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Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado

In: Business and Management

Submitted By ldw262
Words 1917
Pages 8
Lavida Wilson
Intercultural Communications
July 4, 2014
The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado
The three main topics that I plan to cover are the economic benefits, decrease in crime, and medical benefits of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. The legalization of the drug marijuana has been a very hot topic within the past decade. Marijuana was first made illegal in 1937. The United States government gave marijuana a bad name many years ago by putting it in the same category as heroin and cocaine. For many years the government has provided inaccurate information about the effects of marijuana and as a result, the drug was labeled as a schedule one drug. Over the last few decades especially in the 70’s, marijuana became more common and socially accepted by society. This past year Colorado voted on legalizing marijuana for recreational use. “Focusing on Colorado, Amendment 64 passed on November 6th, 2012 which would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of the plant. Amendment 64 was passed in Colorado with the winning vote of about 55% of the Colorado population. They chose to make marijuana legal for those 21 and over in Colorado such as alcohol is legal everywhere else.” (Ferner 2014) Of course this whole legalization in Colorado comes with a whole list of stipulations such as users can only grow up to six plants at a time and only three of them can have flowers. The most a user can have in their possession one ounce. The marijuana laws are very similar to the alcohol laws in Colorado such as distributors can’t sale the drug to underage minors and driving under the influence will result in a dui. Marijuana can be purchased at local authorized retail shops in Colorado. Colorado governor John Hickenlooper signed the amendment into law and created a task force that meets regularly. The purpose of the task force is so “all stakeholders share an

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