Nevada should join in pot tax windfall

By Kirk Rodrick, Las Vegas

Friday, June 26, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The Nevada Marijuana Legalization Initiative will be on the 2016 ballot. Our lawmakers missed their opportunity to enact the law sooner. The initiative would legalize marijuana use and possession for adults 21 and older and tax the sale of it.

Colorado voters legalized marijuana in 2012 and have been in an economic “green rush” since. Colorado is projecting it will collect $100 million in taxes from $1 billion in sales of legal marijuana this year alone. Home prices have risen at the fastest rate in the country every year since legalization. The unemployment rate is now 4 percent. Colorado’s tourism is setting records with 64.4 million visitors in 2013-14. The 2014-15 season visitor totals are not in yet, but numbers have been described as “insane” and “record-breaking.” The legalization of marijuana did not hurt alcohol sales in Colorado; they are still climbing.

What sets Colorado apart is residents can grow and consume marijuana at home or buy it from the store, and the DUI laws are reflective of it being legal there. If a DUI is suspected, officers complete a field sobriety test and if needed will do a blood test. Colorado has set the legal limit of THC in your blood at 5 nanograms.There is no field sobriety test requirement in Nevada, and the legal limit is 2 nanograms. This means in Nevada you can test positive for a DUI a week after marijuana use.

Marijuana may not be the bogeyman you think. According to The Huffington Post, there has never been a death caused from a marijuana overdose. The National Cancer Institute wrote, “Lethal overdoses from cannabis and cannabinoids do not occur.”

Marijuana is here anyway; why not tax it and benefit from a “green rush” here too?