WILL SNOOP DOG BE STAYING IN AMERICA?

"I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast"

~Ronald Reagan

"I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point."  When asked, "Unlike other presidents, did you inhale?'’

                   

                                                         ~ Barack Obama

As an update to the status of marijuana laws in the states that are playing a major role in the legal and tax implications of legalized marijuana (Denver, Washington and California), there is new information since my original post. Please note, as with all of my posts, I do not promote one lifestyle over another. I am simply providing information that I find socially, legally, and politically interesting while updating my blog posts, and which I firmly believe will soon have significant impact.

Denver at the Forefront

Denver has become a national model in how it regulates medical-marijuana dispensaries and grow facilities. Now, 207 dispensaries operate in the city — slightly more than the number of liquor stores. And as of April 30, more than half of the 107,262 Colorado patients who possess a valid registry ID card for medical marijuana live in the Denver area with 17,969 or 17 percent living in Denver County.

In 2012 there were $130 million in gross sales of medical marijuana that generated $4.6 million in sales tax revenue for Denver, up from $1.8 million in 2010.

City leaders have been waiting since November for the state to craft its rules so they can begin building a municipal framework for how sales will be regulated in Denver.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law six bills for how the state will regulate and tax recreational marijuana.

Jeremy P. Meyer, The Denver Post

Washington, Major Taxes to be Collected

The state of Washington estimates it will generate as much as $1.9 billion in additional revenue in five years due to the legalization of marijuana.

The federal legalization of marijuana would offer a large new revenue stream, according to research from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

"We don’t know the size of the marijuana market right now, and we certainly don’t know what would happen to the price and the demand for marijuana under different levels of legalization," Carl Davis, senior analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told The Huffington Post. "But we do know that legalization would lead to a positive revenue impact on the income and sales tax side."

According to a 2010 study from Cato, legalizing marijuana would generate $8.7 billion in federal and state tax revenue annually.

Caroline Fairchild, The Huffington Post

California Losing its Buzz?

In a unanimous decision last week, the California Supreme Court ruled that cities and counties can prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries... The state's highest court found that two state laws, the Compassionate Use Act and the Medical Marijuana Program, do not preempt the ability of localities to use zoning laws to ban pot shops. The Compassionate Use Act was enacted via the ballot initiative process in 1996. The Medical Marijuana Program is a companion piece of legislation passed by the legislature in 2003.

The court ruled that the California Constitution gives localities so-called "police powers" under which they can legislate for the health, safety, and welfare of their jurisdictions. The court found that under those powers, localities have the authority to prohibit pot shops because the state statutes did not explicitly or implicitly prevent localities from imposing those prohibitions.

Jessica Levinson, Ballot Brief

Conclusion

In conclusion, although I do not espouse one position over another as stated above, I did find out some information that is food for thought and a good starting point for those who have interest in doing their own research.

Inmates incarcerated on marijuana-related charges cost U.S. prisons $1 billion annually according to a 2007 study;

Enforcing marijuana prohibitions costs taxpayers 41.8 billion per year;

Marijuana is California’s most valuable cash crop;

Illegal marijuana is a 36 billion dollar industry;

One-third of Americans think that legalizing marijuana would boost the economy;

Economists estimated in 2010 that legal marijuana could be a 45 to 100 billion

Dollar industry;

More than 60 percent of states agree with taxing marijuana to generate revenues;

As of July 2011, the city of Denver had more marijuana dispensaries than Starbuck’s franchises.

Jeffrey Miron and Katherine Waldock, The Huffington Post

Based on the foregoing, let’s see how our federal law enforcement agencies decide to deal with the fact that state laws permitting the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana are in direct conflict with Federal drug laws? Given the potential billions of tax revenues, I have a feeling that Tommy Chong is not going to have to move to Amsterdam anytime soon.

~Leonardo G. Renaud