QUOTE

Bruning has fought Obamacare with the fanaticism of a zealot, arguing in a legal challenge that the law tramped upon states’ rights. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt has led the next major challenge to the act, insisting that the federal government must respect states’ decisions not to set up their own exchanges and to deny their citizens cheap access to good insurance. Both men believe their states have a right to control their own health insurance systems.

But when another state decides to experiment with a new drug policy, Bruning and Pruitt’s support for state sovereignty dries up. They are arguing that Congress’s prohibition against marijuana should force every state to prohibit it as well.

QUOTE

These attorneys general aren’t opposed to all intoxicants. Their position on marijuana might have something to do with the fact that both Bruning and Pruitt have received significant campaign contributions from alcohol industries.

QUOTE

But because legalization remains illegal on the federal level, most major banks are reluctant to handle the money marijuana dispensaries bring in and businesses are unable to use credit or debit cards.

The manager of 3D Cannabis Centre says being robbed is his biggest fear and he worries about it daily.

QUOTE

The state estimates it will bring in about $50 million in taxes after the first year of legal marijuana sales. Some of the money will go to schools. But because the pot money will put Colorado over that Tax Payer Bill of Rights threshold, the governor’s office is now predicting refunds could be up to $30.5 million — around $7.63 per adult in Colorado

QUOTE

But some state Republicans and Democrats are balking at the idea of returning pot tax revenue, and are crossing party lines to work out a plan to keep the revenue, according to the AP. It would likely take voters to decide by casting ballots on the issue to exempt marijuana taxes from the Tax Payer Bill of Rights.

QUOTE

Twelve sheriffs from three states said in a lawsuit filed Thursday that Colorado's law legalizing marijuana for recreational use creates a "crisis of conscience" by forcing them to uphold state law when their oath of office also includes a promise to uphold the federal Constitution.

QUOTE

Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and that creates problems even in states where it's legal. For instance, marijuana businesses face challenges with banking. Financial institutions, which are regulated by the federal government, tend to shun dispensaries.

There are also issues with advertising. Neos, a vaporizer company, got its TV ad blocked in Colorado because the federal government regulates the airwaves.

QUOTE

The byzantine and conflicting regulations illustrated by the disparate treatment of the two cannabis-themed ads merely underscores the necessity of educational events like the OMMBC; yet if the groundbreaking ad airing tonight portends a growing acceptance of mainstream media to endorse the option which is safer than alcohol (which, after all, network television has rarely hesitated to endorse)

QUOTE

"Colorado is leading the way,” Hawaii resident Matt Binder said. “I don't like all that money going to gangs and cartels. I'd much rather see it go to the state. I'm sure we could use it.”

QUOTE

In 2013, then-Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would not challenge states who legalized the drug if they could regulate it satisfactorily.

Oklahoma and Nebraska say such an already-tricky frame — giving nodding approval to activities that are illegal at the federal level — isn't working for them, even if it works for Colorado. They say marijuana crimes are up, and blame it on pot coming from across the state border. Nine former Drug Enforcement Administrators, who filed a brief with the Court, agree.

"The state of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system enacted by the Unites States Congress," Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post told the Court.

"This kind of not-in-my-backyard legal argument, if successful, could be deployed against any other states seeking to follow Colorado's example — and could therefore impose a massive obstacle to legalization at anything short of the federal level," CNN analyst Prof. Stephen I. Vladeck told the cable TV network when the Court reached out for a recommendation last spring.

QUOTE

About 700,000 people are arrested annually on marijuana-related charges
That’s a lot of people — and most of them are not dangerous drug kingpins or even local distributors. Fully 88% of those arrested in 2014 were arrested for possession of marijuana, often in small amounts. In fact, a whopping 40% of all drug-related arrests in 2014 were for marijuana possession and not production or sale. That’s a huge drain on our criminal justice and penal systems, suggesting that there could be substantial taxpayer savings if restrictions on the drug were relaxed or the drug were legalized.

QUOTE

Because Nebraska and Oklahoma are both run by fucking twats.