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Colorado and Washington are already blowing it. They are taking tax revenue from the sale of marijuana and using it as regular tax revenue for programs such as

Colorado and Washington are already blowing it. They are taking tax revenue from the sale of marijuana and using it as regular tax revenue for programs such as schools. Just look at the insidious relationship government has with the lottery to see that we are just shackling ourselves to a whole other host of compromised interests. Once they get that money regularly, they are never giving it back with out a (corrupt) fight which means any means to use the revenue from drug sales can never be used for appropriate or creative means to further solve the drug problem and we will quickly find ourselves in the absurd situation where our elementary schools will be active drug pushers (see the recent John Oliver piece that highlights a New York Public School ad pushing gambling and the lottery as some noble activity). It's the one major social issue that can completely fund, to the full extent of current science, the research and treatment of it's ill effects on society...and we are throwing the opportunity away that will be extraordinarily, if not impossible, to get back.

icanhackit 11y ago
They are taking tax revenue from the sale of marijuana and using it as regular tax revenue for programs such as schools. Is that really blowing it though? I have nothing to prove my claim but I'd say a good dose of substance abuse comes from lacking agency as a result of poor education. It's the one major social issue that can completely fund, to the full extent of current science, the research and treatment of it's ill effects on society What about alcohol, which you could argue results in more violence and negative health effects than marijuana consumption?
exelius 11y ago
IMO these are two different problems. One problem is how we treat addictive and/or mind-altering substances and their users. The second problem is how we appropriate tax money (which I will agree with you is completely fucked up). You can't just take tax money from one source and allocate it against a specific area like education, because then the source that previously funded that cause will reduce its funding and distribute it to other areas.

icanhackit 11y ago

They are taking tax revenue from the sale of marijuana and using it as regular tax revenue for programs such as schools. Is that really blowing it though? I have nothing to prove my claim but I'd say a good dose of substance abuse comes from lacking agency as a result of poor education. It's the one major social issue that can completely fund, to the full extent of current science, the research and treatment of it's ill effects on society What about alcohol, which you could argue results in more violence and negative health effects than marijuana consumption?

exelius 11y ago

IMO these are two different problems. One problem is how we treat addictive and/or mind-altering substances and their users. The second problem is how we appropriate tax money (which I will agree with you is completely fucked up). You can't just take tax money from one source and allocate it against a specific area like education, because then the source that previously funded that cause will reduce its funding and distribute it to other areas.