Cannabis Taxes Are Waiting To Be Collected

  Oklahoma's statist politicians of both parties are at odds about where any more taxes should be confiscated. Liberty-minded politicians are trying to limit the oppressive powers of the state by only funding core constitutional mandates.
  But they could all find a consensus in the regulating of the current cannabis industry which operates as a black market and pays no taxes at all.
  Now, the true prohibitionists will oppose this idea in their self-affirming nanny state mentality; but they have given up on trying to do anything about the far more dangerous liquor industry.
  Our next statewide election will have a question about whether physicians may prescribe cannabis for certain medical conditions. While that's a first step, it is not nearly the solution which this tee-totaling writer believes is appropriate.
  Oklahoma state govt. could be the recipient of nearly $100 million in annual sales taxes and economic development by coming to terms with the reality of the commodity's current impact on our state. It would also bring some sensible oversight and provide standards for safety. 
  But more importantly, it would drive out a cartel which has operated as organized crime. The resulting drop in crime would be refreshing to community law enforcement.

Here's an excerpt about the impact on Colorado govt.

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‘Major milestone’: Colorado hits half a billion in cannabis tax revenue

By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff. I recommend that you read the entire report at their news site.

Marijuana advocates are trumpeting a Colorado milestone: More than $500 million in revenue for the state since recreational cannabis sales started in 2014.

The medical and recreational cannabis tax revenue benchmark — achieved in May 2017 — was hailed Wednesday in a report from VS Strategies, the new public affairs and lobbying firm affiliated with cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg.

The report highlights publicly available marijuana tax data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. It also outlines how some of those funds have been spent or allocated on both the state and local levels.

“It’s a meaningful milestone,” said Brian Vicente, a Vicente Sederberg partner and co-author of Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure in Colorado to tax and regulate adult-use marijuana. “Colorado continues to be an example for the world.”

VS Strategies hosted a news conference Wednesday to discuss the report. Speakers included Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, who sponsored several marijuana-related bills in this past legislative session, and Lauren Arnold, chief executive of Adoption Exchange, an Aurora-based nonprofit that serves as a bridge to find adoptive families for children in foster care.

Adoption Exchange will receive a $116,000 grant next year — and could receive another $116,000 in each of the following two years — from the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program, which was allocated more than $3 million in marijuana tax money.

The grant will fund an expansion in Adoption Exchange’s mentoring program for older youth who are close to “aging out” of the system, Arnold said. The program that served 10 children and teens from Adams County last year is expected to serve between 25 and 40 children and teens from the Denver metro area, she said.

Singer, who backed a new law adding post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana, lauded how marijuana tax revenue not only was directed toward substance abuse and mental health programs, but also served as a key budget fix to address rural hospital funding cuts.

“Marijuana has become the thread that holds our state budget together,” Singer said.

  The AARP has published a NEWSY article on the potential savings to states by using natural remedies like cannabis instead of dangerous psychotropic drugs for treating conditions such as PTSD which is ravaging the massive group of war veterans. 
​  Here's a bit of that report...

  Legalizing medical marijuana everywhere in the U.S. could save a lot of taxpayer dollars.  A study released in mid-April found if every state had allowed medical marijuana in 2014, it would have saved Medicaid more than $1 billion on prescription drugs.
  Researchers compared the prices of Medicaid prescription drug spending in states with medical marijuana and those without.
​  Specifically, they looked at drugs used to treat ailments that marijuana could potentially treat.  In states that allowed medical marijuana, prescriptions for antidepressants went down 13 percent. Anti-nausea prescriptions dropped by 17 percent, psychosis and seizure prescriptions dropped by 12 percent, and pain prescriptions dropped by 11 percent.

SEE MORE: Canada Might Legalize Recreational Weed In 2018

​  Marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, which means the U.S. government considers it to have a high potential for addiction and doesn't recognize it for medical use
  Other drugs in that category include heroin, LSD and ecstasy.  But recent polls show a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana.Pot, medical or otherwise, has been especially criticized by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  During a speech in March, he said he thinks the merits of medical marijuana have been hyped "maybe too much."