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trampis
mad hatter
Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 3,545
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Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It'
#21321159 - 02/24/15 04:48 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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source.
Quote:
The lawyer charged with defending Colorado's marijuana legalization laws denounced them Monday.
“It’s not worth it,” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told dozens of fellow state attorneys general at a conference in the nation's capital, referring to $76 million in taxes and fees collected from pot sales last year.
The recently inaugurated Republican rebuked legalization advocates’ long-standing argument that regulating sales will eliminate the black market for marijuana and associated criminal activity.
“Don’t buy that argument,” she told her peers. “The criminals are still selling on the black market. ... We have plenty of cartel activity in Colorado [and] plenty of illegal action that has not decreased at all.”
Coffman added that some purportedly above-board marijuana growers have exceeded allowable limits and sell marijuana in somewhat of a gray market.
Coffman’s office is responsible for fighting a growing number of lawsuits challenging pot legalization in Colorado. Residents voted for legalization by a 10-point margin in 2012 and polls show the policy retains majority support. The state's first recreational pot stores opened in January 2014.
Though the Department of Justice has allowed state and tribal governments to experiment with regulated sales of marijuana, possession of the drug for any reason outside limited research is a federal crime, putting the new markets on shaky legal footing.
Sensing vulnerability, the attorneys general of Nebraska and Oklahoma in December filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court seeking to kill Colorado’s legalization law. This month, two more lawsuits were filed by Coloradans affiliated with the anti-pot group Safe Streets.
Coffman tells U.S. News that although she personally opposes marijuana legalization, she’s not glad her office is being taken to court by people seeking to kill the reform.
“I’m never glad to be sued,” she says. “I wish there was another way to sort it out.”
Coffman's remarks echo words of caution from Colorado's Democratic governor, former brewer John Hickenlooper, who often questions the wisdom of legalizing marijuana and urges restraint on other states.
Mason Tvert, the Colorado-based communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project, tells U.S. News Coffman’s views on marijuana aren't well-known, and he hopes she will vigorously defend legalization in court.
Tvert adds that Coffman’s remarks about black market sales are counter-intuitive.
“If hundreds of millions of dollars in marijuana sales are taking place in licensed businesses, where would they be taking place if they were illegal?” he says. "It's hard to imagine how anyone, let alone our state's top law enforcement official, could fail to recognize the impact our laws are having on the underground market."
Before Coffman's remarks at the Monday summit, her Nebraska counterpart, Republican Doug Peterson, distanced himself from the lawsuit challenging Colorado’s law, initiated by his predecessor Jon Bruning and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, both also Republicans.
“It wasn’t my idea,” Peterson said.
Pruitt didn’t check in to the event, put on by the National Association of Attorneys General, on Monday afternoon.
Marijuana was on the minds of many of the officials present.
Iowa's attorney general, Democrat Tom Miller, said he believes states should be allowed to act as laboratories of democracy. Hawaii's new attorney general, Democrat Doug Chin, sought guidance from colleagues on medical pot regulations.
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican, tells U.S. News he first learned Monday about the Nebraska and Oklahoma lawsuit against Colorado, and that he had not made any decision about whether he'd like to join the suit.
Meanwhile, it appears Washington state's marijuana legalization law is safe from its neighbors. The attorney general of Idaho, Lawrence Wasden, tells U.S. News he will not be suing Washington.
“I don’t see a cause of action against Washington," Wasden says. Both Idaho and Washington are sovereign states and have a right to make their own laws, he said.
With a broad smile that betrayed his feelings, Wasden declined to comment on other states' lawsuit against Colorado.
Residents of Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia voted in November to follow Colorado and Washington in legalizing the drug. Possession of small amounts of pot will be allowed in those jurisdictions soon, but stores won't open in the near future.
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zZZz
jesus
Registered: 12/28/07
Posts: 33,479
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: trampis]
#21321203 - 02/24/15 05:19 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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They have to legalize it everywhere
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jessepinkman
Stranger
Registered: 09/28/14
Posts: 308
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: zZZz]
#21321340 - 02/24/15 06:33 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Considering there are still states who ban things like the LOTTERY, I don't see that happening any time soon. There is a ton of money to be made by it, and it's not even drugs...
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misterogerz
Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 1,433
Loc: Gulf Coast
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: jessepinkman]
#21321431 - 02/24/15 07:09 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yeah, because people don't still make moonshine?
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HFoBR
Stranger
Registered: 08/09/14
Posts: 37
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 7 years, 4 days
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: misterogerz]
#21321812 - 02/24/15 09:10 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Idk if they actually believe in the shit they say, but if they have a problem with the black market still lingering maybe they should consider cutting the ridiculous taxes on weed over there. I've heard of the prices they charge over there and it's insane, how do they not realize that given the choice between overpriced legal product and black market product, people are still going to stick with their normal dealer? They're giving unreasonable demands to the whole industry, you can't expect perfection from something that still requires some experimentation to find the right policy. While it might not sound politically correct to the standard anti-weed voter, lowering prices would benefit everyone. More people would buy the legal product, thus actually increasing tax revenue, and there would be no reason to go to your sketchy weed dealer instead of a legal dispensary.
