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CO: Stop Misleading People About Their State
Posted by CN Staff on October 31, 2016 at 19:06:12 PT
By Matt Ferner, National Reporter
Source: Huffington Post
Colorado -- Lawmakers in Colorado on Monday asked an anti-marijuana campaign in Arizona to stop airing ads that they say contain false information about their state and could mislead voters who will be deciding on recreational legalization of the drug next week. State Sen. Pat Steadman (D) and Democratic state Reps. Millie Hamner and Johnathan Singer wrote an email to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy leaders to call out ads the group has run. They say the TV spots contain “inaccurate and misleading statements” about the use of legal marijuana tax revenue in Colorado as well as rates of teen drug use.
“As members of the Colorado Legislature who played a central role in the budgeting and appropriation of marijuana tax revenues, we feel it is our duty to set the record straight so that voters in both [Arizona and Colorado] have accurate information about this subject,” the letter reads. In an ad titled “Empty Promises,” two former Colorado school officials suggest that millions of dollars in tax revenue that were supposed to go to schools instead funded the regulation of the legal marijuana industry. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb makes a similar claim in an ad titled “Mistake.”“We can say with certainty that the claims about Colorado marijuana tax revenues featured in your committee’s ads range from highly misleading to wholly inaccurate,” the lawmakers write, citing multiple official state documents that illustrate their point. More than $138 million was distributed to the state’s Department of Education for Colorado schools during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscal years, according to a fact sheet produced by the department and an issue brief from Colorado Legislative Council staff. That figure significantly exceeds money distributed to fund the regulation of marijuana in the state, the lawmakers note. Moreover, $114 million of that Department of Education funding was distributed to the Building Excellent Schools Today program to build public schools in the state.Funding for the BEST program also comes from state lottery spillover proceeds and interest, as well as the state land trust — all of which is put into a single fund and dispersed to districts and schools in need via grants. BEST only starting using marijuana tax revenue as part of its total grant money last year, The Huffington Post reported at the time. Additionally, the lawmakers criticize the “Empty Promises” ad for suggesting that marijuana use among teens in the state has skyrocketed. They cited a recent study from the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment, which found that rates of teen marijuana use in Colorado have remained “relatively unchanged” since 2009. The study, which the lawmakers said was funded with more than $1 million in marijuana tax revenue, also found that teen usage rates in the state are about the same as the national average. Those findings line up with those of a large-scale federal study published in September that found that the movement toward marijuana legalization in multiple states hasn’t necessarily increased young people’s access to the drug. Although more adults in general are using marijuana nationwide, according to the study, the percentage of teens who use, abuse or depend upon the drug actually decreased between 2002 and 2014.More than two dozen states have rejected prohibition in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational purposes in recent years, and several more, including Arizona, are considering doing so this year. Colorado was the first state in the nation and the first government in the world to establish a regulated marijuana marketplace — a profound shift in drug policy, and one that some lawmakers and law enforcers in the state thought would not roll out as successfully as it has.Four years after passing the amendment that legalized recreational marijuana for adults, a majority of Colorado voters continue to say that legalization has had a positive impact on the state and its economy. “We respectfully request that you stop airing or otherwise publishing campaign ads that contradict these facts,” the lawmakers write in their letter. “We also trust they will be reflected in any of your future communications to Arizona voters regarding Colorado’s experience with regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use.”The ARDP responded later on Monday with its own letter claiming that the lawmakers had cited inaccurate information. The anti-legalization group did not say whether it would alter or pull its ads.Read the full text of the letter from Colorado lawmakers below:Dear Mr. Leibsohn and Ms. Polk:It has been brought to our attention that your committee has produced and aired television ads that convey inaccurate and misleading statements about Colorado’s experience with regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use.Specifically, your ad titled “Empty Promises” features a former Colorado local school official saying, “We were promised millions of new revenues for our schools, but they were empty words.” It also features a Colorado school principal saying, “Politicians spent more money on regulation and bureaucracy than in the classroom.” Similarly, in your ad titled “Mistake,” former Denver mayor Wellington Webb says, “We were promised new money for education. Instead, that money is going to regulation and the pot industry.”The proponents of the initiative you are opposing and members of the Arizona media have raised questions about the validity of these claims. We have also heard from Colorado residents who read or saw stories about these ads in our local media outlets and were confused by the claims that they make.As members of the Colorado Legislature who played intimate roles in the budgeting and appropriation of marijuana tax revenues, we feel it is our duty to set the record straight so that voters in both states have accurate information about this subject. We can say with certainty that the claims about Colorado marijuana tax revenues featured in your committee’s ads range from highly misleading to wholly inaccurate. As you can see in the attached issue brief provided by Colorado Legislative Council staff and fact sheet produced by the Colorado Department of Education:Of the approximately $220.8 million in total marijuana tax revenue distributions made in FY 2015-16 and FY 2016-17, more than $138.3 million was distributed to the Colorado Department of Education to benefit Colorado schools. This far exceeds the amount that was distributed for the purposes of regulating marijuana, which included $15.8 to the Department of Revenue, $2.4 million to the Department of Agriculture, $2.8 million to the Department of Law, and less than $500,000 to the Governor’s