The monthly haul surpasses the previous record notched this past April — a month that includes the annual 4/20 marijuana holiday — when $117.4 million of flower, edibles and concentrates were sold. Medical sales accounted for $40.8 million and recreational sales accounted for roughly $76.6 million of April’s total. In July, recreational sales shot to $83.8 million, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue report....Summer in Colorado!
(I noticed that article because I went over to The Denver Post to read "Donald Trump sensing momentum as Colorado polls appear to narrow/Hillary Clinton enduring campaign stumbles as Republicans finally establish a foothold in Colorado." Maybe that's more up your alley.)
I was in Colorado in July...
... walking in the snow on the Shrine Mountain trail.
Posts
72 comments:
"All-time high."
Too easy.
Hillary Clinton campaign "stumbles" --
Those polls have narrowed so much they put Trump up by 2 points.
Talk about narrowing!
Trump should openly embrace decriminalization of pot, and probably lots of other illegal drugs, too.
Ah, Eric, don't you realize- Republicans are in a state of panic that Trump is up by only two.
Why would they be in a state of panic that he is only up by 2?
Ok, then they are in a state of panic that he might win? The point is that according to the MSM, Republicans are always in a state of panic about the presidential election for one reason or another, even if the reasons are contradictory.
Trump would do well to oppose the drug war. It's very unpopular among the young, and that demographic currently polls poorly for him.
I'm not sure what will happen with Trump and the drug war. He has said it's a state issue.
However, I think he is going to make Chris Christie his AG. And Christie has told people to their face if he is President he will lock them up for marijuana use.
OT, for our host: Slapstick Fall continues on TCM with The Bank Dick, tonight at 8 pm.
"Medical sales accounted for $40.8 million and recreational sales accounted for roughly $76.6 million of April’s total." Further proof of Americans' intense work ethic.
And Christie has told people to their face if he is President he will lock them up for marijuana use.
So you're suggesting that Trump, Pence, Ryan, Senate Pro Tem and the Secys of State, Defense and Treasury are all going to die simultaneously allowing AG Christie to become President?
No. I'm saying if he is Attorney General, he will have the power to make it happen. The president isn't supposed to interfere with the AG.
In other, more important news, Colin Powell wrote in a recently released wikileaks email that Bill Clinton is still, "dicking bimbos at home."
Which officially made 2016 the best campaign ever.
Trump should realize that without the war on drugs, the financial incentives for sophisticated under-border tunneling will dwindle, making it easier to advance the more important goal of border security.
But I'm assuming that OGH, Ms. Althouse, did NOT inhale...
So, nearly $120 million dollars in grass-only sales for one month, in one state.
This should tell us something about the magnitude of the black market in drugs, and the absolute impossibility of ever controlling or halting the sale of unlawful drugs. (As if Prohibition wasn't a clear sign to anyone with an IQ over the temp in Colorado in April).
That is one huge number, considering it's only marijuana, only one state, and only the state controlled and taxed commerce.
"And Christie has told people to their face if he is President he will lock them up for marijuana use."
Christie's a thug.
Colorado is reaching new highs.
Damn it's now a Billion dollar industry in Colorado.
No. I'm saying if he is Attorney General, he will have the power to make it happen. The president isn't supposed to interfere with the AG.
The President arguably is not supposed to tell the Attorney General "I want you to charge this person (or not charge this person)" but as the head of the executive branch, they can direct the Attorney General how to focus their limited resources.
As far as Chris Christie's views, they're a bit more nuanced. He's gone on record as supporting medical marijuana at the State level but not recreational marijuana unless federal law is changed (it hasn't been changed to allow medical marijuana but there have been DOJ guidelines on when case are likely not to be prosecuted) so it seems more of a question of believing in the rule of law versus having a policy that says instead of changing the laws on the books, we're just going to ignore them whenever we choose. Also when it comes to drug users, he's been pretty outspoken in favor of requiring them to get into treatment versus incarcerating them.
"without the war on drugs, the financial incentives for sophisticated under-border tunneling will dwindle,"
I agree with respect to marijuana. Cocaine is still too dangerous and heroin is kind of passe these days although I would be in favor of legalizing it.
Methamphetamines are also very dangerous and the formulas are not even known so it would be very difficult to do anything about the laws for them.
Fundamentally immoral.
