Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and his Pot Stash

The one thing I can say about Colorado Governor Hickenlooper on Marijuana Legalization

Since Colorado began recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1, dispensaries have generated soaring amounts of revenue for the state. In the first week alone, Colorado pot shops took in more than $5 million in sales, with approximately $1.2 million of that going to state coffers.

As a result, Hickenlooper announced last week that the state’s total pot sales for the next fiscal year are now expected to reach about $610 million — that’s up more than $200 million from the cannabis industry’s earlier projections of approximately $400 million for the year.

But the governor said that the appeal of added tax revenue “is absolutely the wrong reason [for other states] to even think about legalizing recreational marijuana.”

Is … he’s basically right.  I say this as a proponent of marijuana legalization (or decriminalization) who’s slightly annoyed by the “creation of carefully state controlled or even state-ran markets” strategy at work with the current wave of state legislation.  This is not a “panacrea”, and the revenue “boost” argument (oftentimes the driving argument that Marijuana Legalization Advocates make).  As annoying as the insistent qualifications of “I personally don’t use the drug” or the stumbling into stoner- based humor (“Think of how it’ll boost the Snack Food Industry!”)… on a different level with my vague opposition to state run gambling — which is used as panacreas for state budgets… there’s enough of a social cost to make the argument annoying.

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