Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jul 2015
Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat (AZ Edu)
Copyright: 2015 Arizona Daily Wildcat
Contact:  http://wildcat.arizona.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/725
Author: Tanner Jean-Louis

LEGAL MARIJUANA BODES WELL FOR STUDENTS, LOCAL GOVT.

Last week, Oregon's new law legalizing recreational marijuana came 
into effect, -making it the fourth state to legalize, following 
Alaska, Washington and Colorado. Recreational marijuana is also legal 
in the District of Columbia. Thousands of Oregonian growers, 
dispensary owners and marijuana enthusiasts gathered at the Weed the 
People event to celebrate what many called a historic moment.

The main impetus for the event was a result of people seeing 
green-and I'm not talking about marijuana. As free doobies were 
passed around the event, so were business cards among the 
"ganjapreneurs" who gathered there to network. These eager 
capitalists are hoping to be ahead of the market when retail cannabis 
sales begin, likely next fall.

They have good reason to be hopeful. In Colorado, where the retail 
marijuana industry is beginning to take shape, recreational and 
medical marijuana sales totaled $700 million last year. The real 
economic impact is expected to be much higher as this figure excludes 
marijuana-related products, such as pipes or vaporizers, as well as 
any marijuana-related increase in tourism.

While profits have been dampened by restrictive federal tax laws, 
heavy state taxes and banking difficulties, the industry is expected 
to become more profitable as it grows. For some, retail recreational 
marijuana has already turned out to be a gold mine. On the first day 
they were permitted to sell marijuana to recreational users, the 
owners of Breckenridge Cannabis Club saw their sales increase 3,000 percent.

Business owners aren't the only ones seeing green; in 2014, the 
Colorado government raked in $63 million from marijuana sales and an 
additional $13 million in licensing fees. Much of this money is being 
sent directly to public schools and drug prevention programs while 
the rest goes to the state's general fund.

Colorado isn't just making money from legal bud-it's saving money 
too. Since voters chose legalization, marijuana-related arrests have 
plummeted 95 percent. With an estimated 37,000 less people passing 
through the criminal justice system, state law enforcement has saved 
millions of dollars and is able to focus more time and attention on 
violent crime. It should not be forgotten that 37,000 people were 
saved from the stigma and diminished economic prospects following an 
arrest, especially since drug arrests disproportionately affect minorities.

According to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union, blacks 
are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites, 
despite similar rates of use. Beside marijuana-related arrests, crime 
in general slightly declined in the Denver area following the first 
year of legalization; although this may be coincidental, it dispels 
alarmist notions that kush-crazed criminals would cause chaos. And 
while many feared the effects of an increase in "drugged drivers" on 
the roads, traffic fatalities have gone down in the state.

While legalized recreational weed is relatively new to Colorado and 
other states with similar measures, so far the data has been 
overwhelmingly positive. Arizona voters will soon have the 
opportunity to add a new "c" to the state's economic foundation of 
copper, cotton, citrus, cattle and climate: cannabis.

If passed, the 2016 Arizona Marijuana Legalization Initiative will 
allow the state to capitalize on the incoming "green rush" and the 
social benefits that come with it. The ballot initiative would allow 
those 21-and-older to privately possess and use limited quantities of 
marijuana and would create a regulated, taxable, legal, retail 
marijuana industry.

The initiative proposes that state funds raised by the industry be 
directed toward education and healthcare. With Arizona's K-12 system 
consistently ranked near the bottom in national reports, it could 
really benefit from the extra cash. Just like in Colorado, savings 
would accompany the profits. In 2010, Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron 
estimated that Arizona spends $726 million annually on enforcing 
marijuana laws. Meanwhile, cuts and proposed cuts to the Arizona 
university system since 2008 total over $500 million.

The fact that Arizona prioritizes criminalizing otherwise law-abiding 
citizens and disproportionate numbers of minorities for a non-violent 
offense over educating students would be laughable if it didn't have 
such serious consequences-especially since many studies show cannabis 
use to be far less harmful than alcohol, which is widely available. 
The huge costs spent on marijuana prohibition demonstrate the power 
of the state's large military-industrial complex, which profits from 
prohibition through equipping law enforcement and border-patrol 
agencies, and building private prisons.

Despite the influence these corporations have on lawmakers, it is in 
our hands to determine the direction of the state on this issue. As 
members of a university community increasingly burdened by the 
state's financial neglect, each of us have a special interest in 
dumping prohibition costs, regardless of whether you are interested 
in actually smoking weed yourself. Students are traditionally 
underrepresented at the polls, so it's important that we make it out 
to advocate for ourselves on this issue.

Take the advice of the legendary Peter Tosh and legalize it!
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom