Pubdate: Sun, 21 Jun 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Bill McCamley
Note: BY REP. BILL MCCAMLEY DEMOCRAT, MESILLA PARK

LEGALIZING POT SALES MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE

Colorado Is Making Hundreds of Millions Taxing Pot. N.M. Could, Too

=93Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment
prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it
works as well as prohibition did, in five years
Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.=94 =AD Will Rogers

It's time to regulate and tax the consumption of
marijuana like alcohol. Why? The reasons are
compelling, conclusive and plentiful.

The most obvious? Prohibition increases use. When
the United States banned alcohol in 1919
consumption initially went down. However, by the
time it was repealed in 1932 more people were
drinking more alcohol - a 30-40 percent increase
- - than they did before prohibition was passed.

The same thing is happening with marijuana; as
more states tax and regulate teen use is decreasing at a significant level.

Comparing alcohol and marijuana shows the later
is much safer. From 2006 to 2010, the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control reported that 88,000
people died from alcohol poisoning. Yet a category for marijuana doesn't
 exist.

Furthermore, alcohol has been shown in numerous
studies to trigger violent behavior including
domestic violence. Marijuana, on the other hand,
is the substance least likely used by emergency room patients.

The argument that marijuana leads to harder drug
use is simply incorrect. While 50 percent of
Americans have tried marijuana, only 15 percent
have admitted to trying cocaine. That number
drops to 3.6 percent for crack and 1.6 percent for heroin.

The National Academy of Sciences, in a report to
Congress, stated "because underage smoking and
alcohol use typically precede marijuana use,
marijuana is not the most common, and is rarely
the first, "gateway" to illicit drug use. There
is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects
of marijuana are causally linked to the
subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."

Furthermore, hard drug use in states with legal
marijuana will probably decline. After all, if
you visit a dealer to buy pot they will always
have other drugs for sale. A regulated store selling marijuana will not.

Prohibition increases violence by benefiting
cartels and gangs. During the years of alcohol
prohibition the country's murder rate doubled
only to decrease substantially after it was repealed.

In Colorado, the same thing is happening now that
marijuana policies have been reversed. After a
year of taxation and regulation violent crime
rates in Denver declined, as have statewide traffic fatalities.

Furthermore, as marijuana has become legal in
various ways throughout the United States the
price for illegal marijuana grown in Mexico and
sold by cartels has dropped by half, giving them
less resources for their activities, namely
killing people -estimated at 60,000 murders between 2006 and 2012.

Regulating marijuana like alcohol would also be good economically.

Currently, when police, court and incarceration
costs are combined, New Mexico spends $33 million
of your tax money to enforce prohibition. In
light of the information presented above, that
money would be much better used going after murders, rapists and thieves.

Rather than marijuana revenue furthering
violence, money would go to legitimate businesses
contributing to the economy. Currently in
Colorado, legal marijuana is selling at between
$2,000 and $3,000 per pound. This is generating
huge economic gains, totalling $700 million.

The outgrowth? Revenue for schools. Colorado's
law requires marijuana taxes to fund education,
and (the state) is expecting to bring in $100
million per year from taxes and licensing fees by
2016. This is so much that the government doesn't
know what to do with it, and Colorado residents may actually get a refund.

Last year I introduced House Bill 160, the
Cannabis Revenue and Freedom Act. It would have
allowed private use of marijuana for adults over
21. Republican Party leaders killed it quickly,
but I won't quit. If we want less crime, better
schools, and a healthier state let's stop our
outdated prohibition laws and do this right.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom