Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes

[David_42]

This is good news.

The first two states to legalize recreational marijuana have collectively raked in at least $200 million in marijuana tax revenue, according to the latest tax data -- and they're putting those dollars to good use.

In Colorado, after about a year and a half of legal recreational marijuana sales, the state has collected more than $117 million in excise taxes from both the recreational and medical marijuana markets, according to the most recent data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Washington state got a slower start. Its retail shops didn't begin selling recreational marijuana until July of last year, but they are keeping pace with Colorado's. About $83 million in excise taxes have already been collected in the year since sales first began, according to the most recent tax data from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

And the total haul for both states is several million higher if all additional revenue from marijuana -- such as sales taxes, jurisdictional taxes, fees and licensing costs -- is included.

That marijuana revenue is, of course, just a drop in the bucket of the states' respective multi-billion dollar annual budgets, but it's real revenue nonetheless, revenue that helps pay for the very regulation that supports the legal marijuana market.

"Our philosophy has been that marijuana pays its own way," J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) Office of Marijuana Coordination, told the Huffington Post. "Every dime we bring in from legalization is dedicated to the cost of legalization. That's regulatory framework first, then public education campaigns about safe and responsible use and then prevention and treatment programs."

But the tax revenue from legal marijuana won't solve a state's budget problems all by itself, he added.

"The big lesson we tell other states is you probably shouldn't legalize marijuana if you want to make money -- that's not why you do it," McKinley said. "You do it because you think that a regulated marketplace might be safer than an unregulated marketplace or you believe that the war on drugs didn't work."

Jaime Smith, deputy communications director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), echoed those sentiments.

"The legalization initiative was not driven by a desire for a revenue, but it has provided a small assist for our state budget," Smith said. "When you’re looking for billions of dollars, tens of millions doesn’t solve the problem but it certainly doesn’t hurt."

Those taxes and fees don't just support the regulation of marijuana: both states have flagged some of the revenue for public schools and expansive research.

In Colorado, a significant portion of marijuana tax revenue is designated for public schools in the state. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, $23.9 million has been generated for the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant program, said Kevin Huber, regional program manager for the office of capital construction in the state's Education Department.

In addition to marijuana excise taxes, additional funding for BEST is provided from state lottery spillover proceeds and interest, as well as the state land trust -- all of which is put into a single fund and dispersed via grants to needy districts and schools. This year was the first time the state utilized the marijuana tax revenue as part of the total grants, which were awarded starting in May.

Colorado also funded about $8 million in marijuana research using revenue generated from various marijuana fees, putting it towards eight different studies investigating the medical promise of cannabis.

In Washington, a portion of the state's collected marijuana taxes and fees also goes to schools, via the state's general fund, but some of the most novel allocation of those dollars is toward research into the short- and long-term effects of the state's reformed marijuana policy, with multiple state agencies participating in that research.

One of the most ambitious research projects is from the state's own public policy research arm -- the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) -- which is conducting a broad cost-benefit analysis of the legalization of recreational marijuana.

The preliminary report from WSIPP will be released Sept. 1, Adam Darnell, senior research associate and the lead researcher on the report, told HuffPost. This first report will be limited, largely detailing the overall research plan for the full study with some information on how implementation of the law, the marijuana supply system, licensing and sales have progressed so far in the state.

Because Washington state's program was slower to come online than Colorado's, there's a delay in data sources, Darnell said. "Some of these effects, to actually resolve at the population level, take a little time to unfold," he said.

But the full scope of the project is exceedingly comprehensive. Reports are due Sept. 1 in 2017, 2022 and 2032, examining the effects of legalization on public health, safety, youth use, criminal justice, jobs creation, revenue and much more. It's a research goal so impressively lengthy and broad that the Brookings Institute called it "nearly unprecedented."

Colorado was the first state in the nation and the first government in the world to establish a regulated marijuana marketplace -- a profound shift in drug policy, to be sure, one that some lawmakers and law enforcers in the state thought would not roll out as successfully as it has. Along with Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., now also have legalized recreational marijuana (D.C. continues to ban sales). Still, it remains illegal under federal law.

Now more than a year after sales first began in Colorado and Washington, perhaps the most profound shift of all is the normalcy in which marijuana policy, and the revenue it generates, is seen by state government.

Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes

 

[konradv]

Not to mention money SAVED by not incarcerating users.

