Posted on 11/30/2018 2:21:41 PM PST by fwdude
On January 1, 2014, Colorado legalized the medical and recreational use of Marijuana. They claimed that it would add millions of dollars to the state’s revenue via state taxes which includes a 2.9% sales tax, 10% special sales tax and 15% excise tax, meaning the state would collect $27.90 for every $100 of recreational marijuana sold in the Rocky Mountain state.
In April 2014, 19 year old foreign exchange student Levy Thamba plunged off a hotel balcony and died after eating legally purchased marijuana laced cookies. After eating just one cookie, Thamba became agitated and ran out onto the balcony and over the edge, falling to his death. The pot-laced cookies were legally purchased by a 21-year-old present at the gathering.
In September 2015, 47-year-old Richard Kirk purchased Pre 98 Bubba Kush Pre-Roll joint and Karma Kandy Orange Ginger, a marijuana laced candy. Shortly after eating the pot laced candy, Kristine Kirk, 44, called 9-1-1 to report that her husband was hallucinating and frightening her and their three children. During her call, she told the police dispatcher that her husband had asked her to get the gun from their safe and shoot him. When she refused, she told the dispatcher that he was retrieving the gun. Twelve minutes into the emergency call, the dispatcher heard a gunshot over the phone and then the line went dead.
When police finally arrived at the house, Kristine was dead from a gunshot to the head and Richard was ranting and rambling to himself. In his ramblings, he admitted to killing his wife. Police said that it appeared to them that Richard was definitely suffering the effects of some controlled substance and/or prescription drugs.
By October 2015, the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area just released their annual report which reveals the impact of legal marijuana use. Among the alarming report, marijuana related traffic deaths have increased by 32%. Not all of those that lost their lives were the users of marijuana. They were the innocent victims of someone else who was driving while under the effects of marijuana.
They also reported significant increases in emergency room and hospital visits linked to marijuana use. Additionally, they reported that school expulsions have increased by 40% with the majority of them being related to marijuana.
By October 2014, Colorado officials discovered that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from ATMs located in the state’s marijuana shops using EBT cards since the legalization of pot for recreational use. These withdrawals were being made illegally as a federal law was passed the same year as the pot was legalized in Colorado, 2012, prohibiting the use of EBT cards at ATMs in pot shops. It’s also illegal to use EBT cards to make withdrawals in liquor stores and casinos, but Watchdog.org reports that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars are being illegally withdrawn at these locations.
After just three years of legalize marijuana, the nice resort and artsy town of Durango had been transformed into something ugly. Along with attracting arts and craft makers and buyers, the city had become a mecca to pot users. The city had seen a huge increase in homeless people, panhandlers, transients and drug addicts.
With the transforming, city officials became alarmed when residents started finding used needles just lying in the streets and on the sidewalks.
Caleb Preston, a local business owner said he regularly has to kick vagrants from sitting in the doorway to his store. With the influx of pot users, the city has also seen an increase in violence and crime. Preston commented:
Just this year there has been a major influx of people between 20 to 30 who are just hanging out on the streets. The problem is while many are pretty mellow, there are many more who are violent.
In a recent episode of Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, it was revealed:
In 2016, there was a spike in the state’s homeless population. And houses have become increasingly unaffordable. A typical Denver home is in the $400,000 dollar range. But the biggest surprise is what’s happened to the black market.It turns out for all the predictions and hope that legalizing marijuana in Colorado would eliminate the black market here—that hasn’t turned out to be the case. In fact, officials in law enforcement and communities tell us they’re having to grapple with a whole new set of problems and costs…
So now what you see is people are taking over these houses, growing a large amount of marijuana. Now it turns into the black market. They ship it out of state and other states are paying large amount of money for this marijuana. So, everything that we were kind of told in re-gards to legalization, that we would get rid of the black market, law enforcement wouldn’t be involved in, it hasn’t panned out. And it’s just not within the city of Colorado Springs. It’s throughout the whole state of Colorado…
There’s also been a spike in other crime like robbery and car theft. In 2016, Colorado’s increase in crime rate was eleven times more than the average 30 biggest U.S. cities. Homicides— up almost 10%.
John Suthers, Mayor of Colorado Springs added:
That’s another irony of this whole thing because the legalization proponents said, ‘oh, you know the cops are spending way too much time on, on this marijuana, they’re ticketing guys in the park and stuff like that. Let’s, let’s stop that.’ Well, guess what, we’re spending an awful lot more time enforcing the marijuana laws than we did when it was all illegal…’The industry always stereotypes me as kind of a drug war dinosaur. You know, I’ve been dealing with this drug problem for years as a prosecutor and I’m “just in a different centu-ry.” You know, that’s fair. Everybody can analyze that. But I will tell you, I’m backed up on the size and scope of the black market that they said wouldn’t exist and now exists in greater a na-ture and extent than they talked about. We have the highest rate of adolescent marijuana use in the country. We’re not fixing our roads. Our school system hasn’t been bailed out by marijuana money.
