Colorado Governor: Legal Marijuana Market is Exceeding Tax Expectations

[JQPublic1]

Colorado Governor: Legal Marijuana Market is Exceeding Tax Expectations
February 20, 2014
•
DENVER (AP) — Colorado's legal marijuana market is far exceeding tax expectations, according to a budget proposal released Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper that gives the first official estimate of how much the state expects to make from pot taxes.
The proposal outlines plans to spend some $99 million next fiscal year on substance abuse prevention, youth marijuana use prevention and other priorities. The money would come from a statewide 12.9 percent sales tax on recreational pot. Colorado's total pot sales next fiscal year were estimated to be about $610 million.
Source: AP. Read full article. (link)
Colorado Governor: Legal Marijuana Market is Exceeding Tax Expectations - Reason 24/7 : Reason.com

 

[waltky]

Early indications are in...

Legal pot in Colorado hasn't stopped black market
April 4, 2014 — A 25-year-old is shot dead trying to sell marijuana the old-fashioned, illegal way. Two men from Texas set up a warehouse to grow more than they would ever need. And three people buying pot in a grocery store parking lot are robbed at gunpoint.

While no one expected the state's first-in-the-nation recreational sales would eliminate the need for dangerous underground sales overnight, the violence has raised concerns among police, prosecutors and pot advocates that a black market for marijuana is alive and well in Colorado. "It has done nothing more than enhance the opportunity for the black market," said Lt. Mark Comte of the Colorado Springs police vice and narcotics unit. "If you can get it tax-free on the corner, you're going to get it on the corner." It's difficult to measure whether there has been an increase in pot-related crimes beyond anecdotal reports because no one at either the federal or state levels is keeping track of the numbers of killings, robberies and other crimes linked directly to marijuana.

Pot advocates say the state is in a transition period, and while pot-related crimes will continue, they will begin to decline as more stores open and prices of legal marijuana decline. "It's just a transition period," activist Brian Vicente said. "Marijuana was illegal for the last 80 years in our state, and there are some remnants of that still around. Certainly, much like alcohol, over time these underground dealers will fade away."

Sales are due to begin in June in Washington, where authorities will be watching for similar cases. "There's going to be a black market here," said Cmdr. Pat Slack of the Snohomish Regional Drug/Gang Task Force, which covers an area outside Seattle. "There will be drug rip-offs and drug debts that haven't been paid. All of that is going to stay." Under Colorado's voter-approved law, it is legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Authorities are concerned that means illegal dealers and buyers believe they can avoid prosecution. These dealers and their customers also tend to be targets, if robbers know they are flush with cash.

Arapahoe County, outside Denver, has seen "a growing number of drug rips and outright burglaries and robberies of people who have large amounts of marijuana or cash on them," said District Attorney George Brauchler. His district has seen at least three homicides linked to pot in recent months and a rising number of robberies and home invasions. Among them was a February case in which a 17-year-old boy said he accidentally shot and killed his girlfriend while robbing a man who had come to purchase weed.

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See also:

'Postal Service...Being Used to Facilitate Drug Dealing'
April 3, 2014 -- "The postal service -- the mails -- are being used to facilitate drug dealing," Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

"And we need to work with the Postal Service to come up with ways in which we get at that problem. It is shocking to see the amount of drugs that get pumped into communities all around this country through our mail system. "And we have to deal with it -- that's a major problem we have to deal with." Holder was responding to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who told the committee that the only way to get heroin and other drugs into Alaska's very remote communities "is through the mails."

"Through the post office?" Committee Chair Barbara Mikulsi (D-Md.) interjected. "Through the United States Post Office, Madam Chairwoman," Murkowski confirmed. Murkowski said the drugs are "in some cases are wiping out families." Holder told Murkowski that she'd raised an issue "that I really think we need to focus on." He said he'd had "the same reaction that the chair did when I first heard about this." Holder was testifying about the Justice Department's Fiscal Year 2015 budget request.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...tal-servicebeing-used-facilitate-drug-dealing

 

[Crystalclear]

It's better that the government gets extra tax income by selling weed than that they use a lot of money to finance the useless DEA.

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - it'll drive ya crazy...

Student Jumps to Death at Denver Hotel After Eating Too Much Pot
April 17, 2014 — A Wyoming college student who jumped to his death at a Denver hotel had eaten more of a marijuana cookie than was recommended by a seller, police records show — a finding that comes amid increased concern about the strength of popular pot edibles after Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana.

Levy Thamba Pongi, 19, consumed more than one cookie purchased by a friend — even though a store clerk told the friend to cut each cookie into six pieces and to eat just one piece at a time, said the reports obtained Thursday. Pongi began shaking, screaming and throwing things around a hotel room before he jumped over a fourth-floor railing into the hotel lobby March 11. An autopsy report listed marijuana intoxication as a "significant contributing factor" in the death.

Marijuana cookies and other edibles have become increasingly popular since Colorado allowed people 21 and over to buy recreational marijuana this year at regulated stores. Federal authorities don't regulate the edibles because marijuana remains illegal under federal law. After voters approved recreational pot, Colorado lawmakers tasked regulators with setting potency-testing guidelines to ensure consumers know how much pot they're eating. Those guidelines are expected to be released next month. Lawmakers also required edible pot to be sold in serving sizes of 10 milligrams of THC, marijuana's intoxicating chemical.