I was in Colorado in July too! Denver, Wheat Ridge, Golden, and Morrison - the site of Red Rocks Amphitheater. I was out there with my wife and best friend for a two-night, double-set concert by my favorite prog rock act, Umphrey's McGee. They killed it both nights. And yes, I absolutely added to the revenue of those dispensaries while I was there, and even brought some home with me. Because it's fun, gives me no hangover, and has no calories (I can usually resist the munchies). If any squares wanna squeal about marijuana, first go throw out all your liquor, wine, beer, and prescription opioids. I'll wait.
Ah, what people will do not to experience life.
One of the things that marijuana has an advantage over harder drugs is that you can use it and still be functional. Cocaine and heroin addicts tend not to be able to hold jobs long-term which is why there is so much drug related crime. When you put addicts in jail, it reduces other crimes that they commit to get their drugs. I'm not sure legalizing will do anything to solve this issue whatsoever. Frankly, cocaine and heroin are not really that expensive now. I suppose you could work around that by giving the addicts the drugs for free, but then you are essentially trying to kill them, which is why we haven't gone that route before.
Not that marijuana is difficult to find here - I've got a bag next to me, in fact. But the novelty of buying it legally hasn't worn off yet, and this summer was my third time in Denver since the prohibition lifted. Previously, I had no reason whatsoever to go to Denver, because their best craft beer finds it's way to Chicago anyway. Tourism and fun times, what could be better!
Michael K, are you a Dandy Warhols fan? If not, nevermind. If you are, then I see what you did there.
One of the things that marijuana has an advantage over harder drugs is that you can use it and still be functional.
I guess it depends on the reliance on intellectual acuity and memory your job requires.
@kyzernick - born in Denver, grew up in Golden from 10 on, and went to HS in Wheatridge. Used to drive through Morrison every weekend in the summer back then on the way to/from grandparents' girls camp SW of Denver. If you didn't, next time there, try eating at the Fort, technically in Morrison, but S of there, just as US 285 starts into the foothills. They have an eclectic meat lover's menu - elk, bison, rattle snake, quail, etc. supposedly modeled on Bent's Fort.
@MK - not sure if you are right about heroin being passé. Saw a lot of it with people doing a lot of meth, at least in PHX. The two seem to go together, but the transition seems to be from meth to heroin, and not the other way around.
I will admit that my libertarian streak led me to vote for the legalization of pot in Colorado, but still don't regret that vote. Still think that it has long term adverse effects, but am happy to let those who partake be the ones to pay the price.
" If you are, then I see what you did there."
I guess I don't know what you mean.
Sorry.
I was in Colorado in July...
How much of the 27% increase belongs to you??....just kidding!!
Full Disclosure: I'm here in Washington state, and I know where the pot shops are.
Not welcome - Pot heads on the road.
JCC said...
So, nearly $120 million dollars in grass-only sales for one month, in one state.
This should tell us something about the magnitude of the black market in drugs, and the absolute impossibility of ever controlling or halting the sale of unlawful drugs. (As if Prohibition wasn't a clear sign to anyone with an IQ over the temp in Colorado in April).
That is one huge number, considering it's only marijuana, only one state, and only the state controlled and taxed commerce.
I've heard thet gun safes are nearly impossible to find in some areas of Colorado. Bankers not being allowed to take pot sellers money and all.
Lots of cash lying around.
Kyzernick said...
[T]he novelty of buying it legally...
You didn't.
"Blogger eric said..."No. I'm saying if he is Attorney General, he will have the power to make it happen. The president isn't supposed to interfere with the AG."
LOL.
Less people to seize property from. So sad.
Has anyone studied sales figures for Doritos, Pizza Rolls and Hostess Twinkies in the Munchie State?
Tacitus
JCC said...
So, nearly $120 million dollars in grass-only sales for one month, in one state.
This should tell us something about the magnitude of the black market in drugs, and the absolute impossibility of ever controlling or halting the sale of unlawful drugs. (As if Prohibition wasn't a clear sign to anyone with an IQ over the temp in Colorado in April).
That is one huge number, considering it's only marijuana, only one state, and only the state controlled and taxed commerce.
9/14/16, 1:10 PM
Ah, but how does it compare to the sale of plastic drinking straws?
Dude! It's an all-time high!
I want to be a bigger government revenue when I grow up... said no one ever.
Shoot, now somebody is going to google it and find it.
Heroin is the cheap pain killer for people who have prescription problems. I know a brain injury patient who lost her meds twice in a year and her doctor kicked her out of the practice. The only way she could cope was to buy cheap heroin. There is a strong death boundary here between doctors and patients over pain killers. There is zero tolerance for being a pill off.
As far as I can tell Taco Bell is the food establishment of choice for the post high.
