Posted on 05/11/2013 4:28:29 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Colorado is set to become the first U.S. state to regulate and tax sales of recreational marijuana, after lawmakers approved several bills that set business standards and rules. Legislators expect enforcement of the rules to be paid for by two taxes on marijuana — a 15 percent excise tax, and a 10 percent sales tax.
Other measures included in the package set limits on how much marijuana visitors to Colorado can buy (a quarter of an ounce), as well as a limit on how many cannabis plants a private citizen can grow (six).
Gov. John Hickenlooper has indicated he will sign the legislation, according to The Denver Post. Colorado voters first approved the legalization of pot for recreational use by people over age 21 in a ballot initiative last November.
Voters adopted a similar measure in Washington state, where plans for regulation and taxation are still being formed.
"The first legal marijuana should be on sale in Washington in March 2014," reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "and Colorado will have its cannabis stores open as soon as Jan. 1."
Like all new Colorado taxes, voters must approve the new taxation system in a ballot initiative this autumn. Other states are already taxing pot, but those levies cover medical marijuana. California reportedly raises more than $100 million a year on such sales.
The Colorado legislation adopted Wednesday also includes a requirement that "pot must be sold in child-resistant packages with labels that specify potency," The Post reports. "Edible marijuana products will have serving-size limits."
How do you we find out if a purchaser is 21 years of age? Does this really stump you?
And why should non-Coloradans be discriminated against?
The measure is really just a 'feel good' to assuage those offended by the notion that people would go to Colorado to buy marijuana. If Florida put a 6 pack limit on out of state beer purchasers they'd just go to more than one store on the way to the beach, wouldn't they? Enforcement would likely come if a cop pulled over someone with an out of state plate and bales of pot in their trunk. But I think this a gesture in the law more than anything. Like Florida, they're going to welcome the tax dollars from out of state.
I suppose you are referring to the practice of "carding" customers (i.e., demanding to see their Driver's License, in order to establish their ages).
I've never been "carded" in a grocery or liquor store in my life, and I have never had a Driver's License. (For identification purposes - e.g., when banking - I use my passport, which does not state my place of residence.)
Hence my being "stumped."
As far as the limitation being a "feel-good" gesture - yes, I agree.
My questions were more rhetorical, anyway.
Regards,
limit on how many cannabis plants a private citizen can grow (six).
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I’m interested in this as a grower ... where can I find the proposed legislation? link please? ... are there higher limits for registered growers? Can grow “rights” be purchased from citizens that are not growing themselves? When must the tax stamps be purchased , when product is readied for retail or at the wholesale level?
You ask many good questions. But don’t worry. Pot is now legal in the Mile High (really high) City. And as a result the gubmint will tax dope and will increase in size.
Soon there will be bureaus, agencies, divisions and departments all created to ovesee legal marijuana. Oh. And don’t forget the special Tax Enforcement and Collection Offices that will be legislated. Wowee! Just think of the thousands of new jobs that are being created here.
So what if they’re all government jobs that ultimately overtax the citizens and worsen local economies? And so what if the thousands of new legal dopers can’t pass drug tests and get jobs? That’s what welfare is for.
I want the airport concession ,, a 0.25 oz. sale multiplied by 5,000 sales a day sounds pretty good... of course the airport will have to provide a lounge... it should make DHS/TSA’s job easier ... “you want my shoes off bro? No problemo” “you want to feel up my 12 year old daughter ... HELL YEAH DUDE!”
I don’t use drugs or smoke pot, but as a defense attorney (former prosecutor) I assure you that regulating weed in this manner will be a benefit to CO for the following reasons (assuming they don’t use it for other nefarious reasons which I will discuss below):
One, it’s a sin tax just like on tobacco and alcohol, neither of which I am convinced are any more safe than marihuana (alcohol in particular).
Sin taxes are voluntary taxes which I support by choosing not to pay them while others do.
The big benefit that I see for CO is that no matter how you slice it, the legal sale of an otherwise black market product will cause the Mexican drug cartels to take a hit... or blow (puns everywhere). While cartels deal in nearly everything illegal, their bread and butter is marijuana.
The downside I see is a problem that will have to be dealt with soon enough. If CO makes people show ID and sign their name (like buying pseudphedrine in most places) then how long before all those people (even the occasional user or just experiment one time) receive notice that their recorded purchase and use precludes them from owning, purchasing, or carrying a firearm.
If CO is going “liberal” then the fight must be over what kind of liberalism do they want. If I loved there I would be far more upset over the new Unconstitutional gun laws. That is not “liberal”, at least not in the classic sense.
Conservatives have to recognize the demographic shift and make the case for conservative libertarian government. The worst thing that can happen is statism.
Plus, there’s nothing unconstitutional IMO with a state legalizing marijuana. Contrary to the SCOTUS holding in Reich, I don’t believe for a moment that the US Congress has the power to do squat about this.
That is why there had to be a Constitutional Amendment for prohibition of alcohol the first time.
