Colorado puts 25% tax on marijuana

[Katzndogz]

what a bunch of **** ups.

Your war on drugs is the real **** up, idiot.

60,000 Mexicans in 7 years is the **** up your stupid war has caused. CONGRATS!

Obviously only the cartels have been doing it right. They have taken 60,000 users and dealers out permanently while all we can give is a revolving door to 3 hots and a cot.

 

[The Rabbi]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

wrong. marijuana will just go underground as it was before.
Overtaxing results in the same activity as ban does - the contraband will flourish.

And some of us warned of exactly that outcome.
Look at NYC, which raised taxes on cigarettes massively. The result is a huge underground economy of black market cigs so big that cops don't even arrest people for selling them in the subways anymore.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

wrong. marijuana will just go underground as it was before.
Overtaxing results in the same activity as ban does - the contraband will flourish.

Especially since they are trying to turn pot from an illegal product into a legal product. The distribution lines for illegal sales are already well entrenched and established. It is the legal outlet trying to make a dent in illegal sales.

What is the penalty for having illegal and untaxed marijuana? Will there be federal stickers on pot sales like there are in cigarette sales? It is idiocy to think that people will pay more, significantly more, for pot just to get it legal when they've been getting it illegally for years.

It is "idiocy" to think that taxed, legal weed will be more expensive than illegal, black market weed.

 

[The Rabbi]

wrong. marijuana will just go underground as it was before.
Overtaxing results in the same activity as ban does - the contraband will flourish.

Especially since they are trying to turn pot from an illegal product into a legal product. The distribution lines for illegal sales are already well entrenched and established. It is the legal outlet trying to make a dent in illegal sales.

What is the penalty for having illegal and untaxed marijuana? Will there be federal stickers on pot sales like there are in cigarette sales? It is idiocy to think that people will pay more, significantly more, for pot just to get it legal when they've been getting it illegally for years.

It is "idiocy" to think that taxed, legal weed will be more expensive than illegal, black market weed.

I guess we must be idiots.
What part of "if you add 25% to the price of something you make it radically more expensive than the untaxed item" do you not understand?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

The smokers still pay far less than when it was illegal, even with the new tax.

Disagree. I know the cannabis market first hand in California and can tell you that the legal market is priced HIGHER than the underground market. The reason people paid a bit more was due to the quality and selection of product that dispensaries offered. People also joined dispensaries in an effort to support legalization. However, many, many people that don't have the financial resources (or that don't want to end up on the Fed's radar) continue to buy in the black market.

A 25% tax will only ensure the underground market thrives. That's for sure.

Their state's budget is strengthened.

Strongly disagree. I suspect they will collect less revenue than they would with a normal sales tax rate. And even if they do collect more in revenue, they'll also pay more in policing and incarceration because I guarantee you the underground market will increase with a onerous tax.

It's all good news and I don't get why the Feds wouldn't follow suit.

Because we don't need a national sales tax on cannabis or anything for that matter. We need to spend less money and live within our means.

I am a medical cannabis user living in San Francisco.

My very high-end legal weed is cheaper than any black market weed I've ever purchased in my life.

Where are you getting your information from?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Especially since they are trying to turn pot from an illegal product into a legal product. The distribution lines for illegal sales are already well entrenched and established. It is the legal outlet trying to make a dent in illegal sales.

What is the penalty for having illegal and untaxed marijuana? Will there be federal stickers on pot sales like there are in cigarette sales? It is idiocy to think that people will pay more, significantly more, for pot just to get it legal when they've been getting it illegally for years.

It is "idiocy" to think that taxed, legal weed will be more expensive than illegal, black market weed.

I guess we must be idiots.
What part of "if you add 25% to the price of something you make it radically more expensive than the untaxed item" do you not understand?

If you add a 25% tax to an 1/8th of an ounce of weed costing $30, it will still be less than the $65 it costs on the black market.

 

[The Rabbi]

It is "idiocy" to think that taxed, legal weed will be more expensive than illegal, black market weed.

I guess we must be idiots.
What part of "if you add 25% to the price of something you make it radically more expensive than the untaxed item" do you not understand?

If you add a 25% tax to an 1/8th of an ounce of weed costing $30, it will still be less than the $65 it costs on the black market.

Why would the black market stuff cost so much when legal stuff is available for less? It is impossible. Ergo, you are making shit up.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I guess we must be idiots.
What part of "if you add 25% to the price of something you make it radically more expensive than the untaxed item" do you not understand?

If you add a 25% tax to an 1/8th of an ounce of weed costing $30, it will still be less than the $65 it costs on the black market.

Why would the black market stuff cost so much when legal stuff is available for less? It is impossible. Ergo, you are making shit up.

Because "legal stuff" doesn't exist for most of the country.

 

[alan1]

I think all states should do this, make it legal...tax it like cigarettes. They're never going to stop people from smoking it anyway, and it's safer than alcohol!

Michigan passed the medical marijuana law in 2010....yet even if you have a card and your employer finds out you smoked it, they can still fire you. Makes no sense! Now there's someone (some Representative) I just read about that wants Michigan to make it so people can buy it at their local pharmacy (with a prescription of course). If your own doctor prescribes it, I wonder if your employer could still fire you? Guess I just don't understand that part of it!!

If high tobacco taxes are such a great thing, how come everything isn't taxed at that rate?
I'm guessing it's because it's easier to tax a vilified minority than it is to tax a majority.

 

[alan1]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

The stoners need to pay their fair share.

 

[Katzndogz]

Legitimate doctors won't prescribe weed. A clinic doctor will. For $250.00 you'll get your letter.