Rocky Mountain high until Altria, British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco Companies scoop up all the choom assets. Then mary jane will join tobacco on the banished list. Then everyone will be screaming and moaning about the nasty health effects of capitalist choom.
"heroin is kind of passe these days"
Not in the Rust Belt.
"Not welcome - Pot heads on the road."
DUI laws already exist for this very purpose. Alcohol is still legal as well.
I used to worry that someone who drove while (legally) stoned would also drive while illegally stoned so I'm not as certain as I once was that legal marijuana adds appreciably to the risks of driving in states with legalized recreational marijuana. Really, the US lost the war on drugs a long time ago and should just admit defeat.
Twelve people died in Milwaukee over the Labor Day weekend due to opioid / heroin overdoses. And more people are dying in Wisconsin from opioids than from car crashes. People step up from marijuana to heroin / opioids and then they die. So OK, lots of people have no problem with their high. But there is a problem and it's growing and people are dying. If it was all legal everywhere people would be dying faster. Look at China in 19C where opium was legal and it was an absolute scourge. But no laws could be passed because the state was making money on the opium tax. That's the real future if we legalize pot.
Trump should come out in support of an 18 year old drinking age.
Actually, they sold more in May but no one could remember where they put the receipts...
Now I know why I haven't heard from my son in Colorado since July.
The step up to heroin is from Xanax or Budweiser. Xanax because its the legally prescribed feel good pill. Budweiser because its at the bars where the pre heroin users compare notes, get drunk, and experiment. Lots of stuff in line before marijuana ever becomes a problem.
Yeah all that money, but my school district says they still need money. Sometimes I hate this state. I live in one of the reddest counties in CO and haven't seen any Trump support. We'll see if another poll shows the same.
My experience is that people move from meth to heroin, likely because it helps them crash. Though, the people I have seen do that have also been into prescription pain meds too, so that may be an easier transition.
CO is pretty weird about Trump. Here in NW MT, you see Trump signs, shirts, hats, etc. no Crooked Hillary stuff though. But was back in CO a week or so ago, and no one seemed to support him. Lifelong Republicans were inevitably #NeverTrump. Possibly because he is a NYer. Too brash maybe.
"There is a strong death boundary here between doctors and patients over pain killers. There is zero tolerance for being a pill off."
Some of it is the FDA which has been harassing pain docs for years. A few years ago a pain doc in Virginia was convicted of criminal drug prescribing because she refused to abandon her chronic pain patients.
She was not the only one.
Here is a list.
I personally attended a trial of one of these "undercover agent" entrapments 25 years ago. The FDA "expert" was a professional witness who testified that all sorts of lab tests had to be included in a "good faith" exam before anything could be prescribed.
The undercover "patient" had asked for various drugs like Quaaludes and been turned down. The poor doc was a Spanish speaking guy in east LA where patients are clustered who are Spanish speaking. I thought the prosecution was a travesty but that is a big focus of the FDA.
As Birches indicated above, none of the excise tax money windfall or sales tax money is making its way to the larger school districts.
If anyone is interested here is further explanation:
http://media.thedenverchannel.com/document/2016/08/24/Cherry%20Creek%20Superintendent%20marijuana%20letter_45064124_ver1.0.pdf
Typical 'devil is in the details' and a bunch of low information voters here in Colorado convinced themselves that voting for marijuana related vice taxes would be a great windfall for education funding.
so far most of the windfall is going to educate kids about the dangers of marijuana
I am not a fan of marijuana legalization, although the economic and criminal arguments in favor make complete sense.
The problem is that we don't really know how bad the effects of vastly increased marijuana use will be. I have seen many problems in my practice.
I smoked MJ 40+ years ago and gave it up because it seemed (to a lower middle class kid) like a path to nowhere. Today, MJ has 10X the THC content. I suspect it is a very dangerous path that we will come to regret, given that complete legalization seems inevitable.
"... not sure if you are right about heroin being passé."
Not a bit. Use of heroin is skyrocketing. The Feds and States cracked down on prescription pain killers to a degree where heroin is easier to obtain. Deaths are skyrocketing as well. Our youngest lost an old friend just over a year ago. Our oldest is on the front lines of drug interdiction. Horrifying.
