And thousands more.
Posted on 08/13/2014 11:13:55 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
A few decades ago, marijuana was a topic that relatively few people, mostly counterculture musicians and comedians, spoke about in public. The comedy team of Cheech and Chong made films such as "Up in Smoke" that extolled the pleasures of smoking pot at a time the subject was still taboo.
"When trouble times begin to bother me," they sang, "I take a toke and all my cares go up in smoke." On the fringes of American society, it was usually possible to find activists who wanted to legalize it, as the reggae artist Peter Tosh famously sang. Efforts to legalize the substance in the mid-1970s failed.
Now marijuana has gone mainstream. Twenty three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington have legalized pot for recreational use. The media has featured lively debate over the issue.
Joining other media outlets that have run articles supporting this cause, The New York Times editorial page published a number of high-profile pieces that call for making pot legal at the national level and outline specific steps that should be taken to ensure that the industry evolves in a safe manner.
How did we reach this point? How have we come to the brink of ending the national prohibition against a drug that has been roundly condemned for years as a grave danger to health and a gateway to drugs that can be devastating over time?
Here are eight reasons: [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“...and the state is going to generate about $100 mil in extra tax revenue this year. I ask myself: who would I rather see taxed, myself or stoners? That’s an easy question to answer.”
_________________________________________
Great. Another tax and spend liberal joins the discussion.
This is what excites you libs, isn’t it? More taxes collected so government can continue to grow.
doesn’t make it a “fact”
Any bets on them being connected to the RWJF?
Have any more believable evidence to present?
what % is the tax?
If it's 10% that means a BILLION was spent on pot.
Otherwise that money would have gone to beer, gasoline and stuff that must not be taxed I guess.
Any bets on them being connected to the RWJF?
The anti-gun anti-drug RWJF? I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
global warming must be a fact too, then
Actually age limits work better to keep stuff away from minors than total bans. And with good reason, if somebody is legally selling liquor to adults they have a license of some form. And part of that license means the cops will be sending in minors periodically to try to get illegal alcohol. It’s in the license holders best interest to enforce the laws, else he’ll be fined substantially, lose his license, maybe even face jail time. When you have legal income from selling the product you have a vested interest in NOT breaking the law.
Drug dealers on the other hand are already breaking the law. They aren’t licensed, the cops probably don’t know who they are or where they are. They have no vested interest in not selling to minors, no legal income is on the line. Every transaction for them is illegal, no reason not to make as many as possible.
Liquor license style drugs should, nothing is guaranteed in this world, make drugs harder for minors to get. Of course you know how kids are, they’ll figure out something else. Those who want to will, that’s how whippets were invented.
And thousands more.
but libertarians also oppose age limits don’t they?
Otherwise that money would have gone to cartels, which are not taxed.
Tax and spend liberal? No. I’m a conservative who wants less government not more, and that’s exactly what ending prohibition accomplishes. Also, if it comes down to my paying a tax versus someone else the guess what? I’m picking someone else.
No. At least not in general. I’m sure some do. In any group some will take the belief to crazy land.
global warming must be a fact too, then
More believable evidence has been presented against globull warming. Ball's in your court.
No, its actually for the taxpayers who no longer have to pay for prisons to incarcerate idiots who don’t have enough common sense to stay away from the stuff.
Once they get their way on pot for adults, they will move on to legalizing other drugs and they will move on to abolishing that “unconstitutional” age of consent
If taxpayers had a say in the matter, they would not pay for those things now... cheaper ways to get rid of human debris and detritus
I am sure we will see huge tax rebates and spending cuts any day now in Colorado
There will never be majority support for that - and age-of-consent laws are not set at the federal level.
Yes: letting nature take its course.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.