Rocky Mountain High: Psychoactivity and Economic Growth

Amendment 64 is huge news for pot users. This newly enacted amendment gives 21 year olds the right to possess up to one ounce and grow six plants; however, public consumption is still illegal. There is talk that the Colorado legislature will enact an excise tax of up to %15 on cannabis, pending Colorado residents’ approval. Soon, former "medicinal" dispensaries will become "public" dispensaries where 21 year olds can go to buy cannabis. This method should remind Americans of the support our #1 cash crop (yes, it is indeed cannabis) can bring to struggling state and federal deficits. 

I want to keep the comparing and contrasting of cannabis with alcohol to a minimum, simply because they are two different goods. Alcohol causes around 80,000 deaths per year while cannabis causes 300. Cannabis grows in the ground and can contribute to our economy without interfering with American society, as too commonly seen by alcohol. 

The implications of American voters in Colorado passing Amendment 64 stand alone. Americans are sick and tired of cannabis prohibition, but I'm sure the cops and the DEA feast with the help of their confiscated goods and assets of pot users. Let's look at the Controlled Substances Act of the U.S., specifically Schedule I. Schedule I drugs are highly dangerous, addictive, and have no medicinal benefit. Man, it's ironic that there is a booming medicinal industry in almost half of the U.S. states and two states fully legalized cannabis, but yet our government, the government of modernity and open-mindedness, refuses to recognize cannabis brings good the world, American citizens, and can potentially turn around our economy by itself. 

I have seen with my own two eyes the entire spectrum of pot users. Some use for medicinal reasons, suffering from multiple sclerosis or the hardships of chemotherapy. Others use for recreational purposes. I admit I have no right to get in the way with medicinal cannabis patients, and the government should do the same and leave patients alone. But I take it a step farther. I also admit I have no right to tell recreational pot users whether they can or can't smoke because there has been enough evidence to prove cannabis has a minimal effect on society and the individual, and on the contrary, can bring the American economy to its feet. 

We can't let cartels or criminal organizations control one of the most significant crop markets in America. We need to legalize, regulate, and reform our laws so that all Americans can be positively affected by cannabis legalization.