@Dr K - to be fair to the Feds, a bit, there are doctors who do prescribe controlled substances to all comers. And, there is a lot of money in it. I have heard them called "burn and churn" docs. The result though, as you suggest, is that it is getting harder and harder to get and keep a good pain Doctor. They fire patients at the smallest provocation. Better not have been anywhere pot is smoked reasonably close to their drug test. And, yes, patients with obvious reasons for pain, are routinely drug tested to make sure that the patients aren't using anything else, legal or illegal. Getting rediculous. My understanding is that it is getting harder and harder for doctors to keep the ability to prescribe controlled substances, and a lot of them are giving it up. And the pharmacies are under the gun too. Used to be that one Walgreens could see what the others had in stock, around town, when they didn't have some type of pain med. Then, the patients could call around looking for it. Now, a lot of them won't look, until they see the paper script. And, the victims of all this are the people who truly do have chronic pain.
It's 1968. Do you think which of the following will happen first?
1. Legalization of marijuana
2. Legalization of gay marriage
3. America wins its first war since WWII
4. Our first Black President
5. Our first Marxist President
6. Our first Muslim President
7. Our first Female president
8. Guys with penises--who are really girls inside--showering with your daughters
9. The Cubs win the World Series
10. Phones Rule The World
11. Bob Dylan covers James Brown
I meant Frank Sinatra. I always get him mixed up with James Brown.
...one of those old guys.
Pain has always been a very real problem.
Sometimes it's just in your mind though. It's just how you feel about life.
Then it's not "very real," just "almost unbearable."
The point is, marijuana helps with that too.
And headaches. And stomachaches. And Oklahoma.
Glaucoma!
Damn autocorrect.
12. Banishment of CIGARETTE smokers!
Michael K,
Not sure if you'll see this comment, but the Dandy Warhols are a punk rock band that sing a song called "Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth", which is all about a person lamenting the fact that his friend got hooked on heroin and he was unable to intervene. The chorus line is, "I never thought you'd be a junkie because heroin is so passe."
In fact, that "heroin is so passe" part is repeated in the song so much that some people (including myself), thought that was the name of the song - if you Google that term, you'll come to the Youtube music video. It's actually a good song with a decent message and solid instrumentals.
Bruce H -
Not sure if you'll see this either, being this is an old post on a fast moving blog, but thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely be checking that place out - I love any animal that can fit on my plate or my bowl without looking like snot (sorry, oysters). Thanks for the backstory too - so many regulars on this blog are successful people, and sometimes I take notes when y'all expound upon your life experiences and lessons learned. No joke. Anyway, we also went to Colorado Springs and checked out the Seven Falls. We wanted to do Garden of the Gods, but time and weather intervened so we cut that leg short.
It was an epic 6 day road trip with a swing through Kansas to check out the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. I love the movie (and real life story) of Apollo 13 (one of man's finest hours, I believe), and they have the CM Odyssey there, restored and cleaned and on touchable display. Well, at least I touched it - not sure if it was allowed or not. Any true space buff should really make the trip out to the Cosmosphere at least once in their lifetime.
Did my undergraduate in C. Springs. Much more beautiful view than Denver. You get used to the majesty of it, esp Pikes Peak, and then wake up one day, and remember to say "wow". As you probably know, "America The Beautiful" was written after a Fourth of July wagon trip to the top of that mountain. I always felt that it was eerily familiar, until I realized why - it's Colorado roots. Where else do you find purple mountains majesty over the fruited plains? Never been to Seven Falls, but did initially learn to climb in the Garden of the Gods. What is weird is that we have a photo by my grandfather of the same place I took my first climbing lessons. When I was learning to climb, the road through there was asphalt, and bumper to bumper cars in the summer. Back then, in the 1920s, it was a gravel road, and completely deserted.
The funny thing about pot for me is that Choom Gang member Barack Obama's Administration has made the pot business as hard as they can by classifying them as high risk for credit card problems, which means that they typically can't use credit cards, which turns them into high cash businesses, which makes them high risk for robberies (and, probably, money laundering). Some of the businesses on that list really are high risk, but some are political, like guns and ammo, and, maybe, pot.
It won't be long before the political parties realize they can trade drugs for votes.
"Marijuana is having its moment in American culture, with recreational pot use now legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. California, Arizona, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts vote on recreational use in November. It’s a trend reflected in popular entertainment. Three TV series devoted to the subject air within the next month."
Soros is getting his money's worth.
I cringe at the thought of those that proudly proclaim they use marijuana in Colorado or similar states. You are publicly announcing that you are violating Federal law, Sure the Feds CURRENTLY are not prosecuting. Sure the CURRENT trend is towards legalization.
But, thanks IRS, does anyone really believe the violation could never be used against if you are picked up on the opposing party radar?
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