Office of Marijuana Coordination.Of those funds, $114.9 million was distributed to the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) public school construction program. When Colorado voters adopted Amendment 64, they were promised a tax on wholesale marijuana transfers would raise $40 million per year for the BEST program. That tax actually raised more than $40 million in the last fiscal year, resulting in $40 million for the BEST program in FY 2016-17, plus an additional $5.7 million for Colorado’s Public School Fund.In addition to the funds raised for the BEST program and the Public School Fund, more than $5.5 million was used to increase the presence of health professionals in our schools, and more than $4.3 million was used for health-related programs in schools. In addition, $2.9 million was used for drop-out prevention programs, and $2.9 million was used for school bullying prevention and education.It is also worth noting that more than $1.5 million in marijuana tax funds were distributed to the Department of Public Health and Environment to conduct the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which is the most comprehensive survey of our state’s middle and high school students. As you can see in the attached fact sheet from that department, the survey’s findings contradict the claim that “marijuana use among our students soared,” which is made in your ad titled “Empty Promises.” Rates of teen use have actually remained relatively unchanged since 2009 and are in line with the national average. In fact, they were slightly lower last year than they were prior to legalization.We respectfully request that you stop airing or otherwise publishing campaign ads that contradict these facts. We also trust they will be reflected in any of your future communications to Arizona voters regarding Colorado’s experience with regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use.Sincerely,Rep. Jonathan SingerMember, Colorado House Appropriations CommitteeRep. Millie HamnerChair, Colorado Joint Budget CommitteeVice Chair, Colorado House Appropriations CommitteeSen. Pat SteadmanMember, Colorado Joint Budget CommitteeMember, Colorado Senate Appropriations CommitteeSource: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Matt Ferner, National ReporterPublished: October 31, 2016Copyright: 2016 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/srVSeMnJCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on November 02, 2016 at 09:51:10 PT
the BIble
it's full of condemnations of Prohibition! Too many passages to quote, but here are some faves:Isaiah 10:1 - "Woe to those who make unjust laws and to those who issue oppressive decrees...""No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." 
 The Gospel of Luke: 8:16-17. Proverbs 3:30 Do not accuse a man for no reason - when he has done you no harm."These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the LORD.
-Zechariah 8:16-17Mark 7:15  Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' ÒBut whoever has the worldÕs goods, and SEES his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?Ó (see 1 John 3:17And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. -- Ezekiel 34:29
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on November 01, 2016 at 19:44:45 PT
Hope,
"I just wondered how in the world can he believe that. It takes a twisted mind I'm guessing."-0-Answer: Sin of the PriestsMalachi 1:6-14https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Malachi+1%3A6-14&version=NASBSin of the Priests6 “‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?’ 7 You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is to be despised.’ 8 But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts. 9 “But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts. 10 “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you. 11 For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ 13 You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord. 14 “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is feared among the [q]nations.”
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on November 01, 2016 at 19:09:59 PT
The GCW
Just recently I had seen a piece about a preacher or pastor that was preaching the immorality, according to him, of using cannabis.If he knows our God and he's studied anything at all, I just wondered how in the world can he believe that. It takes a twisted mind I'm guessing.I do tend to see these words as advice from Paul to Timothy, and in our study of them, to us, too, but I see what you are saying. It's my opinion that prohibitionist teachers and preachers are "false" teachers and false prophets, trying to teach lies. They are actually leading many people astray, I think. "The blind leading the blind... and they both will fall into a pit".There is no way that consuming a plant is immoral. It offends the prohibitionist's conscience? Fine. They can avoid it. But judging the people that do use it as immoral is so wrong. We're not talking murder, theft, rape, assault, kidnapping or anything against another person. Their conscience is so delicate as to be offended by the use of a plant? If they are really believers, I have to see them as my weaker brother or sister. I do feel concern for their faith, or lack of it, and their lack of knowledge concerning the freedom they have in Christ. So, according to advice in another scripture, I will not use or enjoy cannabis in front of that person, even though I know there is nothing at all wrong with it in my eyes and the eyes of God, in case they might be tempted and damage their weak faith. I think that would be wrong of me. But... like I said, this is not a matter of murder, theft, or any sort of assault. It should not be a crime and it is not wrong. It's a matter of personal choice. "Why should I be judged by another man's conscience". I shouldn't be. Neither should you or anyone else that believes in God or the freedom and understanding we have in him.They judge others to be immoral because of consuming a plant? I do not, because I am absolutely sure that our Lord does not. There is absolutely no logic to cannabis prohibition at all. There is absolutely no reason for it.I thank God for cannabis. In Christ Jesus.I thank him for coca, though I've never used it.I thank him for aloe vera. That is such an amazing plant. I thank him for that tree bark that fights cancer. I thank him for all good medicine. I thank him for peas.I am not so thankful for every plant in every place. Like poison ivy, kudzu, and stickers... but I am sure there is something beneficial somewhere and somehow about them... we just haven't discovered it yet. There is still so much discovering to do on this earth. "Not everything is beneficial" to everyone, but it is "Permissible", I believe, in the mind of God.I also thank him for exposing prohibitionists for what they are. We already see it, but someday, everyone, or nearly everyone, except perhaps, the purposely blind will see it. 