It seems the only ones who are profiting by four years of legalization are the legal growers and sellers along with the black-market growers and sellers. The promises of helping the schools, fixing the roads and reducing crime and time spent by law enforcement have all been broken. Innocent people are dying. Traffic accidents and emergency room visits have also increased.
But liberals don’t care!
Whom cares?
Indeed. And it will be.
I saw a package of some gummy bears, label stated 100mg THC.
First off, congratulations on beating the bottle, and good morning.
There's no need to be hostile or angry with me ("bud"). Alcohol has been around for millennia. For many, it's a problem, but for many more it's enjoyable. The question is what, if anything the government should do about it.
The deleterious effects of alcohol on some led us to Prohibition, but that introduced problems of its own, like a disregard for the law, and the enrichment of criminals like Capone and bootlegger Joseph Kennedy.
Today, we have a mild form of prohibition on MJ. The national laws on marijuana aren't respected by many, and marijuana traffic is very profitable for the organized cartels of Mexico. Maybe undoing those laws will be a disaster, or maybe they'll be an improvement.
Clearly, a strict from of prohibition can be enforced if there's the will. Even though I find MJ a harmless relaxant in my old age, if I lived in Singapore I wouldn't dare touch it, because I wouldn't want my bony ass caned (or worse). Is that kind of government imposed control worth it, though? And would you do the same for alcohol?
So the end result is that some dumb people did some dumb things? And I’m to believe they weren’t doing dumb things before?
“After just three years of legalize marijuana, the nice resort and artsy town of Durango had been transformed into something ugly. Along with attracting arts and craft makers and buyers, the city had become a mecca to pot users. The city had seen a huge increase in homeless people, panhandlers, transients and drug addicts. “
This describes Manitou Springs (right next to Colorado Springs) to a T.
I had gone there once in 1993 and thought it was a neat little town.
Went back in September of 2014 and it was a bit sketchy. Went back in 2015 and it fallen down a great amount in just a year.
The paragraph I quoted above from the article, describes it precisely.
If you could make big money investing in kiddie porn, would you be as giddy?
My God.
Oh, please. Even Hickenlooper, the sitting leftist governor of Colorado who signed the marijuana bill into law, expressed regret for doing it. Why?
How did “alcohol almost kill” you 28 years ago. If it was anything other than from a drunk driver, you’re projecting.
I know I’ll be opening up another pandora’s box, but this pot trend is tracking along with another trend of evangelical Christians increasingly adopting an alcohol consumption mentality. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Would your friend be just as comfortable opening a whiskey distillery? You should ask him.
Messes with your brain. Shows little promise of Pain control. Biggest benefit is in Neuropathy from Diabetes.
A lot of harmful things are prohibited in a sane, rational society. Would you have it any other way?
So the antithesis of “neo-prohibitionist” is “anarchist,” it seems.
Random correlation. Demographic and standards of living are larger impact than legalization of MJ.
Colorado is the leader among the loser states
...Messes with your brain.
Shows little promise of Pain control.
Biggest benefit is in Neuropathy from Diabetes.
https://www.aan.com/Guidelines/home/GetGuidelineContent/651
Authoritarian source
American Academy of Neurology
About as conservative a medical group as you can get
This is a summary of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) systematic review regarding the use of medical marijuana (cannabis) for treating selected neurologic disorders.
It isn’t the breath. It’s the THC residue on your clothes.And dogs to sniff it out also. Pot smoke leaves a filmy residue.
And...
https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1669
MINNEAPOLIS – When medical marijuana is taken for chronic nerve pain, it may provide pain relief by reducing connections between the areas of the brain that process emotions and sensory signals, according to a study published in the September 5, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked specifically at radicular pain, a type of nerve pain that radiates from the spine into the legs. Sciatica is a common form of radicular pain.
Index study
http://n.neurology.org/content/early/2018/09/05/WNL.0000000000006293
Must have listened to propaganda created by massive corporations and unions who are losing tons of money from cannabis being legal.
That is really the only way to be against a natural herb that is safer and less addictive than than ANY other drug known to man. Even when abused, it is far less addictive, impairing and less violence causing than alcohol and scores of legal pills. Hell, cough syrup is far more addictive, impairing and deadly.
Prohibition is not about safety. It is nothing but government theatre to take our freedoms for corporate profit and control. It is reminiscent of Soviet techniques. A tiny object can be planted on anyone and turn them into an enemy of society ("drug dealer"). Without any other evidence, you can send them off to prison for decades and the braiwashed public will thank you.
Oh please , don’t give that unsupported bs. The fact that marijuana is illegal and criminals control should tell why it SHOULD be legal. ‘’Millions of brain damaged kids’’. What a pant load. And if your were paying attention pal I said Ive been sober for 28 years.
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