Letters of eclectic commentary featuring the wit and wisdom of a garrulous geezer and {Dana}, a persistent hallucination and charming literary device.
"Government has to be cut back like asparagus... every day... or it gets away and goes to seed. Ours did. When there's too much of it, the flower becomes a weed." -Paul Harvey
Dear Gentlereaders,
Now that, hopefully, I can't be locked up or even canceled for freely admitting that I smoked my fair share of pot when I was a twenty-something hippie with a job (and a nice apartment with a shower) permit me to share some thoughts on what it's like to live in a solid red state that has legalized smoking weed, Ohio.
{Cool, here we go again...}
Last time, I promise. But first, for the record and so you know where I'm coming from: I "self-identify" as center-right and anti-woke but I have certain notions that are classified as center-left by some people, and certain notions that are called far-right by other people.
Unlike Bill Clinton, I freely admit to inhaling. I'm certain that oral sex is sex and I know what the meaning of is, is. I think that he, the little Mrs, and their kid constitute a white-collar crime syndicate.
(Hey, kids, if the previous paragraph leaves you baffled, you now know what all those old cranks who maintain that odds are you're getting/got a second-rate education at the hands of unionized school teachers are on about.)
{"We don't need no education."}
Search term suggestions: Bill and/or Hillary and/or Chelsea Clinton, Slick Willie, the Clinton Foundation, Jeffrey Epstein.
{We got AI, get lost ya troll!}
Now, having previously written, more than once in fact, about the ongoing marijuana mess created by the state legislature of the state where I've been temporarily living for the last forty years, what follows is just an update, all you really need to know about what up with weed in my corner of Flyoverland.
If you're one of my millions of regular readers, you already know I don't like to link to previous columns about the same subject unless absolutely necessary for the sake of battling information overload (I'm cool like that). If you're not a regular reader, this is but one of the many reasons you should be.
In Ohio, a solidly red, thoroughly gerrymandered state from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, it's possible to place a "citizens initiative" on the ballot. That is to say, propose a law that will be put on the books if the voters of Ohio approve it — and if you can get around the powers that be if they don't want it on the ballot, but that's another story.
The good news is that such an initiative was passed on 11/7/23, and smoking a weed that can relatively easily be grown at home, in the privacy of your home, is no longer against the law.
I've not been a pothead for longer than many some of you have been alive, but I am aware that prohibiting the use of certain substances can cause more harm than good. A Khan Academy article about when America temporarily banned alcohol tells you everything you need to know. "Prohibition led directly to the rise of organized crime."
The bad news is the Ohio State Legislature can tinker with a citizen's initiative as much as they want, and of course, they do. Long story short, both the State Senate and House have recently introduced separate bills to modify things to their liking. The House mostly, with one important exception, wants to leave things alone, the Senate wants to increase the sin tax from 10 to 15%.
The Senate bill reduces the number of weeds you can grow yourself from 12 to 6 so that Granny won't try to beef up her fixed income by becoming a drug dealer so she can buy some eggs. You'd think an allegedly Republican state would encourage competition, but when it comes to weed, alcohol, and gambling they prefer to maintain control of the market.
I may no longer be a pothead but I do have friends in low places and I'm led to believe it's possible to buy perfectly good weed on the street for less than you pay at authorized pot shops.
Our five-foot-tall, 78-year-old governor's proposed budget doubles the sin tax to 20%. And yes, Ohio charges sales tax on weed. In fact, when we file our state income taxes, we're asked if we bought anything out of state that we need to pay Ohio sales taxes on.
{Seriously?}
Can't make this sh...tuff up, Dana.
{I wonder if anybody actually does?}
Off the top of my head, I can't remember which bill, perhaps both? forbids buying weed in another state and bringing it home. Think of all the lost sales tax revenue that could be collected when people rat themselves out when they file their state income taxes.
Both bills definitely want to do away with divvying up sin tax revenues among various social programs, as specified in the original citizen-created and citizen-passed law, and dump the tax money into the general fund so that the esteemed statesmen statespersons of our full-time legislature can spend the money as they see fit.
I'm sure glad I don't live in an over-regulated, over-taxed blue state that's top-heavy with full-time legislators...
{As opposed to?}
Texas, the 8th or 9th largest economy on Earth, to which no shortage of blue state (and Ohio) refugees have fled in droves, which has no state income tax and a part-time legislature that gets together for 120 days every other year.
{Yeah, but it's hot as Hades for 8 or 9 months out of the year. And isn't smoking weed still against the law?}
Yeah, but it's only a matter of time. The major metros have opted to decriminalize.
For more details on the Ohio Marijuana mess, here's an article published by the Ohio Capital Journal titled Ohio Republicans <Republican politicians> claim voters didn't know what they were voting on when legalizing weed, that's both informative and accidentally hi-LAR-ious.
Which brings us to Colorado.
{Well, sure, obviously?}
Colorado ain't as blue as Ohio is red, yet, but it's getting there. I freely admit to not being an expert on Colorado politics, but I know it was one of the first states to legalize the sale of recreational weed more than a decade ago.
As of 1/1/14, it was possible to buy weed, legally, from a weed store — as opposed to that sketchy-looking dude behind the 7-Eleven that a friend of a friend of yours swears is cool — in Boulder.
However...
I went a-googlin' and it took about a literal minute to discover that what originally looked like plenty of legal weed for aficionados, plenty of profits for entrepreneurs, and plenty of tax revenue for both the state and local governments started petering out in about a metaphorical minute.
The Pike's Peak gold rush, 1858 to 1861, comes to mind. (Pike's Peak is in Colorado, kids.)
{"We don't need no education."}
There are lots of reasons for this, competition, both locally and nationally, is a prominent one. The one that I find the most interesting is sin taxes/over-regulation.
From the Wall Street Journal: "Colorado levies a 15% marijuana sales tax and 15% excise tax on marijuana, and Pueblo County tacks on another 5% excise tax and a 6% sales tax. Cannabis businesses in the city of Pueblo pay an additional 10% excise tax, among the highest in the state."
"...every year the state adds more and more rules."
"The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division said it is considering (my emphasis) proposals that would simplify rules for marijuana businesses."
Blue, Red, or Purple?
Colonel Cranky
Scroll down to comment, share my work, or scroll previous columns. I post links to my columns on my Facebook page so you can love me, hate me, or call for my cancellation/execution via social media. Cranky don't tweet (Xclaim?).
Copyright 2024-Mark Mehlmauer-All rights reserved