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on November 01, 2016 at 16:55:30 PT
Hope,
Don't want to be redundant but that's not simply advice.That piece is saying quite a lot, really.1. It is predicting cannabis prohibition long before it occurs. 2. It informs Us who will be doing that devilish deed.3. It indicates the only Biblical restriction to using cannabis is to use it with thankfulness.4. It tells Us how the prohibitionist will perform their dirty work.5. For people who have been told by clergy or other's, that You can not have God and the "spirit of truth" if You use cannabis; it clears that fallacy up!Further,Use of the word "foods" coincides with the word used on the very 1st page. In other versions the word used here coincides with the word used on it's 1st page. Example in the KJV they use the word meats.-0-The 1st page:Along with Genesis 1:11 and 12, Gen. 1:29 -Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; (so in this NASB version it uses the word "food" both here and 1 Tim 4:1-5; where it changes in a version, it uses the same word in both passages all the different versions.-0-One more thing. Cannabis prohibitionists are not just screwing "one another." According to Gen. 1:30, cannabis prohibitionists are also screwing, "... every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”Finally,Cannabis prohibitionists are screwing Christ God Our Father. Yet like We've heard before; THEY ARE ONLY HURTING THEMSELVES.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on November 01, 2016 at 15:48:30 PT
Huzza! Huzza!
Comment 3 The GCWI like that advice from the book of First Timothy. And it does apply to cannabis.Comment 1 Sam Adams"Governor's Office of Marijuana Coordination". At least this looks like a pretty good thing. Director from Colorado Governor's office testified for marijuana bill http://www.mynbc5.com/article/director-from-colorado-governor-s-office-testified-for-marijuana-bill/3326751MEDIA ADVISORY: Rep. Slater and Sen. Miller host Andrew Freedman, Colorado’s Director of Marijuana Coordination, for presentation on Tuesdayhttp://www.rilin.state.ri.us/pressrelease/_layouts/RIL.PressRelease.ListStructure/Forms/DisplayForm.aspx?List=c8baae31-3c10-431c-8dcd 9dbbe21ce3e9&ID=11542&%3BMobile=1&Web=2bab1515-0dcc-4176-a2f8-8d4beebdf488Director of Colorado’s Office of Marijuana Coordination talks taxes, ‘gray market’ 
http://www.theunion.com/cannabis/director-of-colorados-office-of-marijuana-coordination-talks-taxes-gray-market/Basically the office keeps records and data and even testifies at other state assemblies about ending prohibition of cannabis... as per the two preceding articles.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 01, 2016 at 08:40:56 PT
Sam Adams,
Dominoes are teetering, holes in dikes expanding, cannabis prohibition's crumbling. The day after election day, cannabis prohibitionists receive their last rights.Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.-0-1 Timothy 4:1-5New American Standard Bible (NASB)Apostasy4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on November 01, 2016 at 07:54:45 PT
Rhode island
here we go!Rhode Island governor watches Massachusetts marijuana ballothttp://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/10/31/rhode-island-governor-watches-massachusetts-marijuana-ballotRhode Island governor watches Massachusetts marijuana ballotAP, October 31, 2016PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Ñ Rhode IslandÕs governor says sheÕs positioning her state to be ready for the possible legalization of recreational marijuana by improving state oversight of medical marijuana.Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo tells the Providence Journal the state will have to look harder and faster at recreational pot legalization if Massachusetts voters approve it across the border in next weekÕs election.Question 4 on the Massachusetts ballot, if passed, would allow retail pot shops to open after Jan. 2018, giving some time for Rhode Island to catch up.Raimondo says medical marijuana reforms she signed into law this year improve oversight of a flawed system. She says they also create a regulatory framework so the state is prepared if recreational pot is legalized.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on November 01, 2016 at 07:35:26 PT
Globe Cartoon Dan Wasserman
nice job!!!https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/10/31/editorial-cartoon-legal-cannabis-cure-curse/HL36c6NeDzWnFQvrZ3OwWN/story.htmlre: the article above, pretty sad to see how the Colorado government lined their pockets with tens of million of dollars in bloated cannabis taxes."Governor's Office of Marijuana Coordination" got $500,000??? WTF is that? Sounds like something in Stalin's regime.
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