“The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

Socialist Party presidential candidate Norman Thomas


Friday, May 10, 2013

Marijuana legalization.....unintended consequences


Colorado is about to become the first state to tax the recreational use of marijuana. California already taxes the medicinal use and makes about $100million annually.

That's all well and good, and every other state will be watching closely to see how much money Colorado makes. But there's just one problem.....while limited recreational sales and use are legal in that state, it is still illegal at the federal level and Colorado employers still have the right to test employees and fire or not hire anyone who tests positive for THC.

You see where this is going? It's likely that in a few months or years, Colorado will have a significant  population of indigent, unemployable potheads on its hands. Ironically, Colorado will need all the money it makes from maryjane taxation in order to write welfare and foodstamp checks to all the potheads who pay those recreational taxes, but who cannot find work.

The whole legalization thing may only work if it is a federal law rather than a state by state thing, but we'll closely watch Colorado and if taxation creates a huge windfall, look for other states to quickly legalize and tax recreational marijuana use.

2 comments:

Isaac A. Nussbaum said...

You, clearly, have watched "Reefer Madness" too many times, Ed.

Ed said...

Hey, I'm all for people pursuing happiness anyway they like, including smoking any and all the inspiration you may have had, just as long as I'm not taxed to take care of you.