By David Anderson
Cannabis queens all, Rihanna, Gaga and Lana Del Rey are on stage – and setting the stage – for what’s happening at the polls.
At least that’s the assessment of Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, who points to the parallel between – and influence of – celebs inhaling and citizens voting.
“Are there parallels between women being open and honest about cannabis use at the polls on a grass-roots level and some of the most visible women in music today being open and honest about their use in the news? Absolutely,” puffed Pierre.
Nude, crude and rude, Gaga flaunts doping, while perhaps hoping, “to be on the front line of endorsement deals,” once marijuana needs marketers as surmised Will Hermes, a senior critic for “Rolling Stone.”
Politicians too are lining up to hog their share.
“‘I’ve seen some estimates in the high tens of millions, as much as $100 million for [Colorado],’ said Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who’s pushing a federal legalization in Congress. Money like that could make a big difference, he said — including a ‘substantial dent in needed school improvements, particularly in poorer districts.’”
Ah, the kids. It’s for the kids. Especially poor kids.
Sing it with me.
Pot hogs, Celeb-and-Politico Pot hogs
What kinds of kids don’t like Celeb-and-Politico Pot hogs?
Rich kids, poor kids, kids not makin’ it in school
Mary Jane, Cannabis, it’s for all the kids and thus must be cool
Pot hogs, Celeb-and-Politico Pot hogs
The Pot hogs kids love tonight!
But tomorrow? Will you still love me tomorrow? When the money’s gone? Or was never there?
Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron, a pro-legalization scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, said marijuana advocates just “want to be allowed to smoke in peace.” But, he added, they’re “nervous about making that argument. They’re afraid that argument won’t win the day, so they have focused in many cases on the revenue side.”
A most iffy argument indeed.
Here are a few of the reasons to believe prognosticating proponents of the profits to be had from pot were blowing smoke.
First, “If recreational pot smokers stay in the black market to avoid taxes, while the price tag for regulating a new industry balloons, marijuana legalization could suddenly look like a bad deal.”
Second, “Heavy pot users could save a lot of money by paying nominal annual fees to be on the state medical marijuana registry and paying only regular sales taxes on their pot.”
Third, “Colorado (for example) has approved an ambitious seed-to-sale tracking scheme that includes extensive video surveillance of licensed growing sites and radio-frequency identification tagging. That could end up costing more than the 10 percent special sales tax produces, warned Colorado State University economists in a report issued in April.”
(Sources for quotes 1-3 can be found at this link).
Fourth, in Washington, already “State regulators overseeing marijuana legalization are asking for money to keep or hire 46 more employees next year. The biggest share of staff would make up an enforcement unit whose officers would oversee the businesses sprouting up to grow and process pot.”
And fifth, for now, “The legal marijuana law did not carve out a share of tax revenue for cities and counties, which are facing some of the costs of its implementation.”
So what if, after the puff of smoke clears, it turns out legalizing marijuana was not about the money after all?
That’s news?
