Colorado legalization of marijuana in your state?

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Yes absolutely. Exactly the same.

joko104 said:

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Click to expand...

I voted for something similar.


1. Be at least 21 18.

2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.

3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured. If its legal for medicinal and recreational use I really don't care how much someone buys or grows as long as it is not causing a problem for the neighbors.

4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax. The idea should be to encourage people to buy from legal sources.A 25% special surcharge tax would encourage people to buy from illegal or out of state sources or just grow it themselves. Just charge the same sales tax you would for groceries, clothing or anything else with a normal non-punitive sales tax.

Yes, yes, and **** yes. I'll accept just about any restrictions right now as long as it will get our foot in the door. After a few years when people see it's ridiculous that the plant was banned in the first place, we could work on removing the restrictions.

I think the laws and regulations around producers and sellers rather than buyers is more significant since that's where the problem is. Based on what you've listed here, I don't see what's to stop the criminal dealers simply continuing doing what they're doing, undercutting on price and volume and circumventing the various age restriction or going semi-legitimate but continuing with various underhanded and grey-area practices, much like the tobacco companies did (and to an extent, still do).

I've not got a major moral issue with legalisation (or at least decriminalisation) of marijuana but I'm not sold on the idea that any of these proposed changes will actually have any major (positive) impact on the ground.

The only ways to make a significant change would be to establish an effective legal route and stamp down hard on all the illegal producers or open up to a complete free-for-all, accepting and accounting for the negative consequences that would have. The problem is that nobody seems to be willing to accept both parts of either of these options largely, as always, because of money and politics.

joko104 said:

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Click to expand...

I'd be fine with that or something similar. Michigan already made medical marijuana legal, so I'm sure it'll be made legal for recreational use eventually.

joko104 said:

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Click to expand...

I would probably structure the law a little differently, but in general I am fine with it. I hope it is being carefully researched, so we know exactly what the impact is.

Personally I think that we need to legalize all drugs in a sensible way. But this is a step in the right direction and may make it easier to argue a more liberal and pragmatic approach.

Absolutely. But I'm also in Colorado and voted for this.

joG said:

I would probably structure the law a little differently, but in general I am fine with it. I hope it is being carefully researched, so we know exactly what the impact is.

Personally I think that we need to legalize all drugs in a sensible way. But this is a step in the right direction and may make it easier to argue a more liberal and pragmatic approach.

Click to expand...

Its been legal to possess here for about a year. Plenty of people growing and possessing weed. Still cant smoke it in public, or drive high or anything like that. I haven't noticed much of an impact for the most part. The most noticible change I've seen is in the quality. Quality has improved significantly here. And there is more variety with a better understanding of the type of high you get.

lol...I quit after about 40 years of getting high and NOW it's legal..Oh well, at least us old hippes knew it was always a bogus Schedule 1 drug.

Legalize it and tax it - same as booze/cigs. The power of federalism at work!!! States leave the Fed's in the dust.

A US News & World Report article I read yesterday talks about the price:

Even leaving demand aside, taxes will already push prices up for retail buyers. The state will impose total taxes of 25 percent on marijuana plus the regular 2.9 percent state sales tax, and local taxes will also apply on top of those. At Kine Mine, a store in the small town of Idaho Springs, for example, total taxes will come to 31.9 percent – 27.9 percent in state taxes plus 1 percent in county taxes and a 3 percent city tax, according to store founder Theran Snyder.

But he expects he may have to charge recreational users even further above and beyond his medical marijuana prices to stay stocked. Medical marijuana patients can designate a dispensary as their primary center and thus become "members," who typically pay less than non-members. At the Kine Mine, a nonmember will currently pay $225 per ounce for medical marijuana. Though Snyder declines to give exact price points, he believes he may have to charge far more than $225 per ounce for non-medical marijuana to ensure that product stays on the shelves when the new law kicks in.

High Prices for Getting High Expected as Colorado Opens Legal Pot Shops - US News and World Report

Pay $225 for an ounce of weed? Pay far more than $225 for an ounce? That's crazy. It's a freaking weed.

No. Hell No. Not a chance. It shouldn't even be decriminalized, never mind legalized.

Kreton said:

Absolutely. But I'm also in Colorado and voted for this.

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I'm in CO too. I didn't vote for this particular law, mainly because it's an amendment to the Colorado Constitution. I believe it should have been statutory rather than constitutional - the difference being that the latter is the form of law that defines our government and how it must relate to other branches of government, etc. The former is something passed by the legislature, doesn't amend the constitution and is much more readily modified should issues arise as a result of how the law was written, unintended consequences, etc. As a constitutional amendment, it's out of place; moreover, it becomes vastly more difficult to modify if the issues just noted do arise (and they usually do arise).

I'm against legislating morality in general, and on that basis and on that basis alone think we should decriminalize marijuana. I don't use it; I don't plan on using it; I don't even condone its use, but legislating it to make it a criminal act and thereby modify behavior to some moral norm we cannot agree on as a majority is imho wrong.

joko104 said:

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Click to expand...

It should just be legal in all of the Republic. The lumber industry didn't want it legal, probably still don't; but it costs way too much money and way too many lives to keep illegal.

joko104 said:

The Colorado law legalizing recreational marijuana is only weeks away. The law provides:
1. Be at least 21
2. A Colorado resident can buy 1 ounce. Out of state 1/4th of an ounce.
3. Grow up to 10 plants in your home - must be secured.
4. 25% special surcharge tax on top of 2.9% sales tax

The Federal has said they will not fight that Colorado law.

New York is considering an identical law.

Would you want this legal in your state? In some different form?

To me, the more significant part is up to 10 plants in your own home/apartment. 10 marijuana plants is MASSIVE personal qualities. They get HUGE and grow FAST. This will flood the market driving the price down.

I expect the sale of skylights to BOOM!

I support it in terms of retail sales, unsure about home growing. I support it because hopefully it will at least reduce some of the drug cartel activity and violence.

Click to expand...

I didn't answer your poll because my State (Colorado) already allows legal recreational use of marijuana.

Which brings me to an error in your post. (the highlighted statements)

Colorado has had legal recreational marijuana use and the ability to grow marijuana for a year now. What goes into effect tomorrow (not weeks from now) is the retail sale of marijuana. That is, being able to walk into a store and buy the stuff.

One other thing written into our law is that local governments (cities, towns, etc.) can opt out of allowing the retail sale of marijuana in their areas. Colorado Springs, for example, will not allow retail sale except for medicinal uses. Denver, on the other hand, has at least 14 stores permitted to sell recreational marijuana tomorrow.

btw, your issue with growing up to 10 plants...that would be for personal use, only. If you grow 10 plants, you are not allowed to sell the stuff. But, if enough people grow their own, then yes, the prices in the stores will probably go down. Just depends on the demand.

I really have mixed views on this. It's a matter of strategy and morals.

I mean, strategically speaking, there are ways it could be taxed to help the economy and government budget if taxed.

But, morally speaking, I also strongly favor freedom.