On September 16, 2013 the City Council of Denver, Colorado decided to adopt the law for the legalization of retail marijuana. The economy and finance from the very beginning were anticipating that this law will bring the largest income to the state’s budget and create plenty of job opportunities under the rule of law (Marijuana Legalization and Regulation). The first official stores selling legal marijuana were opened in January 2014. Colorado is the first among all the United States to adopt such a law.
In Colorado now marihuana can be bought like alcohol, it is prohibited to sell marijuana to citizens that are younger than 21 years of age. The legal limitations only allow buying an ounce of legalized marijuana. The prices for this product are, of course, very high. The new law, just like the experts expected, truly turned out very profitable for the state. Only during the first month of being active, the legalized marijuana sales have brought millions of dollars in taxes and fees (Rittiman par. 1).
According to the data from the Department of Revenue, Americans have purchased the amount of legal marijuana worth around fourteen million dollars only in January. A smaller part of it was from the retail of medical marijuana. The legal marijuana excise tax is now registered to be fifteen percent. The financial prognosis says that the state budget predicts to receive up to seventy-seven million dollars of income from legalized marijuana through the next fiscal year.
Even though the state leaders expect that the law legalizing retail marijuana will completely take this business out of the control of cartels and illegal organizations, pot from the Black Market is still popular. There are many reasons why the legalized distribution of marijuana did not harm the Black Market businessmen much. First of all, the prices in official stores selling pot are extremely high. Illegal weed can still be purchased from the dealers for less than fifty percent of the official price.
Secondly, the number of official stores is not big yet, besides they all have to be closed after seven o’clock in the evening – these conditions make access to the legal pot much more complicated, while illegal pot traders are easy to find and reach. Another very important aspect of marijuana as a purchase is its quality. The product bought in legal stores does not seem to be of satisfactory quality due to the growing demand for it (Hunter par. 5). Judging from these facts, the Black Market did not suffer too much income loss after the legalization of retail pot. However, things may change a lot after more stores open all over the state and if prices become lower – these are two main factors that would create discomfort to the Black Market businessmen, dealers and cartels.
The law legalizing marijuana sales has both negative and positive sides. It creates a lot of freedom for the drug-consuming population. When selling, buying and using marihuana was forbidden by law many potential clients were afraid to purchase it. Now that the retail drug is available the number of people using it will grow rapidly, as well as the amount of recreational marijuana they will be able to take. This will definitely influence public health a lot. The advantage is that a big part of the income from this sphere of business will be directed to a good cause like school construction. Besides, I see the legalization of marijuana as a good chance to take this huge income out of illegal hands.
Works Cited
Hunter, Stuart. (2014). Black Market for Weed Still Thriving in Colorado. Web.
Marijuana Legalization and Regulation. drug policy. (n. d.) Web.
Rittiman, Brandon. (2014). Colorado Raises $2M in First Month of Marijuana Taxes. Web.