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By October 2014, Colorado officials discovered that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from ATMs located in the state’s marijuana shops using EBT cards since the legalization of pot for recreational use.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!
I lived in Rocky Ford for a few years. That one is a good exit town as well.
This is true.
I'm a Gen-X'er, born and raised in Colorado and we were all potheads in the 80s and 90s. I quit smoking years ago when I joined the Navy and moved away from Colorado but I still keep in touch with my old friends, many of whom continue to get high. These guys, seasoned dope-smokers with 30 years of practice under their belts tell me that the "edibles" will knock them on their asses. A friend of mine confided that he ate one gummy bear and was really stoned and then ate a second. "Drew! that was a mistake!" This is a guy who has been smoking weed since 1984.
This being said, I still fully support legalization. Today's pot is stronger. This is true. Whisky is stronger than beer. Drink 12 ounces of beer and you'll be fine. Drink 12 ounces of wine and you'll be copping a very good buzz. Drink 12 ounces of whisky and you're completely sh*tfaced.
A man's gotta know his limitations.
Obama? Everybody KNOWS it’s Trump’s fault!
I’m gonna guess one of those places to eat was pizza.
Amiright? Or did I miss?
Like Obama's "intellectual stammer"?
My bad.
How is this a solution?
Iran publicly executes drug dealers and yet is still awash in heroin.
Anyhow, it might make for a nice bumpersticker but it's never going to happen, (well, not until the Muslims take over).
[ Like Obama’s “intellectual stammer”? ]
Chris “Thrill Running Up My Leg” Matthews says Obama is too darn smart for the rest of us.
But let's also be honest in asking this question: Where in the Constitution is the Federal Government empowered to ban cannibus?
Before anyone answers "the Commerce clause" (which is technically the mechanism through which most federal drug regulation springs...more on that later), keep in mind our predecessors had to pass the 18th Amendment to prohibit the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages nationally...AND THEN pass the 23rd Amendment to repeal Prohibition.
The Commerce Clause is undoubtedly one of the, if not THE, most abused and twisted legal vehicle when it comes to federal overreach. People who correctly cherish the Rule of Law rightly rail against such abuse, while statists and Dems/libs LOVE it.
Therefore, if anyone supports federal regulation of cannibus without a Constitutional Amendment vis-à-vis the Commerce Clause, the rightful response is "Et tu, Brute?" Congratulations...you are a philosophical cousin of Nancy Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, the New Deal, the left wing of SCOTUS, Obamacare-lovers, and pretty much every two-bit left wing/Dem since the 1930s who tried to regulate away the right to keep and bear arms. Own it.
Group comparison of the gray matter volume by SPM8 plus DARTEL analysis demonstrates significant reduction of gray matter volume in bilateral orbitofrontal gyri (AAL atlas) in marijuana users compared with controls. Right side of the image represents the right hemisphere in axial view.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4250161/
Other images at source
“What up, Dude?”
I know I couldn’t make sense out of much that he said.
Dopes for legalization only look at the money, money, money it brings in.
Higher taxes which of course means more gubmint spending.
Which is insane considering most pro-dopers are libertarians. Which used to mean LESS taxes and LESS government.
But libertarians - like stoners - are politically, economically and socially flaccid.
Especially on social issues. They are either idiots or blind to the social ills and problems that more dope brings to a community or state.
“We’re not fixing our roads. Our school system hasn’t been bailed out”
What do government pensions and benefits look like?
Not to mention that particulate matter in the lungs is never a good thing.
No. Actually, no pizza!
See post 51.
Re Post #69: What you said! (about consitutionality of cannabis bans)
...Not to mention that particulate matter in the lungs is never a good thing.
Spiked Gummy Bears, Yum
I’ll have to look around a bit. Google says population 781. Wow.
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