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Tomandjerry58
Stranger
Registered: 01/27/03
Posts: 5,212
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: misterogerz]
#21321947 - 02/24/15 09:50 AM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
misterogerz said: Yeah, because people don't still make moonshine?
Moonshine is a great example and will most likely perform parallel in distribution and cultivation.
"76 million dollars isn't worth it.... is ridiculous. May not be worth it to her but its worth it to the citizens and the state.
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NotTheDevil
Transhuman
Registered: 01/08/13
Posts: 5,436
Loc: US
Last seen: 3 years, 3 months
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Tomandjerry58] 4
#21322683 - 02/24/15 01:07 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yes Colorado Attorney General, preventing tens of thousands of young people from having their lives ruined pointlessly by the state isn't worth it because it didn't totally eradicate all of your crime in a year. That makes total sense.
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Oggy
Stranger Danger
Registered: 12/05/14
Posts: 1,276
Loc: Planet Remulak
Last seen: 8 months, 26 days
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: NotTheDevil]
#21322810 - 02/24/15 01:44 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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It was probably nice while it lasted. Everyone will jump on this gravy train soon and sue Colorado into submission.
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Tomandjerry58
Stranger
Registered: 01/27/03
Posts: 5,212
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Oggy] 1
#21322872 - 02/24/15 02:03 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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I think it will last.
Potheads are getting more pissed off by the day especially if they don't have their pot. TOo bad its not like prohibition back in the 30's. Alcohol gets ya drunk and pissed off. Ready to fight.
A drugs effect on an individual directly effects the legality.
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treesniper119
No one of Consequence
Registered: 08/12/08
Posts: 1,893
Loc: rainbow land
Last seen: 6 years, 9 months
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Tomandjerry58] 1
#21323072 - 02/24/15 02:48 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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LMFAO Colorado made more than they estimated in their outrageous tax scheme for this plant and had to give money back to its citizens, even then, they were attempting to create slush funds to capture the excess...Its not worth it?! Give me a fucking break. How about every study done this year showing overall crime down? And teen use down? And also from Mexican media outlets showing overall trafficking and violence are both down, because the "drug" is off the black market? Politicians are opportunistic and this is predictable, but cannabis is here to stay. Its incorporated into Colorado's society and has been for a loooooong time now. Nothing can take back those years. You can't flip flop on a flip flop, cause then you just look like a big flip flopper! Cannabis for the win.
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treesniper119
No one of Consequence
Registered: 08/12/08
Posts: 1,893
Loc: rainbow land
Last seen: 6 years, 9 months
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Tomandjerry58]
#21323084 - 02/24/15 02:51 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
preschooler said: I think it will last.
Potheads are getting more pissed off by the day especially if they don't have their pot. TOo bad its not like prohibition back in the 30's. Alcohol gets ya drunk and pissed off. Ready to fight.
A drugs effect on an individual directly effects the legality.
Yeah, I loved reading that most brilliant heads in silicon valley use psychedelics on the regular to defeat mental blocks and help unravel the mysteries that they are attempting to solve....
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Imperfect Iam
^means imperfect,not I'm perfect
Registered: 03/05/13
Posts: 7,237
Loc: center of the universe
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: treesniper119]
#21323122 - 02/24/15 02:59 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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FUCKKK! this can't be happenening, this is ludacrus, may god or whoever help us all, now the snowball is being pushed back up hill, how could this happen???????????
-------------------- All you touch, and all you see, is all your life will ever be- Pink Floyd Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans- John Lennon
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: trampis]
#21323561 - 02/24/15 04:30 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Bah! He's just pissed off he can't ruin people's lives anymore just because they like to smoke a plant. Fucking fascist.
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Konyap
Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Le_Canard]
#21323580 - 02/24/15 04:34 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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72million dollars is like 7bucks from every taxpayer lol
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O_Dweeds
Humanitarian Magician
Registered: 09/27/14
Posts: 942
Loc: Molecular (Creating, Watc...
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Oggy]
#21325561 - 02/24/15 10:02 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Oggy said: It was probably nice while it lasted. Everyone will jump on this gravy train soon and sue Colorado into submission.
Every single one of these lawsuits will go nowhere and force a lot of pricks to waste their money.hope more of these types continue to waste their time and money.haha
-------------------- Oxygen. Water. Neil Young Our word "planet" comes from the Greek word planetes, meaning "wanderer." "There ain't no revolution, only evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I eat a peach for peace." Gregg Allman
Edited by O_Dweeds (02/24/15 10:03 PM)
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Algo
Backstrap Fever
Registered: 12/15/14
Posts: 3,857
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: O_Dweeds]
#21325572 - 02/24/15 10:04 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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Ok cause cartels are only selling weed. fucking news
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All We Perceive
Sea Cucumber
Registered: 09/24/07
Posts: 10,491
Last seen: 9 months, 2 days
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Re: Colorado's New Attorney General: Pot Legalization 'Not Worth It' [Re: Algo]
#21330663 - 02/25/15 09:52 PM (9 years, 1 month ago) |
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what a fucking moron. the taxes for rec are like 35%. why would you pay that when you can buy off your friend?
-------------------- "plus they atually think jambands are good or sumthing, so they clearly know absolutely nothing about music, clearly lol" -Bassfreak
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