Any thoughts about Colorado?

[dan88911]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/us/colorado-stores-throw-open-their-doors-to-pot-buyers.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0

I wonder how this will play out.
Will the smokers migrate there?
Will people vacation there for the legal pot?

[Nostril Cheese]

10 minute drive to Washington for me..

[recycled sixtie]

It makes the Leos' job harder. I am surprised they opened it up....

[sc_rufctr]

Stupid...

[Lapkritis]

This is the future. There will be some pains; state should "throttle" tax to control output as best they can. Supply will not last with demand as tourist buyers even with the purchase limit to 1/4 ounce will impact local supplies. It will be a mad house operation until production ramps into late 2014/2015.

[Nickshu]

My guess is that once it gets "mainstream" enough here the feds will step in and whack it down. Mostly due to people buying and the transporting it out of state perhaps? But time will tell.

The taxes are so high on it here (no pun intended) that the underground (formerly illegal) sales will continue and perhaps even grow. The state will be overwhelmed (read:unable) to keep up with trying to keep the sales "legal" so they can provide all the tax profits for the state that they promised to voters, which may result in a backlash...or everyone will be too high to care/notice.

That's my guess. I'm not a user though.

The irony is that eastern CO has more oil and gas under it than Saudi Arabia yet the cerebral giants at the capital want to make a few bucks with legalizing and taxing pot instead of making exponentially more (billions) from helping America's energy independence.

So...fracking might be somewhat environmentally risky so we'll vote it down. But it's OK for our entire state population (including our kids!) to fry their brains (and fry our future) on pot. Our priorities are totally FUBAR here.

[Lapkritis]

Why use ours when "they" (foreign) are willing to give it away so cheap? Thinking long term, our natural/mineral values will become a trump card as global reserves and supplies dry up. That is ... if green tech / nuclear or future hydrogen fuel tech doesn't first render oil obsolete.

[mreid]

I think legalized, taxed marijuana is fantastic. This should have happened at the federal level.

[Rusty914s]

Interestingly enough, I do 90% of my business in Denver but was recently hired to consult for a company that does business in Odessa and Pecos, TX. Without addressing the political implications, anyone that's interested in fracking should be forced to spend a few days in this area of the country.

Originally Posted by Nickshu

The irony is that eastern CO has more oil and gas under it than Saudi Arabia yet the cerebral giants at the capital want to make a few bucks with legalizing and taxing pot instead of making exponentially more (billions) from helping America's energy independence.

So...fracking might be somewhat environmentally risky so we'll vote it down. But it's OK for our entire state population (including our kids!) to fry their brains (and fry our future) on pot. Our priorities are totally FUBAR here.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

So...fracking might be somewhat environmentally risky so we'll vote it down. But it's OK for our entire state population (including our kids!) to fry their brains (and fry our future) on pot. Our priorities are totally FUBAR here.

But go on drinkin' Coors..

[Tishabet]

Very interested to see how it plays out, Washington is ramping up.to do the same thing in a few months. IMHO prohibition does not work, prior to any of this marijuana was bested only by alcohol and tobacco use... a sizeable percentage of our population use it and will continue to use it, legalization seems inevitable.

[GWN7]

Lets see....you have to be 21 to buy it so no kids. Isn't 21 the age where you can vote, drink and fight for your country?

You have to buy it from state licenced (and taxed) stores and they have to get their supplies from state licenced (and taxed) suppliers/growers. So the chance of organised crime or terrorists can't use it to make money from anymore.

DEA agents will be moved to areas where they can concentrate on actual hard drugs instead of putting 18 year olds in jail for a bag of weed. Maybe they will be moved to the border states where cartels are smuggling into the USA.

There are 658,000 arrests for pot annually. I wonder how much it costs to keep all those people in jail and prosecute them. What does it cost to put someone in prison for 10 years because they had the wrong plant in a bag? Better sell your shares in private prisons, I think those stocks will go down.

Less lawsuits from no knock warrants being served on the wrong address and people getting killed.

To sum it up: The government makes money and spends less tax dollars and the voting population is happy. What can go wrong?

[slodave]

Originally Posted by GWN7

Lets see....you have to be 21 to buy it so no kids. Isn't 21 the age where you can vote, drink and fight for your country?

Not quite. Vote - 18, drink - 21 (there's at least one state where you can legally drink under 21 with parents), and enlist - 18 (17 w/parental consent).

[Cajundaddy]

Legalize it, tax it, regulate it just like alcohol and tobacco. Long overdue in this country.

If we can't keep pot out of federal prisons (and we can't) we certainly can't keep it off the street. Enact no law in this country that is functionally unenforceable. The prohibition on drugs only created a crime wave that enriched drug cartels and corrupted a lot of good cops, banks and politicians in exactly the same way it happened during alcohol prohibition during the 20s and 30s. We might have learned from that experience but we are a bit slow on the uptake it seems. Lets free the cops to go chase real bad guys who commit murder, rape, assault, and other violent crimes and end our dysfunctional nanny state. Some people will always choose to do drugs and it really is their choice to make. It's the definition of freedom and liberty.

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

Legalize it, tax it, regulate it just like alcohol and tobacco. Long overdue in this country.

If we can't keep pot out of federal prisons (and we can't) we certainly can't keep it off the street. Enact no law in this country that is functionally unenforceable. The prohibition on drugs only created a crime wave that enriched drug cartels and corrupted a lot of good cops, banks and politicians in exactly the same way it happened during alcohol prohibition during the 20s and 30s. We might have learned from that experience but we are a bit slow on the uptake it seems. Lets free the cops to go chase real bad guys who commit murder, rape, assault, and other violent crimes and end our dysfunctional nanny state. Some people will always choose to do drugs and it really is their choice to make. It's the definition of freedom and liberty.

Amen!!

[Sunroof]

Their is probably just a handful of you folks around on this board from the 60's era when pot use was wide spread and easily obtained. Great times. Since then its all been under the table but its popularity never slowed. Statistically, more boomers are smoking pot for pleasure, pain relief and pure fun then ever before and the number will rise. We will never see any legalization here in the south (dah!), but to know that the number of states providing it for medical use is on the increase and a few selling for recreational use is a great sign.

If you ask me....ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME

Senior member

_/)

[Nostril Cheese]

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Nostril Cheese

He makes a few points and is mildly funny.

If he is so pro drugs why did he quit? He even quit the legal stuff?

As he sucks a cigarette getting his nicotine he says he does not do drugs or alcohol.

The one big difference of alcohol is I can enjoy a beer at a restaurant and not affect anyone else in any way at all. If someone is toking a doobie it stinks like burning a tire to everyone else. Maybe if they start selling the THC candy or a brownie the folks at the table next to me can do that. Just no stink week in public please. Do that at home inside with the windows closed. Not in the back yard stinking up the neighborhood.

[Nickshu]

I think there's a pretty good chance that most or all of the money saved in not prosecuting marijuana cases will be spent in keeping it out of the hands of minors, preventing and prosecuting Pot-DUI's, and public health campaigns on the dangers of chronic pot use (not getting high, but lung cancer risk, etc...same story as smoking tobacco was/is).

Article in the local paper today already has stated that the cost of "legal" marijuana is many times greater than the cost of "underground" marijuana. So the state will start spending big $$ to pursue and prosecute underground marijuana sales to ensure that people buy on the "legal" so they can get their tax money. End result is a financial net zero or loss for the state.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by slodave

Not quite. Vote - 18, drink - 21 (there's at least one state where you can legally drink under 21 with parents), and enlist - 18 (17 w/parental consent).

If I could vote at 18 but not drink till I was 21 the first thing I'd vote to change would be the drinking age.