Reader: All Those Marijuana Taxes, and Colorado Still Needs More Money for Schools

Colorado’s vote to legalize recreational marijuana in November 2012 made the state flush with green in more ways than one. Just over a year after voters approved the landmark amendment, recreational dispensaries opened for business on January 1, 2014, and the country hasn’t looked back. Since then, 23 more states have followed suit.

As the only state with a decade of sales under its belt, however, Colorado has racked up some real records: over $15 billion in sales and nearly $3 billion in tax revenue. But after a decade of legal sales, the state’s cannabis industry faces some major challenges. In their comments about our recent look at the marijuana market posted on the Westword Instagram, readers discuss a few. Says Janelle: 

And still the state needs more money in taxes for schools and other crap.

Adds Vaughn: 

Not gonna talk about the negative side of that industry, specifically the crime rate and homeless population?

Responds Tyler: 

Almost half the states have fully legal cannabis. The states with the worst drug rates don’t all have legal cannabis either. Correlation doesn’t always equal causation.

Observes Myra: 

I really feel like this revenue should have been appropriated differently – we don’t need more cops or businesses, and we’ve unsuccessfully tried youth drug prevention campaigns for decades (Just say no!, DARE) But I don’t remember how this appropriation was decided a decade ago.

Notes Ashley: 

And in those years, we’ve seen all these companies deteriorate and become more and more focused on profit over their patients and consumers. Growers “passing” moldy and unhealthy weed to make a few bucks, a lack of care for their frontline members – and the big corporate daddies who know nothing coming in and taking over a industry that was all started by passionate people and plant lovers.

Adds Bruce:

 If you can’t pay your employees enough to live in the city they work in, you do not have a working business model.

What do you think about the changes in Colorado’s cannabis industry over the last decade? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.