Reality Debunks Another Argument Against Marijuana Legalization

During the election of 2012 in Colorado, one of the main arguments against measure 64 and the legalization of marijuana was that pot would be even more widely available to minors [PDF file, page 13] than was the case before legalization.

According to the Denver Post, a recent undercover sting to bust Colorado pot shops who sell to minors that targeted 20 stores resulted in no infractions. That is a big fat 0 out of 20.

By way of comparison a recent undercover sting targeting stores that sell alcohol to minors in Saratoga County New York resulted in 5 infractions of the 14 stores targeted. A local cop in Missouri says that the average for stores in his town that sell to underage cops when they run a sting is about 3 in 8 to 10. When the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission ran a sting in Hidalgo County, 4 of the 15 stores checked were cited.

Let’s compare apples to apples, or Colorado liquor stings to Colorado pot stings in this case.. In the state of Colorado, specifically the city of Boulder, of the 885 businesses checked in undercover stings since 2006, there have been 120 violations.

Frankly I could list hundreds of links to undercover liquor sale sting stories, but the point should be clear by now. Alcohol sales to minors is a much bigger issue than sales of pot to minors as demonstrated by the numbers from the state of Colorado, yet there is no general outcry to criminalize alcohol sales.

I am quite certain that some Colorado pot shop will eventually be busted for selling to a minor in a sting operation and when they are caught the punishment will be quite severe: losing their license and a fine up to $100,000. Maybe if society wants to really discourage the sale of alcohol to minors the various states should substantially increase those penalties as well.

Here are the proven results so far from the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. $18 million collected in taxes since January. The total effect on the state’s budget must be substantially more than $18 million however due to the refocusing of law enforcement efforts from drug busts to other types of crimes. That refocusing of law enforcement may also account for the drop in the crime rate for the city of Denver. Major crimes in Denver since legalization are down around 10% compared to the same period one year ago. And now an undercover sting to bust stores selling pot to minors has shown no violations.

Rather than being the unmitigated disaster that opponents of legalization predicted prior to the law taking effect, the results have been remarkably positive.  One of the reasons the drug warriors were, and are, so adamant in fighting Prop 64 in Colorado, and other legalization attempts around the nation is proving true:  that the real world results of legalization would serve to debunk their arguments far more effectively than editorials and talking points from legalization proponents.

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Reality Debunks Another Argument Against Marijuana Legalization