Pot tax collections booming in Colorado

Associated Press ^ | Jun 9, 2014 7:18 PM EDT | Kristen Wyatt

[Olog-hai]

Colorado’s marijuana market boomed in April as tens of thousands celebrated the once-underground 4/20 pot holiday. […]

An estimate from the Colorado Department of Revenue showed that Colorado made about $5.3 million from medical and recreational pot taxes and fees in April. That’s up from about $5 million in March.

Colorado made no estimate of 4/20 visitors. But pot shops in Denver had long lines the whole weekend, and at least 30,000 flocked to a city park to mark the marijuana celebration. …

[FlingWingFlyer]

Getting the dummies high and taking their money! What a government!

[entropy12]

Those revenues are peanuts compared to savings for:

Less prisons
Less prison staff
Less cops
Less judges
Less bailiffs
Less public defenders
Less court buildings

[Born to Conserve]

I remember watching state lotteries spread across the country. I guess this will be the same. Give legal pot one decade to spread to every state.

[umgud]

Those revenues are peanuts compared to savings for:

Yes, but because of the legalization scheme, drug criminals have entered the legal market as licensed sellers.

[hinckley buzzard]

Dopers on parade. What a proud sight.

[lurk]

As with gambling, the revenue stream has to be taken out of blood veins elsewhere in the economy.

[cherry]

more drug rehabs
more ER visits
more deaths due to weed induced accidents
more nurses
mored doctors
more hospital beds
more bus/taxi/train/plane accidents
more crime
more violence...

[cherry]

there is not a one person in our local detox facility that does not also use weed....their random urine tests prove it...however, there are actually people in there who abuse heroin who never drink.....

if someone is drinking...you know it...the odor...the look...the perceptive ability... but on weed, etc...you might not know....you might send your kid on a bus whose driver is smoked......

[HiTech RedNeck]

Colorado is going to pot. (Badoom tish!)

[entropy12]

Of course...but criminals will have to compete with law abiding as added competition. WHen pot is illegal, ALL profits go to criminals.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Folks who are bent in finding solace in a substance can be induced to switch substances (I’ve heard that at the founding of America, liquor use was crazy high), but the genuine answer is spiritual/theological.

[HiTech RedNeck]

true, street pot dealing will fall.

[entropy12]

Conjecture! There is no evidence to support your claims.
Personally I do not even drink alcohol and never smoked pot or tried any illegal drugs. However I believe there should be freedom to pursue your own lifestyle. I am against big government intruding in any of my life style choices.

Every one of my claims is obvious. No need for cops and prisons to jail pot smokers.

I can refute some your claims based on pure common sense. When anything is illegal, it costs more on the black market. If pot can be purchased at Walmart it will be cheaper and less need to commit robberies and burglaries.

The real hole in your claims is that anyone who wants to use pot where it is illegal is already getting it. Do you know of any person who is unable to buy illegal pot? One can buy pot in every corner of every city in the USA. So your claim that it will need additional health services is baseless.

[factoryrat]

The mexican drug cartels are going to have to step up their game if they still want to compete. Expect more robberies and murders at growing operations and dispensaries in the near future. Low fruit ripe for the picking.

[Mom MD]

There is something called cyclic vomiting syndrome highly associated with marijuana use. It takes up a lot of resources in the ED as these people tend to be frequent flyers.
Then there is the case of the guy who tried a marijuana edible and became very paranoid and killed his wife while she was calling 911. Or the kid who died falling off a building with his marijuana experience. Yes legal marijuana use has costly unintended consequences.

[JSDude1]

The only good news to this is the brain dead liberals will be even deader, and so the non libs will take over.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Usual note to self: When selling 30 round AK and AR magazines out of the trunk of your car, DO NOT EAT THE LOCAL PRODUCE! Bring your own food from out of state.

[MacMattico]

There was a time when I didn't care either way if Pot was legal or not. But in working with HS kids I've recently decided I'm against legalization. With it being legal in some states, kids see this as meaning acceptable. I've had kids tell me flat out that they smoke because it's going to be legal here anyway so what's the big deal? I've seen them go from productive and active to potheads in a short period of time. We have more emergency calls then ever before in my little town and in the increased cases smoking pot is usually involved. And about the tax revenue thing— kids can't buy it legally and many others won't pay the extra taxes. Illegal sales have gone up, not decreased. My daughters childhood friend got so stoned she woke up somewhere not knowing what happened to her or how she got there. When rumors spread around school she took an entire bottle of Tylenol and posted it on Facebook. A parent saw it and called 9/11. She was hospitalized for three weeks. Now back home she's quit school and is high almost everyday. She considers my daughter a “prude”. It's now becoming “cooler” in HS to be a stoner then an athlete. It's sad. A stupid kid goes out and gets drunk and throws up all day the next day usually decides I don't want to feel this way everyday. Kids that smoke tend to think it's ok to get high several days a week regularly.

[MacMattico]

Not true. Illegal sales are up because now if you’re caught with it in CO nothing is done, but it’s still cheaper on the street then in the Starbucks looking pot shop with added taxes.