CANNABIS
March 29, 2022 - By Mark Stout
I visited a legal recreational marijuana dispensary in the state Illinois recently and legally purchased an amount of four high grade cannabis flower strains. I noticed that the amount of sales tax that I had paid was quite high, $53.00 dollars on a $240.00 dollar purchase, and I thought to myself: why doesn’t Tennessee legalize marijuana? Why not collect a sales tax, regulate the safe manufacture of cannabis products, protecting consumers, and benefit from a whole new industry which can create lots of local good paying jobs, and an economic stimulus that doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime. In fact, it would bring in revenue to provide funds necessary to finance better government services and schools without raising property taxes. Such a move would free up local police to work on other more important things like serious violent and property crimes growing in our suburban neighborhoods and our inner cities, while ending a longstanding injustice, unreasonable marijuana prohibition at the same time. It is a win-win, right? A free society should not punish its citizens who use cannabis. The evidence is clear, most Americans want the prohibition law to be changed to allow adults, 21 years old, safe access to the healing and wellness products of their choice. The wellness benefits for certain individuals, such as those who suffer pain, or other well-being reasons such as opioid addiction recovery, the benefits of this God given natural herb can be miraculous and transformative.
Who could possibly reasonably argue against an individual’s personal right to privacy and right to be free from draconian government harassment? The denial of access to the safe access to medical marijuana to newly arriving residents who have authorized medical cards issued to them from other states like California and which entitle them, is unreasonable.
The Tennessee Legislature should change the law immediately to allow for adult safe access to cannabis. Instead, they have given us a new disease which employs nobody and only serves to suck money from those who can least afford it, online sports betting. Gambling.
Just as alcohol was once prohibited and then legalized, a majority of Tennesseans want to see an end to the Reefer Madness of Marijuana Prohibition and full legalization of cannabis.
I visited a legal recreational marijuana dispensary in the state Illinois recently and legally purchased an amount of four high grade cannabis flower strains. I noticed that the amount of sales tax that I had paid was quite high, $53.00 dollars on a $240.00 dollar purchase, and I thought to myself: why doesn’t Tennessee legalize marijuana? Why not collect a sales tax, regulate the safe manufacture of cannabis products, protecting consumers, and benefit from a whole new industry which can create lots of local good paying jobs, and an economic stimulus that doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime. In fact, it would bring in revenue to provide funds necessary to finance better government services and schools without raising property taxes. Such a move would free up local police to work on other more important things like serious violent and property crimes growing in our suburban neighborhoods and our inner cities, while ending a longstanding injustice, unreasonable marijuana prohibition at the same time. It is a win-win, right? A free society should not punish its citizens who use cannabis. The evidence is clear, most Americans want the prohibition law to be changed to allow adults, 21 years old, safe access to the healing and wellness products of their choice. The wellness benefits for certain individuals, such as those who suffer pain, or other well-being reasons such as opioid addiction recovery, the benefits of this God given natural herb can be miraculous and transformative.
Who could possibly reasonably argue against an individual’s personal right to privacy and right to be free from draconian government harassment? The denial of access to the safe access to medical marijuana to newly arriving residents who have authorized medical cards issued to them from other states like California and which entitle them, is unreasonable.
The Tennessee Legislature should change the law immediately to allow for adult safe access to cannabis. Instead, they have given us a new disease which employs nobody and only serves to suck money from those who can least afford it, online sports betting. Gambling.
Just as alcohol was once prohibited and then legalized, a majority of Tennesseans want to see an end to the Reefer Madness of Marijuana Prohibition and full legalization of cannabis.
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