Colorado Is Going to Pot!

The country has been watching carefully to see how Colorado’s new law legalizing marijuana for “recreational” purposes is going to play out. The new law went into effect several months ago; and now its effects are becoming evident.

A friend of mine in Denver sent me an account: One Denver newspaper has recently printed 20 pages of marijuana dealer advertisements about the wonders of marijuana use! The paper is even printing an advice column entitled, “Ask a stoner.”

One friend of ours in Denver is a counselor in the Jefferson County school system. He is noting children, even as young as primary grade school students, who are coming to school after eating food contaminated with cannabis, the active ingredient of marijuana. Emergency rooms are seeing young children under the effects of marijuana.

Banks are reluctant to accept accounts from marijuana businesses, so these businesses operate with large amounts of cash on hand. Doing business in cash helps them avoid paying taxes on their income. Muggers who see easy and quick gains from street crime are targeting customers walking around the city with lots of cash in their pockets.

Money laundering is becoming a more common practice among marijuana dealers. (The definition of “money laundering,” for those who don’t know what this means is the practice of thieves, embezzlers, and other criminals designed to make illegal money gains look legal. This is done by sending money to banks and investment interests under assumed names or investing in phony businesses that do not report income to the IRS. Money launderers are prone to do business in cash rather than by checks that can be traced by the IRS.)

The rest of the country should look carefully at the marijuana business in Colorado. Do we really want this kind of thing going on around the nation?