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By October 2014, Colorado officials discovered that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from ATMs located in the state’s marijuana shops using EBT cards since the legalization of pot for recreational use.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!
Truth! Legal pot has made our state and my city a worse place to live. Pot heads can opine all they want but we have more crime and vagrancy with no visible upside.
Sorry to have come across testy. I’m just fed up with self-righteous hypocrites who see no problem with the damage alcohol causes and think pot is absolute poison. To be perfectly honest. marijuana is far more pleasant than alcohol is a VERY powerful aphrodisiac. Tobacco, in particular cigarette smoking cause far more health problems and deaths than alcohol and in all the history of the last century no one has ever called for it’s prohibition.
We’ve had good interactions before, so I was in no hurry to return fire. Also, I agree completely with the comments in your last post w/r/t pot vs alcohol and tobacco. I had a friend with an iron constitution who abused everything under the sun, but it was the tobacco he’d quit 20 years ago which finally got him.
Since I’m drifted over to tobacco... it’s the tar that kills. Why is everyone so exercised about vaping? Is a clean vaping addiction to nicotine so bad, compared to the other possibilities out there? (And, as a lifelong non-smoker, I have no dog in that fight).
I know it’s addictive. I have a BIL who has a very addictive personality. Opiates, alcohol, tobacco... you name it. At the request of his family, he quit smoking for a while, but then blew out his pancreas with alcohol. Of course, the poor guy is also an Ivy League liberal arts educated liberal. Anyway...
Since he couldn’t drink anymore, and opiates were frowned on after he treated someone’s bathroom drug cabinet like a PEZ dispenser at a family reunion, he went back to smoking, with the approval of his nuclear family, because he needed some outlet.
But, then vaping came along... which I recommended to him, and he was able to drastically cut back his cigarette consumption. Vaping was enough to keep his jitters down and enabled him to cut back on the cigs.
“You are from the real world, right?”
Not so much, I guess. More a man of the middle 20th century.
When I hear the term “buy,” I think of the exchange of money. EBT cards I think of as “trade,” although I guess there’s no functional difference.
” but it was the tobacco he’d quit 20 years ago which finally got him.”
Or maybe it didn’t,and he would have died anyway.
It would be considered a smoking related death in order to satisfy the smoke Nazis.
Smoking is NOT good for you,but it certainly isn’t as bad as it is made out to be.
It was non-small-cell lung cancer. I assume tobacco-related causation. In fact, I was surprised, because he’d spent some months scrapping a destroyer where (to quote him) “the asbestos flew around like it was a snow storm”. But, he didn’t have mesothelioma.
That’s not accurate
You can most definitely be cited if the officer suspects you are high
Or smells it
Same as taking a Percocet or Valium and being stopped impaired
Speaking of alcohol
Alcohol related deaths in Colorado via traffic accidents 161
Traffic deaths in Colorado whereby victim tested positive for cannabis were 115 the same time
Of those 115 approximately 60% were enough nanograms concentration to make one high
Marijuana can be detected for months ...when it no longer has any intoxicating effect which is a matter of hours
I could not find data on marijuana versus alcohol in other deaths like murder and spousal or child abuse
Over 2000 Americans a year die from alcohol by itself lethal overdose
It’s exponentsily higher if combination drugs are taken into account
I’m unaware of THCA overdoses but I would think it’s possible say if someone drank a liter of CO2 THCA vape oil
Can large doses makes folks nutty ...oh yes
It’s not like an acid test bu the overamped internal dialogue is reminiscent but much less intense
Anyone gets in trouble with pot intoxication should have a benzodiazepine handy and don’t drive or operate tower cranes or passenger airlines or perform pancreatic surgery
I know folks I cannot lie who function at stratospheric levels of accomplishment in business and law high as a damn kite
They tend to be hyper as hell and weed slows them to manageable
I sure liked it in my youth
Maybe I’ll be a retiree stoner with no hair one day except I can’t afford to retire
Even though I love the taste of beer wine and liquor I detest the effect
Since well before any state had legalized, kids have been reporting that they can get pot almost as easily as cigarettes or beer - despite the latter two being severalfold more prevalent among the general population. The available evidence says the better way to keep a drug away from kids is to legalize it for adults (giving its legal sellers an economic incentive to not sell to kids).
A number of things that can be used to harm OTHERS are prohibited. Alcohol, tobacco, and fast food (to name just a few) are legal and regulated because their only proximate harm is to the user.
What is “regulation” other than strict prohibitions under many circumstances?
See? Pot never becomes legal, only much more highly regulated. I hope you’re happy with your new “libertarianism.”
Empty word games - and that "many" is highly disputable.
See? Pot never becomes legal, only much more highly regulated.
Doesn't follow and isn't true. Never-noway-nohow is much more restrictive than what's imposed by any legalizing state.
I hope you’re happy with your new “libertarianism.”
When did I ever claim to be a libertarian?
...and roger. I am not far off. It is often difficult for me to visualize how corrupt and rotten the republic has become.
Oh, please. Pot is now MUCH more regulated than when it was completely banned. Now, children must admittedly be protected, so parameters of all kinds must be set. Dispensaries close to schools? No, there are now specified ranges. That probably goes for churches and other places that are not inclined to be subject to pot’s influence.
That’s just one of dozens of examples.
Pot is now MUCH more regulated than when it was completely banned.
Only under some strained and uninteresting daffynition of "more regulated". My statement stands.
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