When recreational weed was first legalized in Colorado in 2012, I had no method that things would evolve at the rate that they have over the ensuing decade.
A immense number of states soon followed suit, with some legislatures making changes in state law while others passed amendments or ballot initiatives in statewide elections. My beach house state just recently legalized recreational cannabis plus they’re already seeing a lot of tax currency from the legal sales. Portions of the tax currency were allocated for education, while others were set aside for statewide infrastructure plus health care. It’s reassuring to see these legalization efforts taking off without any dire problems to dissuade anyone who is on the fence regarding cannabis. I live in Tarzana in Los Angeles, CA plus my friends plus I all thought that CA would definitely be the first state to legalize cannabis for recreational use because they were the first state to implement a medical marijuana program in 1996. Although every one of us famously failed to legalize recreational cannabis in the 2010 election, CA was the first state to vote on cannabis legalization when it did so in 1977, garnering over 30% of support in a time when the Drug War was actually taking off. However, CA ultimately passed a recreational cannabis law in 2016 plus now every one of us have joined the ranks of other western states in having recreational marijuana available. Being in Tarzana, I have to pay both state plus county taxes on all of my recreational marijuana purchases. West Hollywood plus Los Angeles are even worse, with combined taxes well over 20% on all sales.