Perhaps Colorado is setting up a Visitors Bureau for dope smokers.
Yeah. As you enter the state - be sure and stop at the Visitors Center and get a pamphlet showing all the marijuana locations.
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."
But of course that's the goal for libertarians:
Legalize it.
Tax it.
Increase the size of government.
Better than the mob getting the money.
And will they do commercials showing the horrors of smoking pot, like they do with cigarettes??? Will they cost $12 a bag??
I’m not certain that there’s much of a difference any more between the ‘mob’ and ‘government’.
Maybe it is better for the ‘mob’ to have the money. At least it won’t be used to further undermine the culture and what’s left of the democratic process.
Ever notice the number of SWAT teams in our nation?
Property forfeiture laws?
Excise taxes and fees would fund a reasonably sized government with no need for a quasi-criminal, politicized weapon like the IRS snooping into every crevice of our lives.
The Mob and Cartels will undercut the legal dope, just like they do with the cigarette smuggling in the high tax States. Gov. Hegenpooper better not count on that cash yet.
What I wonder is what happens to the people that are impaired by this now legal drug and drive.
Unless I’m mistaken there are no roadside tests that can be given to show that someone is high when they are driving erratically or when they are involved in an accident. It’s not like drunk driving where you can get a breathalyzer or BAC done quickly.
So are there going to be some new laws about driving while under the influence of marijuana? I mean I realize it goes on all the time anyway, but if it’s now legal I think it opens society up to a lot of new users or ones that use with greater frequency since it’s legal. Maybe I’m wrong, but I see problems with more people driving impaired.
At one point in recent history I honestly believed that Colorado was becoming a viable, sensible entity.
Today, it has committed suicide and is closer in identity to California.
Do you think that the “War on(some)Drugs” didn’t increase the size and power of government?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Of course. But freedom and liberty demand a government that is able to combat the tyranny of illegal drugs and the social ills they bring.
While liberals may want “Excise taxes and fees” as they increase the dope-smoking welfare state; conservatives are happy with fines and even jail sentences for these dangerous behaviors.
A 25% tax?
I hope they have good luck in collecting that.
After all, the Mary Jane sellers and growers didn’t pay much attention to laws before it became legal.
Cigarette smoke BAD. Marijuana smoke GOOD.
Dachshunds bad.......pit bulls good.
People who immigrate to our country legally bad......Illegal entry into our country good.
And, it goes on and on and on.
Good luck telling the family of someone who was decapitated at work by someone who was high as a kite.
I smell lawsuits coming out the wazoo.
ROFL. I'm not a pot-smoker, but you clearly have no CLUE what marijuana does. The higher one is on pot, the less interest they have in pretty much anything that requires effort, including getting up off of the couch. There are plenty of drugs out there that drive the user to manic amounts of energy and unreasonable or psychotic actions... but pot is not one of them. Alcohol is far, far, FAR more likely to be the engine behind violent criminal actions than pot is.
That is what the whole marijuana legalization bit is about, money. Follow the money.
Of course, this will only bring us marijuana ‘moonshiners’ avoiding the tax.
Unintended consequences, again.
There is no Utopia on earth.
I would agree. If you taxed it like tobacco, no one would say much, and it’d be accepted. Forget about anyone taking this serious and paying taxes. Legalization didn’t occur....it simply got more illegal, while being legal.
Tobacco (Nicotine) is the number 1 smuggled drug in America for a reason.
And how, pray tell, are the storekeepers and tobacconists supposed to determine if a given customer is a "marijuana [?!] visitor to Colorado" (I assume that that means "non-resident of Colorado visiting Colorado for the purpose of purchasing marijuana")?
And why should non-Coloradans be discriminated against?
Regards,
That reason being? The "smooth, mild flavor?"
Regards,
Perhaps Colorado is setting up a Visitors Bureau for dope smokers.
Yeah. As you enter the state - be sure and stop at the Visitors Center and get a pamphlet showing all the marijuana locations.
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