Colorado Pot Paradox

This paper will look at the benefits and drawbacks to legalizing marijuana by looking in at Colorado.The state made forty million dollars by taxed marijuana in 2014 alone, also Colorado saved countless millions because of the extremely lower amounts of marijuana arrest and court cases. It is not clear how having new recreational marijuana stores opening will affect the cannabis market, or businesses expanding around them. Gov. John Hickenlooper says that the economy is thriving with record setting numbers of tourists (73.1 million). 49 percent of those tourist said that legal marijuana influenced their decisions to vacation in Colorado. The ER’s in Colorado have also seen a rise in numbers of marijuana related cases and those cases in non-residents have almost doubled. An unexpected situation that arose from legal cannabis was the amount of electricity that is being use to grow the drug. Some cannabusinesses have to go green with solar or wind power. There are many varying views on the effects of legal marijuana have developed in Colorado since marijuana became legal in 2014.

Colorado’s legalization of marijuana began in 2000 with the Colorado Amendment 20. According to Davis, Mendelson, berkes, Suleta, Corsi & Booth (2015) the Colorado Amendment 20 legalized cannabis for medical use only. Even though this was true however, not just anybody was allowed to obtain marijuana. Any person wishing to obtain cannabis had to have a condition that was debilitating. “Debilitating conditions approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and included in Amendment 20 are cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, muscle spasms, and any other condition approved by CDPHE” (Davis et.al, 2015, p.1). This Amendment lasted for nine years and in 2009, anyone was allowed to obtain medical cannabis. There was no

The topic of legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States has been a very controversial one. States such as Colorado and Washington have gone on the offensive and have legalized recreational marijuana and have enjoyed the high revenues brought in from cannabis sale. On the other hand other states have kept low profiles because they are wary of the possible negative outcomes of legalizing recreational marijuana and are using the states of Colorado and Washington as guinea pigs to see what their next course of action on this controversial topic should be. This is not only a highly debated topic among politicians, but also by the people. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center 52% of Americans

high demand of consumptions the United States government would be able to regulate and tax

With 520 physicians from Colorado taking the survey, 46% said they would not recommend prescribing the plant to patients, while only 19% said they would recommend it. When asked about continuing research, “Nearly all agreed on the need for further medical education about medical marijuana.” With 91% agreeing that it should be explored deeper, it shows that many people don’t actually know the truth of how helpful or harmful marijuana can be.

In November of 2012, Colorado voted to legalize marijuana usage in small amounts for adults 21 years of age and older. Since this momentous decision, experts feel the drug problems within the state have only gotten worse.

On January 1st the states of Colorado and Washington officially began the regulation of legal marijuana sales. Thousands of people from all over the country including tourists from Wisconsin, Ohio, Chicago, and even Georgia lined up out front of dispensaries to make a purchase. Recreational marijuana is being regulated and monitored like alcohol; you must be at least 21 years old to make a purchase. The drug, which is controversial in many states’ legislations, is currently legal for medical use in 20 states, but Colorado and Washington were the first to approve of recreational use (Healy). The geographical concepts involved in the legalization of marijuana include migration, movement and flow, and private/public space.

There has been major news forming around the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Medical marijuana has been effective in Colorado since 2000. Now marijuana is legal for recreational use for people 21 and up. Many rules and regulations follow the legalization of marijuana. Many people of Colorado fear this legalization, where others are totally for it and think it will help boost Colorado’s economy. I have found many

Since Colorado made marijuana legal the of Palisade has made it legal this year rot aloe retails marijuana stores, manufacture marijuana, cultivate marijuana, cultivate and test marijuana. (“Town of Palisade”). In the town of Palisade the public get to vote for the rules.

Colorado is one of the first two states in the U.S. to legalize marijuana. The legalization indicated a momentous shift in drug policy in the state, and nationally as well, since the federal government has yet to seek to override Colorado’s violation of federal drug policy. Beforehand, there were many predictions made on the economic and social impacts of the legalization if it occurred, and to date, many have not come true. Of course, with such a small data set to work with, and only a couple years of information so far, it is unwise to make broad generalizations about the effects of the drug being legal, as enjoyable as making those assertions may be for some people. Nonetheless, some data is in, and these paint a preliminary picture of post-legalization Colorado.

With any major legislative change there will always be controversy and unanticipated consequences, but in time most of these things will be ironed out with modifications to the law and eventual social or cultural adjustment and acceptance. Such is the case with legal pot in Colorado, and a brief examination of the amendment’s impact on the state reveals impressive benefits – not a dramatic collapse into drug-induced chaos and anarchy.

Marijuana is a substance that has become very much a part of American culture. Nearly 65 million Americans have either used it occasionally or regularly. The use of marijuana hit mainstream America about thirty years ago and it has been accepted by a large segment of society ever since (Rosenthal 16). The debate on whether this substance should be legalized or not remains a very hot topic today. Despite government efforts

Boulder in the State of Colorado is one of the places where weed has been legalized since 2014. Since then, people have been buying, selling and consuming it openly and without any legal trouble.

Legalize, control, and discourage is a way to fix the problem. Evident by Colorado and Washington, “the legalization of marijuana can stop most of these possession arrests” (Levine). After the first opening of the first retail marijuana stores on January 1, 2014, Colorado had decreased crime rates, decreased traffic fatalities and increase in economic output (DPA). Since 2010, the marijuana possession arrest have went down 84% since its legalization. The tactic of legalizing, controlling, and discouraging has been proposed by the Economist, a weekly news magazine, in the late 80’s.

Now we have Colorado. The state of Colorado has more Marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonald’s locations combined. Residents and tourists alike can buy up to an ounce of weed there.