Tax revenue for legal weed sales in Colorado exceeds $500M

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...al-weed-sales-in-colorado-exceeds-500-million

Tax revenue for legal weed sales in Colorado exceeds $500M



Colorado has made more than half a billion dollars from taxing marijuana since recreational sales became legal in the state three years ago.

Tax revenues from marijuana sales have increased every year since 2014, when the state made more than $76 million, according to areport released Wednesday by cannabis strategic planning firm VS Strategies.

The report shows the total revenue from marijuana totaled almost $199 million in 2016, and Colorado has already taken in almost $100 million in taxes through May.



Mason Tvert, a spokesman for VS Strategies, said the new revenue is having a “significant and positive impact on our community,” Fox 13 Denver reported Wednesday.

More than half of the new funds in Colorado are being used for education, and 14 percent go to substance abuse prevention and treatment. The funds also support services such as regulating the sales, criminal justice and additional public health uses.

“We hope lawmakers will continue to distribute these funds responsibly and not lose sight of what voters intended when they opted to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol,” Tvert said. “Marijuana tax money has been used to improve a wide range of programs and services.”

 

So when will the powers that be actually treat dope like they do alcohol?

 

And four kids get murdered in cold blood.. are you happy op?





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I'm not going to stop my efforts to make this a freer and more prosperous country for all just because there are those who break the law. On the contrary, this has proven that a legal avenue not only benefits the States/Cities, but is a significant attack on the black market.

 

And I'm sure productivity is down as well..........

America. Too busy finding ways to get stoned. Then wonders why other countries like Japan make us inferior.

 

I did a quick search and only found mentions of possible THC tests. How are businesses controlling their liability and workers comp rates? Can an employee still be fired for failing a urine test for marijuana?

Seems like a nightmare scenario for business owners until a reliable THC test is put in use.

 

I was in Denver a couple years ago and it was bustling with activity. And snow.

 

That is such crap and you as an educated adult know it.


Marijuana is practically legal. There's more marijuana in the US than ever before. It's always been this way. The market is larger than the market for bottled water. Anyone who wants any can get it. The idea that we can't fund schools, fund college programs, fund medical programs, fund law enforcement and police operations of actual importance such as crimes relating to little girls getting raped and actual murders, the idea that we cannot do that as a society all because some stuffy *******s in a top corner office somewhere "Don't like the idea of it" makes me sick to my stomach.

 

I agree with a lot of your posts, but I might have to respectfully disagree with the cause-effect logic of this one.....

If productivity here sucks, it's because welfare makes it too easy for people to be useless bums. I don't think marijuana makes people useless -- although people prone to be useless may decide they'd rather just live on welfare and smoke weed all day. But not everyone who smokes pot is an unproductive bum....

 

Great post! I'm glad for the people of Colorado. Maybe this will ignite a fire in the federal government.

 

I participated in a consultation with a national company which was looking to expand. They had narrowed their options down to just a few states based on various criteria, and Colorado was one of them. Ultimately Colorado was abandoned as an option because the company's national stance is zero drug tolerance, and they didn't want to get into the hassle of figuring out how to deal with Colorado and the legalities of marijuana there vs their national company policy.

 

Then they were idiots. Some companies test for cigarettes and booze. It doesn't have to be illegal to be banned for employees.

 

Yes

They have been for decades. THC tests are done all the time.

I read that some cops are now getting THC breath testers - maybe still experimental or a trial basis. It shows if there has been any use in the last few hours - the time required before driving after partaking.

 

Whatever. This is why we have all those states to pick from. Why add the hassle of a potential Pandora's Box in one state, when you can just pick another state and avoid it.

Clearly you have no idea what goes into something of this magnitude. Your rude tone combined with your ignorance sort of makes me wonder why I'm even bothering to reply to you.

 

FYI, US workers are the most productive in the world. So next time you look in mirror before you insult the US worker!!!

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/which-country-has-the-most-productive-workers.html
Workers in the US put in more hours than nearly everyone but Koreans (who should perhaps do even more soul searching--the country ranks near the bottom when it comes to hourly productivity).

 

The breath testers are the ones I'm talking about.

 

I can't imagine that being an isolated incident either.

 

The fact remains.

Marijuana is all over the US and that will never change. Considering that everyone who wants to be high is already high or can be very easily, why on Earth are we as a country allowing the criminal black market to reap the profits? Why? This is totally illogical and goes against literally everything fiscal conservatives claim to stand for as well as social conservatives.

The underworld is funding horrible shadow economies that corrupt whole parts of the world into mafia states that run all sorts of vices through the Western world because of it and YET our social conservatives would rather whore themselves to the big Pharma donors of theirs so as to keep legalized prescription heroin dominant over marijuana as national pain medicine.

This is all about Republicans being in bed with and having wild financial affairs with the Big US Pharmaceutical companies who are ironically already preparing for when Marijuana is legalized in the next 20 years.

This entire thing is a joke and is only possible because of ignorant social conservatives who allow themselves to be duped.

 

Well I've never done weed so I can only came to that conclusion by observation.

 

As a professional in the medial field I've seen more than my fair share of drugs wrecking havoc on people's lives which includes their offspring.

 

Tend to agree, but if I was an employer that had similar requirements I might make the same decision figuring that a state where it is legal might tend to reduce the number of qualified applicants. Granted over the long haul (10 years down the line) it probably won't make a difference since many states seem to have already started the process of legalization, but its their decision.

As a small (under 25ish) employer my primary concern would be state income and property tax rates, availability of good locations, crime, as a large employer (50+) then a zero tolerance drug policy might move up on the list but wouldn't be that huge of a deal IMO, even in the worst location I think you can always find qualified applicants if the pay scale is right.

 

I know business owners in Texas and Florida who for 30 years take a few daily tokes. It's just more rightwing fantasy that it causes production to go down. Production has been too high anyway with salaries frozen, and health insurance a joke, making this a miserable country for millions of people. Why else would so many want to get high? Meanwhile millions have been locked up for marijuana (big money in that), or even made to join the Army and sent off to Vietnam, where some were killed. Colorado today is a bustling, ideal place to live, while neighboring Nebraska is as miserable as ever.

 

Both parties are up to their ears with pharmaceutical companies.

The people have legalized weed. It has been voted on by the people, not put in place by any government.

 

I hate the legality issues around Marijuana. I am fully for full on taxed legality of any amount in all states across the entire nation. Here's why.

In my state, PA, they legalized medical marijuana. They authorized a few dispensaries and that's all. The regulations around how to open one OVERTLY favor and only allow people who already had millions to apply for it.

So again, just another hand out to the already rich.

I own some land here. Let me be a productive member of society by growing a crop people want, and selling it.

 

There is too much money already being made off marijuana, locking up people. They'd have to criminalize an easy replacement, like Advil or wife-swapping or sneezing in public. How about swearing?