The cannabis industry tries to educate consumers about the potency of marijuana-infused foods. But despite the warnings — including waiting for up to an hour to feel any effects — complaints by visitors and first-time users have been rampant. In a separate case, a Denver man accused of killing his wife while she was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher ate marijuana-infused candy and possibly took prescription pain medication before the attack, according to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday. It wasn't known if pot influenced the behavior of Richard Kirk, 47, who is accused of shooting Kristine Kirk, 44, on Monday. The affidavit says the woman told a dispatcher her husband had ingested marijuana candy and was hallucinating.

Investigators believe Pongi, a native of the Republic of Congo, and three friends from Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., traveled to Colorado on spring break to try marijuana. At their hotel, the group of four friends followed the seller's instructions. But when Pongi felt nothing after about 30 minutes, he ate an entire cookie, police said. Within an hour, he began speaking erratically in French, shaking, screaming and throwing things around the hotel room. At one point he appeared to talk to a lamp. "'This is a sign from God that this has happened, that I can't control myself,'" Pongi told his friends, according to the reports. "'It's not because of the weed.'" Pongi's friends tried to restrain him before he left the room and jumped to his death, police said.

One of his friends told investigators it may have been his first time using the drug — the only one toxicology tests found in his system. All three friends said they did not purchase or take any other drugs during their stay. "The thing to realize is the THC that is present in edibles is a drug, and as with any drug, there's a spectrum of ways in which people respond," said Michael Kosnett, a medical toxicologist on the clinical faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He said a person's genetic makeup, health issues and other factors can make a difference, and first-time users might consume too much, unaware of how their bodies will react. "The possibility for misadventure is increased," Kosnett said. The marijuana concentration in Pongi's blood was 7.2 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood. Colorado law says juries can assume someone is driving while impaired if their blood contains more than 5 nanograms per milliliter.

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[RWHeathenGamer]

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

Only losers smoke pot, not well adjusted adults.

Do you drug addicts have no shame?

 

[September]

Only losers smoke pot, not well adjusted adults.

Do you drug addicts have no shame?

^
Calls Marijuana users losers, but posts an ugly as fuck loser pic.

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

Only losers smoke pot, not well adjusted adults.

Do you drug addicts have no shame?

^
Calls Marijuana users losers, but posts an ugly as fuck loser pic.

While i'm lifting and posting gains, you are doing drugs and bragging about it on internet forums with a gay anime/avatar avatar.

You need to get your life together.

 

[Crystalclear]

And what exactly is wrong with Jews?

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

Marijuana=Soma. You are in the brave new world, conned by an establishment who is drugging you into complacency and compliance.

Billionaire George Soros behind major push for marijuana legalization

http://rt.com/usa/soros-mpp-times-marijuana-189/

 

[aaronleland]

While i'm lifting and posting gains, you are doing drugs and bragging about it on internet forums with a gay anime/avatar avatar.

You need to get your life together.

Fag.

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

^^^^

Looks like drug addicts are getting their cages rattled. Go watch your stoner movies and get off ADULT forums.

 

[aaronleland]

^^^^

Looks like drug addicts are getting their cages rattled. Go watch your stoner movies and get off ADULT forums.

Go drink your protein shake, and jerk off to Rambo.

 

[Crystalclear]

Marijuana=Soma. You are in the brave new world, conned by an establishment who is drugging you into complacency and compliance.

Billionaire George Soros behind major push for marijuana legalization

http://rt.com/usa/soros-mpp-times-marijuana-189/

You're an idiot.

And not everyone who supports legalizing pot is a pothead. Those people most often are not drug users themselves but see how useless it is to fight the war on drugs.

 

[Harry Dresden]

^^^^

Looks like drug addicts are getting their cages rattled. Go watch your stoner movies and get off ADULT forums.

you ever smoke pot RWH?.....

 

[Katzndogz]

Out of all the taxes collected off the sale of booze, those taxes don't come close to meeting the costs of alcoholics and there are fewer alcoholics than potheads. Not everyone who has a drink is an alcoholic. Everyone who uses pot is a drug addict pot head.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Out of all the taxes collected off the sale of booze, those taxes don't come close to meeting the costs of alcoholics and there are fewer alcoholics than potheads. Not everyone who has a drink is an alcoholic. Everyone who uses pot is a drug addict pot head.

why do you even post when it comes to Pot?.....you have no idea of what you are talking about yet you keep on yammering away....lets see you prove what you said here.....

there are fewer alcoholics than potheads.....and

Everyone who uses pot is a drug addict pot head.

prove each one of these....

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

^^^^

Looks like drug addicts are getting their cages rattled. Go watch your stoner movies and get off ADULT forums.

you ever smoke pot RWH?.....

No I am a well adjusted adult.

 

[Harry Dresden]

^^^^

Looks like drug addicts are getting their cages rattled. Go watch your stoner movies and get off ADULT forums.

you ever smoke pot RWH?.....

No I am a well adjusted adult.

so then you are going to be another one like Katz.....dont know much about it but will talk like you do...right?.....for instance anyone who disagrees with you MUST be an addict....you and Katz should get together,get some popcorn and of course your favorite alcohol and watch "Reefer Madness"....it was made for people like you two....who knows maybe you will get lucky......

 

[RWHeathenGamer]

you ever smoke pot RWH?.....

No I am a well adjusted adult.

so then you are going to be another one like Katz.....dont know much about it but will talk like you do...right?.....for instance anyone who disagrees with you MUST be an addict....you and Katz should get together,get some popcorn and of course your favorite alcohol and watch "Reefer Madness"....it was made for people like you two....who knows maybe you will get lucky......

If you smoke marijuana you are more likely to be homosexual so don't know about that.

That's absurd logic, don't knock it till you try it. I don't think cocaine should be legal, should I not knock it until I try it?



I had a better time believing you think it is ok to smoke if you didn't spend so much time insisting it was.