 

[DarkFury]

So what is the OP trying to prove? That government can invent or increase a tax and get nothing done with it? BIG DEAL.

How about you retards figure out how to get something done WITHOUT a new tax or increase.

 

[David_42]

So what is the OP trying to prove? That government can invent or increase a tax and get nothing done with it? BIG DEAL.

How about you retards figure out how to get something done WITHOUT a new tax or increase.

Lol, what the hell are you talking about? This is referring to states by the way.

 

[konradv]

So what is the OP trying to prove? That government can invent or increase a tax and get nothing done with it? BIG DEAL. How about you retards figure out how to get something done WITHOUT a new tax or increase.

Lol, what the hell are you talking about? This is referring to states by the way.

It's sad when people let anger rule their lives to the detriment of their health.

 

[martybegan]

Not to mention money SAVED by not incarcerating users.

Pot users were rarely incarcerated prior to this, its sellers that get pinched.

Ironically the high taxes on pot caused a bottom end black market to replace the top end black market, but the State governments are appearing to figure this out, and are cutting the taxes.

 

[martybegan]

This is good news.

The first two states to legalize recreational marijuana have collectively raked in at least $200 million in marijuana tax revenue, according to the latest tax data -- and they're putting those dollars to good use.

In Colorado, after about a year and a half of legal recreational marijuana sales, the state has collected more than $117 million in excise taxes from both the recreational and medical marijuana markets, according to the most recent data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Washington state got a slower start. Its retail shops didn't begin selling recreational marijuana until July of last year, but they are keeping pace with Colorado's. About $83 million in excise taxes have already been collected in the year since sales first began, according to the most recent tax data from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

And the total haul for both states is several million higher if all additional revenue from marijuana -- such as sales taxes, jurisdictional taxes, fees and licensing costs -- is included.

That marijuana revenue is, of course, just a drop in the bucket of the states' respective multi-billion dollar annual budgets, but it's real revenue nonetheless, revenue that helps pay for the very regulation that supports the legal marijuana market.

"Our philosophy has been that marijuana pays its own way," J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) Office of Marijuana Coordination, told the Huffington Post. "Every dime we bring in from legalization is dedicated to the cost of legalization. That's regulatory framework first, then public education campaigns about safe and responsible use and then prevention and treatment programs."

But the tax revenue from legal marijuana won't solve a state's budget problems all by itself, he added.

"The big lesson we tell other states is you probably shouldn't legalize marijuana if you want to make money -- that's not why you do it," McKinley said. "You do it because you think that a regulated marketplace might be safer than an unregulated marketplace or you believe that the war on drugs didn't work."

Jaime Smith, deputy communications director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), echoed those sentiments.

"The legalization initiative was not driven by a desire for a revenue, but it has provided a small assist for our state budget," Smith said. "When you’re looking for billions of dollars, tens of millions doesn’t solve the problem but it certainly doesn’t hurt."

Those taxes and fees don't just support the regulation of marijuana: both states have flagged some of the revenue for public schools and expansive research.

In Colorado, a significant portion of marijuana tax revenue is designated for public schools in the state. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, $23.9 million has been generated for the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant program, said Kevin Huber, regional program manager for the office of capital construction in the state's Education Department.

In addition to marijuana excise taxes, additional funding for BEST is provided from state lottery spillover proceeds and interest, as well as the state land trust -- all of which is put into a single fund and dispersed via grants to needy districts and schools. This year was the first time the state utilized the marijuana tax revenue as part of the total grants, which were awarded starting in May.

Colorado also funded about $8 million in marijuana research using revenue generated from various marijuana fees, putting it towards eight different studies investigating the medical promise of cannabis.

In Washington, a portion of the state's collected marijuana taxes and fees also goes to schools, via the state's general fund, but some of the most novel allocation of those dollars is toward research into the short- and long-term effects of the state's reformed marijuana policy, with multiple state agencies participating in that research.

One of the most ambitious research projects is from the state's own public policy research arm -- the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) -- which is conducting a broad cost-benefit analysis of the legalization of recreational marijuana.

The preliminary report from WSIPP will be released Sept. 1, Adam Darnell, senior research associate and the lead researcher on the report, told HuffPost. This first report will be limited, largely detailing the overall research plan for the full study with some information on how implementation of the law, the marijuana supply system, licensing and sales have progressed so far in the state.

