Posted on 05/23/2014 12:15:28 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Nearly five months into Colorados great pot experiment, the early returns are good. In Denver, home to the bulk of the first-in-the-nation retail stores, violent crime fell by 5.6 percent over the first four months of the year, with major property crimes down nearly twice that, according to the citys police. State coffers, meanwhile, are flush with tax revenues from the nearly $50 million worth of recreational weed that was sold through March, the last month for which official estimates are available. Those sales translate into $7.3 million for the state, a number that jumps to $12.6 million when you factor in medical marijuana and licensing fees. Lawmakers are already trying to figure out how to spend future revenues that are projected to reach $98 million this year alone.
Its too soon, however, to call Colorados measure an unqualified success. Officials had long warned of unforeseen problems once the retail stores opened their doors on Jan. 1, and such fears have proved legitimate thanks largely to how people are choosing to get high. So-called edibles are being blamed for an increase in the number of pot-related emergency room visits, including those from a half-dozen or so children who unknowingly ate pot-laced treats. The baked goods and candies also are believed to have played a role in two deaths in the past two monthsproviding opponents with front-page anecdotes that run counter to the cannabis-kills-no-one narrative long trumpeted by legalization advocates. A college student visiting from Wyoming jumped to his death from a Denver hotel balcony in March after consuming six times the recommended dose of a pot-infused cookie. The following month, a Denver man is believed to have shot and killed his wife after eating pot-laced candy, although police concede that he may have had other drugs in his system, too....
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Obviously it was inevitable
Or broke into their parents liquor cabinet and got pregnant or in a drunken auto crash.
and exploited by others instead of being looked at as the individual cases they are
Same here. I think we’re all Bozos on this bus.
Good point.
I suspect, though, that it has more to do with financial interests. Corporations who have or are ready to invest in marijuana growth are likely pressuring politicians to legalize. It’s been quite a number of years ago, but I remember reading about how one of the big tobacco companies was poised to invest in pot production.
who have or are ready to invest =
who have invested or are ready to invest
And the article says CO officials are figuring out how to SPEND it.
It's ironic that free-thinking, anti-government regulation pot smokers will be the cause of even more government spending.
Just wait until “what do you mean I have cancer? Pot can’t give you cancer!?!...”
Fascinating... The issue with molds could lead to a whole new level of corporate/cartel warfare.
***So-called edibles are being blamed ***
NOTE TO SELF: When selling 30 round magazines out of the truck of your car, DON’T EAT THE LOCAL PASTRIES! Bring your own from out of state.
It makes one wonder why people are rushing to Colorado so determined to get “high”.
I’m 67 years old and have never tried it. Never had a desire to try. I’ve always believed that one should be in control of their bodies at all times, except when in surgery.
Stop calling me Fred; my name's Adolph.
“Im 67 years old and have never tried it. Never had a desire to try. Ive always believed that one should be in control of their bodies at all times, except when in surgery.”
Please. One is no more “out of control” than after having a couple of beers. I am 58, I smoked weed in high school and college and I can tell you are the kind of control nazi that would experience a paranoid episode if you tried cannabis. Conversely, although I have not ingested cannabis in any form for roughly thirty years. If I were to travel to Colorado I might do the nostalgia schtick and buy a legal joint since medical considerations no longer allow me to drink alcohol.
A cautionary note, however. Although I have long been of the opinion that the stuff was made illegal purely through a hyperbolic media campaign based on falsehood, this is not a case of going back to the olden days when it was legal. We're not there, and where we're going isn't there. Even social changes that are broadly beneficial can carry with them a few nasty gotchas; in this case the spread of use to children who are affected differently from adults. We'll see how it all goes.
Not ignored, but rather appreciated as one of the many risks that society has to deal with every day. I'm willing to bet, for example, that during the first five months of legalized marijuana, a lot more people in Denver have gone to the emergency room because of alcohol poisoning than the number of people who sought emergency treatment for pot ingestion. I'm even willing to bet that during that five month period the number of deaths or serious injuries attributable to marijuana are significantly less than deaths or serious injuries attributable to alcohol, tobacco, Tylenol, or obesity.
yee haw. a reg’lar paradise.
There’s been a heavy push to legalize since about 5 minutes after it became illegal. It’s just finally gained enough steam to start winning, largely because there’s now three generations worth of former (and even current) pot smokers who know the government lies about pot voting.
***... and I can tell you are the kind of control nazi..***
Me? A control nazi? I only control myself! You wanna smoke it go ahead.
***Please. One is no more out of control than after having a couple of beers.***
My dad could get falling down drunk on three 3.2 Oklahoma beers. And I was in the military with another man who got violent after two regular beers. He was dangerous!
I drink two regular beers a day and have no problems. I still don’t figure why people want to suck any form of smoke into the lungs.
I knew an elderly woman who was a school teacher in the 1930s Texas. She said the Mexicans there smoked MJ and when hey did they got mean after smoking it.
Her words, not mine. No mention of what happened to white people.
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