Two years after Colorado began its first retail sales of cannabis, towns and cities across the state are enjoying the benefits in a number of ways. With sales this year expected to reach $1 billion, local governments are seeing windfalls of tax revenue, which is funding education, recreation, infrastructure improvements, and even aid to the homeless…
In Aurora, which has collected millions in sales taxes and fees since October 2014, the City Council keeps the money in a separate fund so it can show the public exactly where cannabis revenue is spent. $1.5 million will be used to address the homeless issue, $2.8 million will go toward a recreation center, and $3.8 million will fund an Interstate 225 crossing.
Northglenn uses the money for capital projects and to purchase water rights. Adams County will spend $500,000 on scholarships for low-income students. Filling potholes and fixing roads is a common theme in other towns.
“There’s a lot of money left over to address safety issues that come up or really take on projects that these local communities do not necessarily have the funds to deal with,” said Mike Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group. “For some communities, this tax revenue has made a huge difference.”
Denver collected $29 million last year through taxes and licensing fees; the capitol city prefers to spend this revenue on “ramped-up regulation, enforcement, public health and education efforts.”
You can see how a billion in excess resources can elicit a lot of amygdala relaxation. First it buys the drug, which itself relaxes amygdalae. Then the money from the drug is hustled around the local economies, relaxing amygdalae through jobs, security, safety, and ease.
As I’ve said, K-selection is still a long ways off. I question whether we would even be seeing the signs we’re seeing, if the left wasn’t so bent on bringing poor threatening foreigners with violent dispositions into our communities.
Long story short, don’t wait for Denver to go conservative anytime soon.
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