Updated: I first wrote this article in 2013 (nearly 10 years after California first began to legalize the use of cannabis for medicinal use) regarding the decision of the U.S. Justice Department to not go after states that are using marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use. Since, much has changed in those states that have legalized its use and have become a testing ground for the nation.
By Cheri, The Non-PC News Girl
For more than decade, there has been a strong push by several progressive states to legalize marijuana, beginning in California around 2005 for the legalization of cannabis for medicinal use. Afterward, in 2012, Colorado lead the way for the legalization for cannabis for recreational use, soon followed by Washington State and others.
As states continue to adapt the legalization of cannabis for either medicinal use or recreational use and both, a multi-billion dollar industry has grown and states have been raking in hefty tax benefits. States on the verge of bankruptcy (like California) have been generating incredible tax revenues from its sale alone, and there have been large increases in the number of people moving to these states.
Affects caused by the legalization of marijuana in these states are beginning to show, from a larger use of cannabis and other drugs to increased housing prices and to a higher overall cost-of-living. In Colorado, for instance, after both medicinal and recreational marijuana use became legal in 2012, the population exploded by 101,000 people in a 12-month period from July 2013 to July 2014, according to an article by Aldo Svaldi, a writer for The Denver Post. That's an increase of 1.89%, which doubled the national 0.79% average in that time period.
The state estimates it will continue to see the same population increase again in 2015 to 2016, although data is not yet out to verify this. This increase was much larger than what was expected by the state's demographers and is the first time these numbers have increased so dramatically since the "tech boom" at the turn of the millennium.
With these incredible profits booming and more ways in which to use cannabis such as in textiles, rope and paper on the way, there is no end in site to what money can be made by the sale and use of marijuana. As more states join in the legalization of marijuana medicinally, state tax gains continue to grow while the impact on the overall cost-of-living in these states increase, and not always for the better.
For those not involved in the production, sale or use of cannabis, they find it more difficult to get jobs and find affordable housing, and housing itself is in demand. Tent cities and homelessness, largely by people coming into large cities like Denver expecting to find work and affordable housing with the lure of being able to use marijuana legally, but instead finding a lack has caused some to become homeless.
"I grew up in Brooklyn New York and I'm used to the smell of urine in public areas such as the subway," said one woman, "but during a recent visit to Denver, I was overwhelmed by its smell and shocked by the number of homeless and tent cities. I can think of no other reason for this than the legalization of pot."
Marijuana was classified as a type one substance in 1970 during the Nixon administration at the beginning of the "war on drugs." A type one substance is extremely harmful and carries with it harsh penalties. While those laws have become less stringent, it's still in effect today on a federal level, even as more states legalize the drug.
Thus far, the feds involvement with states legalizing pot, weed, blunts, grass, Mary Jane, bud, ganja, dope, cannabis, skunk, chronic, green, hash, herb or whatever name it goes by has been to allow the states to oversee its enforcement. In Colorado, people 21 years of age and older are allowed to use pot for recreational use, and therefore there is the need to enforce it for those under that age, for example. Yet recent studies show that since its legalization in Colorado, people 12 and older have increased their consumption of the drug at a higher than average rate, with a larger increase of those smoking pot monthly going to daily use.
When legalization began, California, Washington and Colorado passed state laws allowing for medicinal use of this all-natural substance that is known to help stop nausea, help decrease some forms of pain, prevent epileptic attacks and with many other conditions. However, getting the drug for medicinal purposes had become almost a joke with script doctors and cannabis shops popping up and raking in cash for anyone complaining of a back ache, much like the pill-mills in Florida. To stop this and essentially cut to the chase, allowing for recreational use takes out the middleman--the cannabis-mill doctors--and opens the market to making even more money and the states to garner even more taxes.
Affects caused by the legalization of marijuana in these states are beginning to show, from a larger use of cannabis and other drugs to increased housing prices and to a higher overall cost-of-living. In Colorado, for instance, after both medicinal and recreational marijuana use became legal in 2012, the population exploded by 101,000 people in a 12-month period from July 2013 to July 2014, according to an article by Aldo Svaldi, a writer for The Denver Post. That's an increase of 1.89%, which doubled the national 0.79% average in that time period.
The state estimates it will continue to see the same population increase again in 2015 to 2016, although data is not yet out to verify this. This increase was much larger than what was expected by the state's demographers and is the first time these numbers have increased so dramatically since the "tech boom" at the turn of the millennium.
With these incredible profits booming and more ways in which to use cannabis such as in textiles, rope and paper on the way, there is no end in site to what money can be made by the sale and use of marijuana. As more states join in the legalization of marijuana medicinally, state tax gains continue to grow while the impact on the overall cost-of-living in these states increase, and not always for the better.
