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2. Education + Youth prevention. Establishments can set aside funds to help the town
educate the youth about prevention, substance abuse, and drug awareness. Drug
dealers don’t ask for ID, but regulated marijuana establishments would require strict
prevention standards to decrease use by minors. Multiple studies reveal states with
legal access to marijuana decrease underage marijuana consumption.
3. Safe Access. Consumers need access to clean cannabis products that are tested for
potency and harmful contaminants such as mold, pesticides, and fungicides. Legal
cannabis establishments provide safe products and secure settings which provide safety to
the greater community.
4. Taxes + Revenue. Municipalities can reap major benefits that can be used for city projects
such as rebuilding education systems, fixing roads, helping the homeless, and addressing the
opioid crisis. The total maximum tax from cannabis establishment’s gross sales is 20% plus
up to an additional 3% of gross sales per marijuana establishment.
Colorado's Booming Marijuana Industry is helping fight homelessness and drug Addiction:
The state’s $105 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales in the 2016-2017 fiscal year will
go toward the “Marijuana Tax Cash Fund,” which will help create housing programs, aid
mental health programs in jails and contribute to health programs at local middle schools.
Last week, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the budget bill declaring the fund, which
will also help oversight efforts for the industry “We expect to reduce incarceration,
hospitalization and homelessness for many of Colorado’s most vulnerable citizens,” the bill
reads.
5. Improving the overall local economy. Countless jobs come with this emerging industry
including many that are not associated with dealing with the actual marijuana. The flow of
economic activity would also attract traffic to local and surrounding businesses in the area.
Recent reports project that the legal cannabis industry will generate $2.3 billion in total
economic activity in Massachusetts, including nearly 17,400 pot industry jobs statewide.
What’s more is legal marijuana states, where adults 21 and older can walk into a dispensary
and purchase a variety of cannabis products, experienced 13 percent less binge drinking than
areas of prohibition. The writing is on the wall – people with legal access to recreational
marijuana are opting to spend either all or a portion of their booze budget on a substance
that has been deemed “a safer alternative.
Authors concluded, “In summary, the similar trajectory of traffic fatalities in Washington and
Colorado relative to their synthetic control counterparts yield little evidence that the total
rate of traffic fatalities has increased significantly as a consequence of recreational marijuana
legalization.”
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