A real doctor, if you have one, might refuse to treat you for whatever you have as long as you are using pot. Particularly men since male pot users have such a high incidence of testicular cancer.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I think all states should do this, make it legal...tax it like cigarettes. They're never going to stop people from smoking it anyway, and it's safer than alcohol!

Michigan passed the medical marijuana law in 2010....yet even if you have a card and your employer finds out you smoked it, they can still fire you. Makes no sense! Now there's someone (some Representative) I just read about that wants Michigan to make it so people can buy it at their local pharmacy (with a prescription of course). If your own doctor prescribes it, I wonder if your employer could still fire you? Guess I just don't understand that part of it!!

If high tobacco taxes are such a great thing, how come everything isn't taxed at that rate?
I'm guessing it's because it's easier to tax a vilified minority than it is to tax a majority.

Yeah, that's pretty much the idea behind all the sin taxes.

The stoners get behind it because they see it as the best argument for getting it legalized.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

And to you this comes as a surprise?
I have been saying this for years. That marijuana is/was illegal only because states and the federal government had not yet figured out the best way to tax it.
Like anything else. First make it legal. Then regulate it. Then tax its purchase and use.
Booze, tobacco, gambling....Now its Pot. Big deal.

 

[Katzndogz]

I think all states should do this, make it legal...tax it like cigarettes. They're never going to stop people from smoking it anyway, and it's safer than alcohol!

Michigan passed the medical marijuana law in 2010....yet even if you have a card and your employer finds out you smoked it, they can still fire you. Makes no sense! Now there's someone (some Representative) I just read about that wants Michigan to make it so people can buy it at their local pharmacy (with a prescription of course). If your own doctor prescribes it, I wonder if your employer could still fire you? Guess I just don't understand that part of it!!

If high tobacco taxes are such a great thing, how come everything isn't taxed at that rate?
I'm guessing it's because it's easier to tax a vilified minority than it is to tax a majority.

Yeah, that's pretty much the idea behind all the sin taxes.

The stoners get behind it because they see it as the best argument for getting it legalized.

Once it is legalized it will pit legal outlets right up against the cartels' established outlets. With any luck at all, we will be having a mexican style drug war right here, and maybe the cartels will be so kind as to take out 60,000 American dealers and users.

Trade war of a different kind.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Legitimate doctors won't prescribe weed. A clinic doctor will. For $250.00 you'll get your letter.

A real doctor, if you have one, might refuse to treat you for whatever you have as long as you are using pot. Particularly men since male pot users have such a high incidence of testicular cancer.

Try $50, not $250 - at least that's what all the ads I see say.

My prescription is from my GP, though. It's pretty silly to act like you somehow speak for "legitimate doctors".

 

[Mr. H.]

I've followed the marijuana debate for decades, beginning with my involvement in NORML's push for "decriminalization" in the 1970's.

The implications of tax revenues has always been an integral part of the "legalization" movement.

As I see it, and as it has gone for tobacco, strict licensing monitoring and oversight COUPLED with taxation could generate considerable sums for state and federal coffers while diluting the criminal element.

And I also see that 25% tax steadily increasing to... well that's anybody's guess.

 

[alan1]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

And to you this comes as a surprise?
I have been saying this for years. That marijuana is/was illegal only because states and the federal government had not yet figured out the best way to tax it.
Like anything else. First make it legal. Then regulate it. Then tax its purchase and use.
Booze, tobacco, gambling....Now its Pot. Big deal.

Product is a lot easier to tax than service.
Prostitution can't break the ground to legal as easily as drugs can. And prostitution has been around a lot longer.

 

[Katzndogz]

Legitimate doctors won't prescribe weed. A clinic doctor will. For $250.00 you'll get your letter.

A real doctor, if you have one, might refuse to treat you for whatever you have as long as you are using pot. Particularly men since male pot users have such a high incidence of testicular cancer.

Try $50, not $250 - at least that's what all the ads I see say.

My prescription is from my GP, though. It's pretty silly to act like you somehow speak for "legitimate doctors".

There are two "clinics" in the same block on Wilshire. They both have staff "doctors" who will, for $250.00 provide a patient with a letter of prescription so they can treat their shoe blisters with marijuana therapy.

 

[Katzndogz]

Annual deficit? What annual deficit? Won't be long before the other states follow suit, like they did with casinos and the lottery. Fed is going to have to soon too, because the rich would rather have stoners pay off the national debt.

Colorado voters approve 25 percent taxes on recreational marijuana

And to you this comes as a surprise?
I have been saying this for years. That marijuana is/was illegal only because states and the federal government had not yet figured out the best way to tax it.
Like anything else. First make it legal. Then regulate it. Then tax its purchase and use.
Booze, tobacco, gambling....Now its Pot. Big deal.

Product is a lot easier to tax than service.
Prostitution can't break the ground to legal as easily as drugs can. And prostitution has been around a lot longer.

It's easy to legalize prostitution. It's just impossible to keep illegal whores from operating.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Legitimate doctors won't prescribe weed. A clinic doctor will. For $250.00 you'll get your letter.

A real doctor, if you have one, might refuse to treat you for whatever you have as long as you are using pot. Particularly men since male pot users have such a high incidence of testicular cancer.

Try $50, not $250 - at least that's what all the ads I see say.

My prescription is from my GP, though. It's pretty silly to act like you somehow speak for "legitimate doctors".

There are two "clinics" in the same block on Wilshire. They both have staff "doctors" who will, for $250.00 provide a patient with a letter of prescription so they can treat their shoe blisters with marijuana therapy.

I'm familiar with the "clinics" you're referring to. Around here they're $50.