It was because the Congress did not have the broad commerce clause powers that came about shortly after states ceded their sovereignty to the Feds via the 17th Amendment by the direct election of US senators.
All that said, as a defense attorney in northern TX I’m making good money off the marijuana trafficking coming through our state.
The thing that actually concerns me is that I see cops and (particularly State Troopers) pulling over just about any car with a license plate from west of here for either no legit reason or obviously pretext reasons.
I have had several big pot cases thrown out or suppressed because of the fishing expeditions conducted by law enforcement based on a hunch.
They get their probable cause after the dogs sniff around, but the problem is that they keep the, on the side of the highway for nearly an hour waiting on the dogs. If no solid PC has been established early on then the detention (seizure) becomes illegal, and therefore the following search.
OK, you can have franchices at the airports. I want the locations at college campuses.
Together we should make a fortune!
Untill - of course - we are busted for failure to comply with the 250 new tax codes, permits, licensing agreements, zoning variances and other various and sundry laws and regulations that are being created as we FReep.
Then of course there’s Obamacare. That will doom our little American Dream just as it is killing many other new start-ups accross the USA.
Every state already addressed this from a DWI or DUI standpoint.
In TX, the law is that a person is DWI if he is .08 or higher (alcohol of course), or or has lost the normal use of his mental or physical faculties as a result of the introduction of alcohol, drugs, or any combination thereof.
90% of DWI cases I get (as defense attorney) are alcohol related.
I have had plenty though where a person has taken a legally prescribed drug like Oxycodone or Xanax or _____.
One cannot honestly say based on levels alone whether a drug has caused a person to be DWI.
For example, chronic pain patients can function safely taking OxyContin and driving, because of their body’s tolerance for the medication. The same is true for many others.
Furthermore, my wife could be technically .03 and still have lost the normal use of her mental or physical faculties, and with a bad lawyer be found guilty of DWI.
My point is there is nothing new here in DWI law.
What is new is that cops in CO can’t use the smell of marihuana (which they can never prove) to justify tearing your damn car apart now.
That’s a nice upside.
I don’t think this country lived under the tyranny of drugs are the social ills therefrom during the time of the Founders until the mid 20th century.
Plus your premise is that the government is “able”.
Any “war” fought for more than 50 years without doing anything besides make cartels wealthy and militarize domestic law enforcement is not a success in my book.
Big Jiggly Yoyo down the alley between 21st and Peachtree Ave. will give you an off the books discount without the taxes.
The drug cartels will not lose here. They are and will be the wholesale supplier of marijuana. Legal or illegal - the majority of pot comes from Mexico and profits funnel back to the cartels.
Now you may claim - as many do - that pot is as easy to grow as is a weed. Hence the moniker. What's to keep people from growing some in the backyard for personal use?
Only a 500 dollar fine for being caught with unlicensed untaxed weed. People can grow their own tobacco and distill their own booze too. But for the most part - that doesn't happen. The gubmint sees to that.
And since there are no other options for the marijuana demand (caused by the State) the Cartels will happily contine to supply.
Wrong again, R2. A libertarian would say that we have the right to consume a weed and its by products without any taxation or oversight from the government.
How lovely. Government as a virtual dope peddler. Profiting from its own cultivation of a populace of compliant dopeheads. Adding fag marriage, this whole country is becoming a worthless, degenerate sewer. Next time there’s another 9/11, I don’t know if I’ll even give a damn.
What is this War on Drugs that so many speak of around here?
Clearly there is nothing remotely hostile toward rampant drug usage here in the USA.
For a real WOD, see countries like Singapore or Malaysia.
You are correct. They would say that. They would be lying, naive and hypocritical.
But they would say that.
This article points out the aftermath of liberaltarians and their quest to decriminalize dope.
“What does it matter if someone smokes a joint? How does legal pot harm me?”
Well now we know.
Yup....be careful what you ask for.....you might just get it.
Didn’t realize it was already addressed, thanks for that.
Cannabis impairs driving far less than alcohol and many Rx pills. Some studies even claim that people drive safer with cannabis because impairment is relatively low and they are less likely to speed.
Unlike with Rx pills, you can easily smell it if somebody has smoked. It also smells far more than alcohol.
If an officer smells it, a mouth swab test will prove if the subject has recently smoked.
Cannabis impairs driving far less than alcohol and many Rx pills. Some studies even claim that people drive safer with cannabis because impairment is relatively low and they are less likely to speed.
Unlike with Rx pills, you can easily smell it if somebody has smoked. It also smells far more than alcohol.
If an officer smells it, a mouth swab test will prove if the subject has recently smoked.
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Never smoked it, don’t really know anyone that has so I was unaware of all this. I’ve gotten quite the education this a.m. Thanks :-)
Interesting phrase but who made them illegal and who is the tyrant?
The welfare state creates and exacerbates many more social ills than drugs.
Given a choice between drugs being legal and the IRS illegal, I have made my choice.
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