United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: Results of Colorado Marijuana Legalization 4 Years Later
Source:
Barb Wire
URL Source: https://barbwire.com/results-of-col ... na-legalization-4-years-later/
Published: Nov 30, 2018
Author: David Jolly
Post Date: 2018-12-04 14:27:28 by nolu chan
Keywords: None
Views: 2369
Comments: 15
Results of Colorado Marijuana Legalization 4 Years Later By David Jolly 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: In a recent episode of Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, it was revealed: “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: “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! The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Barb Wire.
Barb Wire
November 30, 2018 “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 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.”
“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…’
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: nolu chan (#0)
Anecdotal stories. Maybe they saw a Trump tweet? Yeah, that's it. /s
They're averaging half that (15%) from 2014 through 2017. But it sounds like nobody cares.
I occasionally get some unusual responses when I write about the evils of the government’s war on drugs. On election day, Tuesday, November 6, I had an article published on this website titled “Voting Right.” The article was about the marijuana ballot initiatives that were being voted on that day. I maintained in the article that voting right meant voting in favor of ballot initiatives to legalize the medical or recreational use of marijuana. I took this position because, as a libertarian, I believe that there should be no laws at any level of government for any reason regarding the buying, selling, growing, processing, transporting, manufacturing, advertising, using, or possessing of any drug for any reason. This is not because libertarians believe that drugs are beneficial or harmless and not addictive or dangerous, but because 1) it is not the proper role of government make such laws, 2) anyone should be able to do anything that’s peaceful as long as he doesn’t infringe upon the personal or property rights of others, and 3) a free society has to include the right of people to use or abuse drugs. Just because libertarians oppose the war on drugs doesn’t mean that they believe it would be a good thing for anyone to use drugs, that they are indifferent to or unconcerned about the dangers of drugs in the hands of children, or that they are naïve about the potentially negative consequences of drug abuse. In my article I called for the war on drugs to be ended immediately and completely, although the article was mainly about marijuana. Here is the only negative response to the article that I received. I have obscured the writer’s name to protect his privacy. Subject: weed my dead son thought the same way Now, I assume from this response that this man lost his son. This is a terrible thing that I would not want anyone to have to go through. I also assume that this man’s son used marijuana on a regular basis, and not just on occasion. I think it is also safe to assume from this response that this man blames his son’s death on his marijuana use. I don’t know what else to make of this response. I am commenting on it because I am sure that others who have had loved ones die from drug overdoses feel the same way. I’m sorry to have to tell you, Mr. P., but marijuana did not kill your son. First of all, as I wrote about a few months ago, the federal government acknowledges that no one has ever overdosed on marijuana.” Does this mean that smoking marijuana is beneficial, healthy, safe, wholesome, risk-free, and harmless? Of course not. Does this mean that someone high on marijuana has never had an accident or done something stupid that resulted in his death? Of course not. Second, and more importantly, even if marijuana did kill those who smoked too much of it, even if marijuana was the most dangerous Schedule I drug, and even if marijuana was the most dangerous substance known to man, the person smoking it is directly responsible for the consequences of his actions. Libertarians make much of individual liberty when it comes to the drug war. As well they should. Any legal adult should have the freedom to use marijuana to medicate himself or to get stoned out of his mind. But with freedom comes responsibility. This is why personal responsibility should be preached when it comes to the drug war just as much as individual liberty. To the drug user I would say: I would also say to the drug user that you are fully responsible for the costs and consequences of your actions—not your family, not society, and certainly not the government. It is not the job of the government to prevent anyone from using drugs, to warn anyone about the dangers of drug abuse, to provide drug users with clean needles, to send anyone to drug rehab, to help anyone get off drugs, or to pay for anyone’s drug-related medical treatment. No, Mr. P., marijuana did not kill your son. Marijuana did not kill your son anymore than a knife, a gun, or a blunt instrument committed a murder. Your son is personally responsible for whatever happened to himself or anyone else because of his marijuana use.
I have to call bs. I with all my friends consumed pot for at least 5 years(late teens to early 20's). Never once did anyone act in such a manner. What it sounds like to me is prescription drugs mixed with pot and probably alcohol. I think people are lumping pot use with other drugs and pot gets the blame when in fact it was the prescription drugs that causes all the problem. All you have to do is look to most the mass shootings and they were on prescription drugs for whatever reason. Pot is less harmful than alcohol in everyway.
My understanding is that the mental effect of marijuana is that it makes people more passive and non-violent, unlike alcohol which more often than not pushes people to violence (as long as they are conscious, at least). I've never heard of it making people violent and would concur in questioning if there were other drugs involved in at least the cited shooting case.
That’s where you trip over your own dick... Hell, the government won’t even let you filthy drug using assholes OD without making me pay for NARCAN.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Some people can't handle mental relaxation. They should stay away from booze, too.
Adolescent Pot Use in Post-Legalization Colorado and Washington Is Still Failing to Rise
Government is in the last resort the employment of armed men, of policemen, gendarmes, soldiers, prison guards, and hangmen. I’m not against the legalization of marijuana, shit stain. Never was.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Another ridiculous article. I just returned from Colorado, and the drivers were very courteous, safe drivers. And traffic accidents are increasing everywhere, but as everyone knows, primarily due to increasing cell phone use, not marijuana use. And crimes are increasing everywhere, but primarily, as everyone knows, due to increasing atheism, and has nothing to do with marijuana. So we should ban smart phones and atheists, which makes much more sense.
The pushers, which includes the tax collecting state, would like you to continue that understanding. You may unfortunately find out what happens to you or yours when pot heads cause an accident to which you are a party.
Liberals are like Slinkys. They're good for nothing, but somehow they bring a smile to your face as you shove them down the stairs.
Making someone increasingly likely to cause accidents and making someone passive and non-violent are two very different things. I did not say that using marijuana would not increase the chance of them causing an accident.
Marijuana Use Increases Violent Behavior 50-year study finds causal link between cannabis and subsequent violent behavior New research published on-line in advance of print in the journal Psychological Medicine, concludes that continued use of cannabis causes violent behavior as a direct result of changes in brain function that are caused by smoking weed over many years.https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-new- brain/201603/marijuana-use-increases-violent-behavior
I was wondering why auto hyperlink doesn't seem to work any longer.
Oh.
Liberals are like Slinkys. They're good for nothing, but somehow they bring a smile to your face as you shove them down the stairs.
#2. To: nolu chan (#0)
meaning the state would collect $27.90 for every $100 of recreational marijuana sold in the Rocky Mountain state.
#3. To: misterwhite, nomo spam (#2)
Marijuana Did Not Kill Your Son
From: W****** P********
Date: Tue, Nov 06, 2018 9:11 am
To: lmvance@laurencemvance.com
#4. To: nolu chan, all (#0)
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.
#5. To: Justified (#4)
#6. To: hondo68 (#3)
as long as he doesn’t infringe upon the personal or property rights of others
#7. To: nolu chan (#0)
#8. To: Hank Rearden, nolu chan, Pinguinite, hondo68, GrandIsland (#7)
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
The essential feature of government is the enforcement of its decrees by beating, killing, and imprisoning.
Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.
#9. To: Deckard (#8)
#10. To: nolu chan (#0)
(Edited)
#11. To: Pinguinite (#5)
My understanding is that the mental effect of marijuana is that it makes people more passive and non-violent
#12. To: IbJensen (#11)
#13. To: Pinguinite (#12)
#14. To: Pinguinite (#12)
#15. To: Pinguinite (#12)
I did not say that using marijuana would not increase the chance of them causing an accident.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]