For those not involved in the production, sale or use of cannabis, they find it more difficult to get jobs and find affordable housing, and housing itself is in demand. Tent cities and homelessness, largely by people coming into large cities like Denver expecting to find work and affordable housing with the lure of being able to use marijuana legally, but instead finding a lack has caused some to become homeless.
"I grew up in Brooklyn New York and I'm used to the smell of urine in public areas such as the subway," said one woman, "but during a recent visit to Denver, I was overwhelmed by its smell and shocked by the number of homeless and tent cities. I can think of no other reason for this than the legalization of pot."
Marijuana was classified as a type one substance in 1970 during the Nixon administration at the beginning of the "war on drugs." A type one substance is extremely harmful and carries with it harsh penalties. While those laws have become less stringent, it's still in effect today on a federal level, even as more states legalize the drug.
Thus far, the feds involvement with states legalizing pot, weed, blunts, grass, Mary Jane, bud, ganja, dope, cannabis, skunk, chronic, green, hash, herb or whatever name it goes by has been to allow the states to oversee its enforcement. In Colorado, people 21 years of age and older are allowed to use pot for recreational use, and therefore there is the need to enforce it for those under that age, for example. Yet recent studies show that since its legalization in Colorado, people 12 and older have increased their consumption of the drug at a higher than average rate, with a larger increase of those smoking pot monthly going to daily use.
When legalization began, California, Washington and Colorado passed state laws allowing for medicinal use of this all-natural substance that is known to help stop nausea, help decrease some forms of pain, prevent epileptic attacks and with many other conditions. However, getting the drug for medicinal purposes had become almost a joke with script doctors and cannabis shops popping up and raking in cash for anyone complaining of a back ache, much like the pill-mills in Florida. To stop this and essentially cut to the chase, allowing for recreational use takes out the middleman--the cannabis-mill doctors--and opens the market to making even more money and the states to garner even more taxes.
The only real holdback has been federal law that prohibits and criminalizes the possession of it. And while for now, the the U.S. Justice Department said it won't challenge state laws that not only legalize pot for medicinal purposes, but for recreational use as well will instead focus its enforcement on serious trafficking cases and child possession. However, there is still the open threat of the feds enforcing national law against all possession of marijuana.
Furthermore, as of 2013 when then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the governors of Colorado and Washington that his department, for now, will not overturn state laws that has legalized recreational use of pot, the feds have held to that as of July 2017. (Whoopee! Fireworks!)
My opinion:
I see there are downfalls associated with legalizing weed, such as cost-of-living increases and housing shortages with higher costs for homes in states that allow for recreational use. I can see that these issues may become a catalyst for the feds to step in and regulate if not abolish the states' legalization of the drug if these states don't turn the situation around. Aware of these issues, Colorado, for instance, is already making efforts to shore up these problems with housing expansion that is more affordable, the creation of job growth through housing expansion and by providing incentives for companies to relocate to the state.
I see the country looking to Denver, CO as the proving ground that medical and recreational cannabis use can be good for the state and the people in the state who both have ties and have no ties to the industry.
Because of the benefits this drug has for people who truly have conditions that it helps with, I believe we as society need to ensure that it remains available for that purpose. And in regard to its recreational use, I am somewhat tossed. I see the direct influence pot has as a gateway drug (let's not fool ourselves by saying this is not true since those of us who have used it growing up know it is and current studies show this).
I see the country looking to Denver, CO as the proving ground that medical and recreational cannabis use can be good for the state and the people in the state who both have ties and have no ties to the industry.
Because of the benefits this drug has for people who truly have conditions that it helps with, I believe we as society need to ensure that it remains available for that purpose. And in regard to its recreational use, I am somewhat tossed. I see the direct influence pot has as a gateway drug (let's not fool ourselves by saying this is not true since those of us who have used it growing up know it is and current studies show this).
However, most people who get high on pot become calm and chill out. They don't become aggressive like those who drink too much and who use stimulants. And the same laws that apply to drinking and driving; prescription pills and driving; and sleeping and driving also apply to pot and driving.
I also believe it will ultimately prove to have more benefits beyond what it's already known for as experiments and pubic studies are already showing. It is also a start to what I believe should come next in our society with regard to illegal activity--quartered-off zones for drugs and prostitution.
By the feds turning a blind-eye to it, it also begs the question of what will come next? What will be the next substance that people will fight to legalize? Poppy flowers or coca leaves, for instance, since each are natural and each has medicinal uses. Arguments for the acceptance of their use in their natural form include use for pain, as certain poppy flowers have been used to treat for 1,000s of years, and for fatigue, sleepiness and alertness as coca leaves have been used for--naturally (in their natural unadulterated form).
Finally, this is also a great sign that the government is backing off control over us, our every move, even if just a little. I never thought I'd see it, and I'm sure glad I am--for now...
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