 were more than three times (i.e. 300% higher) as likely to develop illnesses such as schizophrenia.”

“...it was a frightening repeat of an episode a few days earlier when, with no papers to roll a joint, he ate a chunk of cannabis resin and collapsed in a nightclub toilet. ‘When I woke up I heard someone saying: “It’s OK Steve, you can get up now, you’re all right”,’ he recalls. ‘When I looked around, there was no one there...That’s when my voices started and I’ve had them ever since.”


6 posted on 05/29/2016 1:17:37 PM PDT by Darteaus94025 (Can't have a Liberal without a Lie)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s a plant. God grew it, a lot of us smoke it, and that settles it. Don’t like it? Don’t use it.


7 posted on 05/29/2016 1:18:40 PM PDT by dainbramaged (Get out of my country now)
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To: shelterguy

The tax $$ aren’t all that great. What? $50 million, $100 million. Big deal. Probably less than half a percent of the general revenue for the state.


8 posted on 05/29/2016 1:20:08 PM PDT by cornfedcowboy
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Denver collected $29 million last year through taxes and licensing fees;
= = =

About 1/2 mill per week in taxes and fees.

What is the tax rate?; what are the gross sales to produce this?


9 posted on 05/29/2016 1:20:36 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (As always, /s is implicitly assumed. Unless explicitly labled /not s. Saves keystrokes.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

As with all “Vices”, legalize it and tax it.
Put the money to productive, public use.

Those adults that wish to puff the chiba, go ahead.
Those that wish to imbibe their Maker’s Mark, so be it.
Those that ooze at the thought of chocolate covered, chocolate filled, chocolate sprinkled, chocolate caked donuts, have at it.

But don’t make me pay for it.
I have my own vice; my Weiand 6-71 needs premium.


10 posted on 05/29/2016 1:24:42 PM PDT by Macoozie ("Estoy votando por Ted 2016!" bumper stickers available)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yeah, ‘funded’...JUST LIKE THEY WERE ‘FUNDED’ WITH CASINOS.

In other words, given a pittance when the politicians didn’t rob the designated fund dry (which is the usual state of affairs) and in return for a bevy of social problems that cost far more.


11 posted on 05/29/2016 1:27:28 PM PDT by Laser_Ray (Another nifty idea)
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To: Macoozie

Not a Paxton?


12 posted on 05/29/2016 1:27:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Propaganda. For my part, I will continue to regard pot users as brain-damaged subhuman liberal idolators who worship a plant through a form of chemical masturbation, worthy only of being the stopping place for bullets or blades.


13 posted on 05/29/2016 1:33:13 PM PDT by GenXteacher (You have chosen dishonor to avoid war; you shall have war also.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s a good time to sell Ding Dongs, Twinkies and Fig Newtons.


14 posted on 05/29/2016 1:34:32 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Darteaus94025

He needs to stop. Yes, drugs can have mental side effects such as what you have described.

Those side effects will cease with time if he quits.


15 posted on 05/29/2016 1:35:25 PM PDT by chris37 (heartless)
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To: dainbramaged

[ It’s a plant. God grew it, a lot of us smoke it, and that settles it. Don’t like it? Don’t use it. ]

The problem is that Cronyism in the 1930’s caused the government to ban it which drove the breeding of it into a more potent form that is far more destructive than the strain that “God Grew”.

So now that it is legalized it is certainly not the “ditch weed” that it was over 75 years ago...


16 posted on 05/29/2016 1:36:13 PM PDT by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: dainbramaged
lol.

God also grows hemlock, sharpshooter.

17 posted on 05/29/2016 1:36:57 PM PDT by Vision (Best music ever: www.MartiniInTheMorning.com)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Crime and general bad stuff is up too.
18 posted on 05/29/2016 1:37:53 PM PDT by Vision (Best music ever: www.MartiniInTheMorning.com)
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To: moovova

[ Cities are selling their soul to the devil, one ounce at a time. ]

People said the same about booze before prohibition.

Now I will never touch the stuff, but if some fool wants to ruin their life with it, I am fine with it, just don’t tax me to clean up their wrecked lives.


19 posted on 05/29/2016 1:38:12 PM PDT by GraceG (Only a fool works hard in an environment where hard work is not appreciated...)
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To: Darteaus94025

How sad.

Unfortunately, cannabis causes brain damage in users whose brains are still developing. That means in anyone who is age 25 or younger. It just so happens that young people who are the most vulnerable to the damaging effects of cannabis use are also the prime targets of drug pushers.

This experiment with legalizing marijuana will not last long, but by the time it is finished, I’m afraid that the social burden of the damaged users is going to be quite heavy.

I hope that your son refrains from further use, and that he eventually recovers.


20 posted on 05/29/2016 1:38:31 PM PDT by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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