[Responsibility2nd]

Colorado's crime rate did rise a bit. But many things influence crime rates. Washington state's violent crime rate rose a little but slightly less than the national average

 

Fool. It's not just crime rates that need looking at. What about unemployment rates? What about welfare rates? What about the tax and spending increases that Colorado has suffered with? The lower educational levels?

There are many tangible negatives to legal weed.

[bigbob]

Weed hasn’t exactly been hard to get for the past 30 or so years, and I doubt we’ll see a huge spike in those things after legalization.

The taxes from it will help offset those social costs - which today are borne by taxpayers alone. It will also free up law enforcement and legal/prison resources to focus on bigger crimes.

We get the kind of laws we demand and regulation of alcohol is the closest model we have. Prohibition didn’t work.

As part of legalization, I’d like to see strict testing and heavy penalties for impaired driving, and mandatory screening for certain jobs. And significantly harsher penalties for more powerful drugs.

[blu]

What about unemployment rates? What about welfare rates? What about the tax and spending increases that Colorado has suffered with?

Check your data and see how many of the folks on unemployment and on assistance are actually transplanted from other states. It seems that especially Boulder had an influx of out of state people who moved there for the legal pot.