In JBC's quest for cash, no stoner goes unturned
3/30/2009 - 5:21pm
Hey, they don't call it the "Joint" Budget Committee for nothin'.
The six-member panel this year has been doing the legislative equivalent of fishing through couch cushions to find enough money to balance the state's budget. It's been an agonizing process that has gored the oxes of many state departments and special interests.
But on Monday, Sen. Al White jokingly suggested that Coloradans' stashes are where the cash is.
White, R-Hayden, in jest moved that the Joint Budget Committee sponsor legislation to legalize marijuana and impose "a 50 percent tax on it." That prompted those in the crowded JBC hearing room to burst into laughter.
Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, deadpanned, "Don't laugh. Don't laugh. That bill might pass."
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It is really not that funny
Jeffery Miron, A Harvard Economist, reported that Colorado would save 64 million dollars a year in judicial and law enforcement costs if marijuana prohibition ended. Dr. Miron, then goes on to claim that Colorado would bring in 12.2 million to l7.6 million if Marijuana was taxed at 15%. http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/mironreport.html
It is really not that funny, because in the mean time we are ruining the employment prospects of thousands of Colorado citizens by labeling them as criminals.