Homer Simpson once said that alcohol is \u201cthe cause of and solution to all of life\u2019s problems,\u201d and it appears one can treat marijuana legalization the same way. It depends on\u00a0whom you ask \u2014 and on what day.<\/p>\n
Homelessness and marijuana legalization is perhaps the prime example of this phenomenon at work. In 2017, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0during his annual state-of-the-state speech it was \u201cno question\u201d that \u201cmarijuana and other drugs \u2014 in combination with mental illness or other disabling conditions \u2014 are essential contributors to chronic homelessness.\u201d Then, earlier this year, in response to a survey of jail inmates conducted by a law-enforcement lobby that suggested marijuana legalization was drawing homeless people to Colorado\u00a0the governor said the findings were unscientific.<\/a>\u00a0(Other outlets, like the conservative Colorado Springs Gazette,\u00a0unequivocally blame legalization<\/a>\u00a0for one of the nation\u2019s biggest \u201chomeless growth rate[s]\u201d, with retail dispensaries drawing \u201cabusers\u2026 here for easy access to pot.\u201d)<\/p>\n What is undeniable is that Denver is ground zero for both Colorado\u2019s homeless crisis and its marijuana industry. Since 2013, the year after the state voted to legalize adult-use cannabis, Colorado has seen an 8 percent increase in homelessness. About half of Colorado\u2019s 10,940 homeless people live in Denver,\u00a0according to HUD reports<\/a>. Meanwhile,\u00a0state finance department figures show<\/a>\u00a0that Denver accounted for $587 million of the more than $1 billion of legal cannabis sold in Colorado in 2017. So what\u2019s the connection? According to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (who once referred to legalization as a \u201cscourge\u201d), it\u2019s a positive one.<\/p>\n\n Last week, Hancock signed into law an increase in Denver\u2019s local marijuana tax, from 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent.<\/p>\n As KDVR reported,<\/a>\u00a0the extra money,\u00a0about $15 million a year<\/a>, will all go to the city\u2019s housing fund, where it\u2019s expected to pay for the preservation or the creation of more than 6,000 units of affordable housing, which is double what the city would have been able to afford to build without the extra cannabis cash.<\/p>\n Marijuana bought in Denver will now be taxed at about 25 percent, according to\u00a0KDVR.com<\/a>. That figure includes state taxes.<\/p>\n Even with the local tax, Denver cannabis still carries fewer duties than recreational marijuana bought in California or Washington, where consumers pay as much as 40 percent in taxes on legal cannabis.<\/p>\n Still, marijuana consumers are reacting predictably by lamenting the new high price of legal weed and openly wondering whether the new bill will drive consumers to the black market. At the same time, it doesn\u2019t appear Hancock or Denver elected officials will pivot. They need money, and marijuana is the most convenient source.<\/p>\n It bears mentioning that the main driver of homelessness,\u00a0according to surveys done by experts on this subject,<\/a>\u00a0is a lack of affordable housing.\u00a0Marijuana legalization is conspicuously absent from the list<\/a>. Homelessness in America became a chronic problem rather than a cyclical one sometime after 1980, when marijuana was still more than 30 years away from being legalized.<\/p>\n In the past, affordable housing was generally funded by the federal government. Burden has since shifted onto cities and states, who have no other choice than to raise taxes to pay for such a vital service.<\/p>\n Marijuana, then, doesn\u2019t appear to hurt the plight of homeless people any further than it is already \u2014 and as soon as Denver can build the first marijuana-funded housing units, it appears certain to help.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/b>, where do you think marijuana tax dollars should go?<\/p>\n The post In Denver, Marijuana Money Is Going Towards Fixing Homelessness<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Homer Simpson once said that alcohol is \u201cthe cause of and solution to all of life\u2019s problems,\u201d and it appears one can treat marijuana legalization the same way. It depends on\u00a0whom you ask \u2014 and on what day. Homelessness and marijuana legalization is perhaps the prime example of this phenomenonContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,21,693,170,5716,1047,687,4552,2940,362,356],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29084,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29083\/revisions\/29084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: In Denver, Marijuana Money Is Going Towards Fixing Homelessness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"