Because Washington state's program was slower to come online than Colorado's, there's a delay in data sources, Darnell said. "Some of these effects, to actually resolve at the population level, take a little time to unfold," he said.

But the full scope of the project is exceedingly comprehensive. Reports are due Sept. 1 in 2017, 2022 and 2032, examining the effects of legalization on public health, safety, youth use, criminal justice, jobs creation, revenue and much more. It's a research goal so impressively lengthy and broad that the Brookings Institute called it "nearly unprecedented."

Colorado was the first state in the nation and the first government in the world to establish a regulated marijuana marketplace -- a profound shift in drug policy, to be sure, one that some lawmakers and law enforcers in the state thought would not roll out as successfully as it has. Along with Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., now also have legalized recreational marijuana (D.C. continues to ban sales). Still, it remains illegal under federal law.

Now more than a year after sales first began in Colorado and Washington, perhaps the most profound shift of all is the normalcy in which marijuana policy, and the revenue it generates, is seen by state government.

Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes

They did overtax it to start, and shifted the black market from top end to bottom end, but they adjusted the tax rates, and now should be able to pinch out the bottom end black market (which is usually less violent than a top end black market).

 

[konradv]

Not to mention money SAVED by not incarcerating users.

Pot users were rarely incarcerated prior to this, its sellers that get pinched.

OK, they're out of the market now, so they're not doing jail time and costing the taxpayers money.

 

[martybegan]

Not to mention money SAVED by not incarcerating users.

Pot users were rarely incarcerated prior to this, its sellers that get pinched.

OK, they're out of the market now, so they're not doing jail time and costing the taxpayers money.

Some of them are out, but some of them switched to the bottom end black market. At least the low profit margins in that one make violence less likely.

 

[ChrisL]

I'm not against legalizing M. It is really not any worse than alcohol, IMO. It was NOT illegal in this country at one time, so . . . it's not going to be the end of the world with these new laws.

However, I do believe that most people who have been incarcerated for MJ were also committing other crimes at the time, and the marijuana charges would have been in addition. IOW, they were caught committing another crime and found to have MJ on their person so also charged with that.

 

[sear]

"Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes"

k #2
Excellent point.
But in my opinion, with a Drug War annual $expenditure exceeding $10 $Billion, $200 $M saved is $trivial. It's about 2% of the available savings here.

And as k #2 suggests:
At the time of his entrepreneurship, Al "scar face" Capone was reported to be one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the nation.
But if not for Prohibition, Capone would have been a used car salesman, living and dead in obscurity.

When the Drug War is ended, it will be a severe blow to narco-terrorism.
And it's not just that there will be enormous benefits.
These manifold enormous benefits will result from U.S. $SAVING $money!! Drug War is lunacy.

 

[ChrisL]

"Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes"

k #2
Excellent point.
But in my opinion, with a Drug War annual $expenditure exceeding $10 $Billion, $200 $M saved is $trivial. It's about 2% of the available savings here.

And as k #2 suggests:
At the time of his entrepreneurship, Al "scar face" Capone was reported to be one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the nation.
But if not for Prohibition, Capone would have been a used car salesman, living and dead in obscurity.

When the Drug War is ended, it will be a severe blow to narco-terrorism.
And it's not just that there will be enormous benefits.
These manifold enormous benefits will result from U.S. $SAVING $money!! Drug War is lunacy.

I agree about the drug war nonsense. It costs us a lot of money and has very little if any benefit. However, I still maintain the notion that most drug charges are just additional charges to other crimes, when a criminal is caught with drugs while in the commission of another crime.

 

[konradv]

I'm not against legalizing M. It is really not any worse than alcohol, IMO. It was NOT illegal in this country at one time, so . . . it's not going to be the end of the world with these new laws. However, I do believe that most people who have been incarcerated for MJ were also committing other crimes at the time, and the marijuana charges would have been in addition. IOW, they were caught committing another crime and found to have MJ on their person so also charged with that.

But sometimes it's just speeding that's turned into a felony.

 

[ChrisL]

I'm not against legalizing M. It is really not any worse than alcohol, IMO. It was NOT illegal in this country at one time, so . . . it's not going to be the end of the world with these new laws. However, I do believe that most people who have been incarcerated for MJ were also committing other crimes at the time, and the marijuana charges would have been in addition. IOW, they were caught committing another crime and found to have MJ on their person so also charged with that.

