Making Money on Alcohol or Marijuana?

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In June of this year, Colorado, a state with a recreational marijuana allowance, made over 50 million dollars selling legal marijuana while states nearby made nothing because they haven't legalized it. Proponents say it's no worse than alcohol so why is it so many folks gots bees in their bonnets over marijuana? Why not let people make some money instead of always trying to stifle enterprise?

I'm from Colorado, I smoke marijuana on occasion, I have no beef in this debate since my state has settled this issue. That being said, I'm here to answer any questions you may have about why marijuana legalization would be good for your state.

I think it would be good. I wasn't happy with this state wanting to sue yours. How hypocritical.

I still don't understand how a number of states in the US have managed to legalize marijuana before Canada. I'm jealous.

I have never partaken of any THC, but my experience with alcohol suggests that cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol.

Here in Utah, there is about a 30% tax on alcohol levied by the state, which is the sole distributor of anything over 4% by volume.

I don't like it but it's no worse than selling liquor. How did it become so stigmatized?

The historic record suggests that it began with racism against mexicans, who were widely believed to smoke it so as to go into a violent manic state leading to the rape and murder of white women.

Yes, really.

Grass - The history of the American government's war on marijuana in the 20th century.

Yes Reefer Madness. Ana,since you're into propaganda issues you should watch the video below-- it's a great example of propaganda from the same era as the Nazi propaganda you've studied.

Anyway.

It's apparent that alcohol will trash every vital organ in the human body, given enough time and exposure. Starting with your liver, and following with everything that depends on the liver, which is essentially everything.

My maternal grandfather pickled himself to death. He drank habitually. What in europe they would call a mundane alcoholic -- someone who drinks continually but does not necessarily lose their ability to maintain their lifestyle.

The official cause of death was "multiple organ failure due to advanced alcoholism" -- toward the end he had just enough brains left to lift and pour.

If he had been in better health, he should have been around an additional 20 years. Not that he was a good man in the first place. He was in the ground for 10 years before my mother could follow up a story about her upbringing with "And he should not have done that. He was not a good father."

My paternal grandfather - he drank to blow off steam. He was the judge in a small town. He would come home from a long day of laying down the law to his friends and neighbors and get nicely toasted. Then one day he came home and his wife told him that he was going to be a father. Without saying a word, he piled all of his booze into a cardboard box, took it out to an empty oil drum in the back yard, and set it on fire. His buddies from the bar came by later that week to make sure he was OK. He never drank a drop the rest of his life. I wish I'd known him -- he died from complications of his recovery from surgery for colon cancer when i was a toddler.

Weed? Worst case scenario it makes you a boring loser. But a live boring loser.

The key to drinking without being a boring loser is a controlled intake. I'm quite pleasant and even desirable to be around when I'm mildly toasted. With me it seems to temporarily melt away the social ill effects of AS.
I have no use for bitter drunks or obnoxious ones.

As far as pot; people should at least be able to legally grow thier own. I wouldn't be bothered one bit if they legalised all dope but that ain't NEVER gonna happen. There have been too many empires built on the "War on Drugs" for it to just end.

Yeah my mom's father was never out-of-control-drunk. But he was always an as*hole.

I don't know if any legislator really believed that grass made folks violent. But marijuana smoking was common among Mexican migrant workers so outlawing possession was a handy to way to find an excuse to deport migrants.

On top of that the liquor industry lobby didn't like having competition (imagine if you could legally grow the equivalent to a bottle of Southern Comfort in your own backyard next to the tomato plants, what that would do to distilleries). So outlawing it had more to do with racism and commercial special interests than with science proving pot was significantly worse than legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol.

There is no legitimate argument against the full legalization of marijuana, it's far less harmful than alcohol and has many medical uses. I can't take someone seriously if they disagree.

Arizona needs this money for its underfunded school system bad, hopefully the judgemental old white religious people don't stand in the way of progress in 2016.

Oh god, if you're from Arizona you probably shouldn't even mention marijuana or Sheriff Joe will put you in prison with only a pink jumpsuit to keep you warm. Worst drug laws in the nation, next to maybe Utah and Texas. Funny how Colorado is right dab in the middle of all the hard hitting drug law states, that always amuses me.

I don't want to comment on how good or bad weed is. However the logic here amuses me. Alcohol is bad and legal. It is worse healthwise than weed which is illegal. Therefore weed is harmless and should be legal. That is not to deny the argument about the vested interests concerning alcohol. I wouldn't know about that.

We have legalization on pace to be on the ballot in 2016 and there is a good chance it passes, there isn't going to be anything Sheriff Joe can do then. The whole western US might legalize in 2016.

FWIW, I haven't heard Arpaio speak on the subject altho I am sure he is against but not his usual topic of discussion. I try not to pay attention to him or our new Governor Douchey.

Arizona does referendums well, they are legislatively binding and they are limited in what they can change.