But sometimes it's just speeding that's turned into a felony.

I think MJ is only a felony if you are caught with a certain amount, but I'm not sure. At least that's how it is or was in my state. I have to admit, I'm not really up to date on the MJ laws.

 

[martybegan]

"Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes"

k #2
Excellent point.
But in my opinion, with a Drug War annual $expenditure exceeding $10 $Billion, $200 $M saved is $trivial. It's about 2% of the available savings here.

And as k #2 suggests:
At the time of his entrepreneurship, Al "scar face" Capone was reported to be one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the nation.
But if not for Prohibition, Capone would have been a used car salesman, living and dead in obscurity.

When the Drug War is ended, it will be a severe blow to narco-terrorism.
And it's not just that there will be enormous benefits.
These manifold enormous benefits will result from U.S. $SAVING $money!! Drug War is lunacy.

I agree about the drug war nonsense. It costs us a lot of money and has very little if any benefit. However, I still maintain the notion that most drug charges are just additional charges to other crimes, when a criminal is caught with drugs while in the commission of another crime.

The top end black market is what creates the other crimes, usually on the selling end, and usually related to protecting the turf of the sellers.

In a top end black market (one that is created by the banning of a certain product or service) demand and restricted supply dictate costs. Profits can be double/triple or more than the cost of getting your hands on the product or service.

A bottom end black market supplies a product or service that is overtaxed/regulated. Here there is an added limit, namely the cost of the product or service when it can be obtained legally. Profit margins are much much much lower in the bottom end black market, and this lowers crime.

Lots of people will kill over control of making $100,000 on a $20-30k investment, much less will do it to skim $1000 for very $20,000 you manage to sell.

 

[Claudette]

This is good news.

The first two states to legalize recreational marijuana have collectively raked in at least $200 million in marijuana tax revenue, according to the latest tax data -- and they're putting those dollars to good use.

In Colorado, after about a year and a half of legal recreational marijuana sales, the state has collected more than $117 million in excise taxes from both the recreational and medical marijuana markets, according to the most recent data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Washington state got a slower start. Its retail shops didn't begin selling recreational marijuana until July of last year, but they are keeping pace with Colorado's. About $83 million in excise taxes have already been collected in the year since sales first began, according to the most recent tax data from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

And the total haul for both states is several million higher if all additional revenue from marijuana -- such as sales taxes, jurisdictional taxes, fees and licensing costs -- is included.

That marijuana revenue is, of course, just a drop in the bucket of the states' respective multi-billion dollar annual budgets, but it's real revenue nonetheless, revenue that helps pay for the very regulation that supports the legal marijuana market.

"Our philosophy has been that marijuana pays its own way," J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) Office of Marijuana Coordination, told the Huffington Post. "Every dime we bring in from legalization is dedicated to the cost of legalization. That's regulatory framework first, then public education campaigns about safe and responsible use and then prevention and treatment programs."

But the tax revenue from legal marijuana won't solve a state's budget problems all by itself, he added.

"The big lesson we tell other states is you probably shouldn't legalize marijuana if you want to make money -- that's not why you do it," McKinley said. "You do it because you think that a regulated marketplace might be safer than an unregulated marketplace or you believe that the war on drugs didn't work."

Jaime Smith, deputy communications director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), echoed those sentiments.

"The legalization initiative was not driven by a desire for a revenue, but it has provided a small assist for our state budget," Smith said. "When you’re looking for billions of dollars, tens of millions doesn’t solve the problem but it certainly doesn’t hurt."

Those taxes and fees don't just support the regulation of marijuana: both states have flagged some of the revenue for public schools and expansive research.

In Colorado, a significant portion of marijuana tax revenue is designated for public schools in the state. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, $23.9 million has been generated for the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant program, said Kevin Huber, regional program manager for the office of capital construction in the state's Education Department.

In addition to marijuana excise taxes, additional funding for BEST is provided from state lottery spillover proceeds and interest, as well as the state land trust -- all of which is put into a single fund and dispersed via grants to needy districts and schools. This year was the first time the state utilized the marijuana tax revenue as part of the total grants, which were awarded starting in May.

Colorado also funded about $8 million in marijuana research using revenue generated from various marijuana fees, putting it towards eight different studies investigating the medical promise of cannabis.

In Washington, a portion of the state's collected marijuana taxes and fees also goes to schools, via the state's general fund, but some of the most novel allocation of those dollars is toward research into the short- and long-term effects of the state's reformed marijuana policy, with multiple state agencies participating in that research.

One of the most ambitious research projects is from the state's own public policy research arm -- the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) -- which is conducting a broad cost-benefit analysis of the legalization of recreational marijuana.

The preliminary report from WSIPP will be released Sept. 1, Adam Darnell, senior research associate and the lead researcher on the report, told HuffPost. This first report will be limited, largely detailing the overall research plan for the full study with some information on how implementation of the law, the marijuana supply system, licensing and sales have progressed so far in the state.

Because Washington state's program was slower to come online than Colorado's, there's a delay in data sources, Darnell said. "Some of these effects, to actually resolve at the population level, take a little time to unfold," he said.

But the full scope of the project is exceedingly comprehensive. Reports are due Sept. 1 in 2017, 2022 and 2032, examining the effects of legalization on public health, safety, youth use, criminal justice, jobs creation, revenue and much more. It's a research goal so impressively lengthy and broad that the Brookings Institute called it "nearly unprecedented."

Colorado was the first state in the nation and the first government in the world to establish a regulated marijuana marketplace -- a profound shift in drug policy, to be sure, one that some lawmakers and law enforcers in the state thought would not roll out as successfully as it has. Along with Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., now also have legalized recreational marijuana (D.C. continues to ban sales). Still, it remains illegal under federal law.

Now more than a year after sales first began in Colorado and Washington, perhaps the most profound shift of all is the normalcy in which marijuana policy, and the revenue it generates, is seen by state government.

Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes

I agree. All States and the Fed Govt. should regulate and tax it just like they do cigarettes and alcohol.

It would create a windfall worth millions of dollars.

 

[BluesLegend]

So liberals have vamp sucked $200 million dollars out of the pockets of the poor and middle class, while addling their brains with drugs, and they celebrate this? WTF libs.

 

[ChrisL]

"Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes"

k #2
Excellent point.
But in my opinion, with a Drug War annual $expenditure exceeding $10 $Billion, $200 $M saved is $trivial. It's about 2% of the available savings here.

And as k #2 suggests:
At the time of his entrepreneurship, Al "scar face" Capone was reported to be one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the nation.
But if not for Prohibition, Capone would have been a used car salesman, living and dead in obscurity.

When the Drug War is ended, it will be a severe blow to narco-terrorism.
And it's not just that there will be enormous benefits.
These manifold enormous benefits will result from U.S. $SAVING $money!! Drug War is lunacy.

I agree about the drug war nonsense. It costs us a lot of money and has very little if any benefit. However, I still maintain the notion that most drug charges are just additional charges to other crimes, when a criminal is caught with drugs while in the commission of another crime.

The top end black market is what creates the other crimes, usually on the selling end, and usually related to protecting the turf of the sellers.

In a top end black market (one that is created by the banning of a certain product or service) demand and restricted supply dictate costs. Profits can be double/triple or more than the cost of getting your hands on the product or service.

A bottom end black market supplies a product or service that is overtaxed/regulated. Here there is an added limit, namely the cost of the product or service when it can be obtained legally. Profit margins are much much much lower in the bottom end black market, and this lowers crime.

Lots of people will kill over control of making $100,000 on a $20-30k investment, much less will do it to skim $1000 for very $20,000 you manage to sell.

Makes sense. I do think that legalization will help to cut crime because demand from illegal dealers will decrease a lot. People have said that the government MJ is some pretty good stuff. Lol.

 

[ChrisL]

So liberals have vamp sucked $200 million dollars out of the pockets of the poor and middle class, while addling their brains with drugs, and they celebrate this? WTF libs.

What is different between this and alcohol? There is a type of "sin tax" associated with all vices. Cigarettes too. Would you rather they be illegal and have a black market demand?

 

[martybegan]

This is good news.

The first two states to legalize recreational marijuana have collectively raked in at least $200 million in marijuana tax revenue, according to the latest tax data -- and they're putting those dollars to good use.

In Colorado, after about a year and a half of legal recreational marijuana sales, the state has collected more than $117 million in excise taxes from both the recreational and medical marijuana markets, according to the most recent data from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Washington state got a slower start. Its retail shops didn't begin selling recreational marijuana until July of last year, but they are keeping pace with Colorado's. About $83 million in excise taxes have already been collected in the year since sales first began, according to the most recent tax data from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.

And the total haul for both states is several million higher if all additional revenue from marijuana -- such as sales taxes, jurisdictional taxes, fees and licensing costs -- is included.

That marijuana revenue is, of course, just a drop in the bucket of the states' respective multi-billion dollar annual budgets, but it's real revenue nonetheless, revenue that helps pay for the very regulation that supports the legal marijuana market.

"Our philosophy has been that marijuana pays its own way," J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) Office of Marijuana Coordination, told the Huffington Post. "Every dime we bring in from legalization is dedicated to the cost of legalization. That's regulatory framework first, then public education campaigns about safe and responsible use and then prevention and treatment programs."

But the tax revenue from legal marijuana won't solve a state's budget problems all by itself, he added.

"The big lesson we tell other states is you probably shouldn't legalize marijuana if you want to make money -- that's not why you do it," McKinley said. "You do it because you think that a regulated marketplace might be safer than an unregulated marketplace or you believe that the war on drugs didn't work."

Jaime Smith, deputy communications director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), echoed those sentiments.

"The legalization initiative was not driven by a desire for a revenue, but it has provided a small assist for our state budget," Smith said. "When you’re looking for billions of dollars, tens of millions doesn’t solve the problem but it certainly doesn’t hurt."

Those taxes and fees don't just support the regulation of marijuana: both states have flagged some of the revenue for public schools and expansive research.

In Colorado, a significant portion of marijuana tax revenue is designated for public schools in the state. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, $23.9 million has been generated for the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant program, said Kevin Huber, regional program manager for the office of capital construction in the state's Education Department.

In addition to marijuana excise taxes, additional funding for BEST is provided from state lottery spillover proceeds and interest, as well as the state land trust -- all of which is put into a single fund and dispersed via grants to needy districts and schools. This year was the first time the state utilized the marijuana tax revenue as part of the total grants, which were awarded starting in May.

Colorado also funded about $8 million in marijuana research using revenue generated from various marijuana fees, putting it towards eight different studies investigating the medical promise of cannabis.

In Washington, a portion of the state's collected marijuana taxes and fees also goes to schools, via the state's general fund, but some of the most novel allocation of those dollars is toward research into the short- and long-term effects of the state's reformed marijuana policy, with multiple state agencies participating in that research.

One of the most ambitious research projects is from the state's own public policy research arm -- the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) -- which is conducting a broad cost-benefit analysis of the legalization of recreational marijuana.

The preliminary report from WSIPP will be released Sept. 1, Adam Darnell, senior research associate and the lead researcher on the report, told HuffPost. This first report will be limited, largely detailing the overall research plan for the full study with some information on how implementation of the law, the marijuana supply system, licensing and sales have progressed so far in the state.

Because Washington state's program was slower to come online than Colorado's, there's a delay in data sources, Darnell said. "Some of these effects, to actually resolve at the population level, take a little time to unfold," he said.

But the full scope of the project is exceedingly comprehensive. Reports are due Sept. 1 in 2017, 2022 and 2032, examining the effects of legalization on public health, safety, youth use, criminal justice, jobs creation, revenue and much more. It's a research goal so impressively lengthy and broad that the Brookings Institute called it "nearly unprecedented."

Colorado was the first state in the nation and the first government in the world to establish a regulated marijuana marketplace -- a profound shift in drug policy, to be sure, one that some lawmakers and law enforcers in the state thought would not roll out as successfully as it has. Along with Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., now also have legalized recreational marijuana (D.C. continues to ban sales). Still, it remains illegal under federal law.

Now more than a year after sales first began in Colorado and Washington, perhaps the most profound shift of all is the normalcy in which marijuana policy, and the revenue it generates, is seen by state government.

Pioneer Pot States Have Collected More Than $200 Million In Marijuana Taxes

I agree. All States and the Fed Govt. should regulate and tax it just like they do cigarettes and alcohol.

It would create a windfall worth millions of dollars.

As long as they don't over-tax it, like they are currently doing with cigarettes. The bootleggers are moving over to Tobacco.