If You Can’t Outlaw it, Tax and Regulate it!
Tim Hoover of the Denver Post writes that Colorado State Attorney General John Suthers has issued an opinion on medicinal marijuana. The gist of the opinion is that Colorado can tax medical marijuana as it is a “tangible property that is generally subject to state sales tax.” Also AG Suthers claims that marijuana dispensaries must obtain licenses from the state to dispense medical marijuana.
This would be the same AG John Suthers who opposed Obama’s decision to not use federal agents to prosecute medical marijuana providers. The same John Suthers who is concerned that Colorado’s Amendment 20 is vague and doesn’t have any real regulatory schemes. The same John Suthers who previously asked the state medical board to investigate doctors who would dare to prescribe a naturally growing herb to patients. And the same John Suthers who is begging the Colorado legislature to enact more laws to place more control of medical marijuana in the hands of the state.
What is it about marijuana that AG John Suthers finds so troubling? Could it be that he is cut from the same cloth of Republicans that advocate liberty only if they agree with the practice? Or, has he changed his colors and now thinks like the typical Democrat that if it is tangible, it must be taxed and regulated?
The answer probably lies somewhere in between. Statists like John Suthers have a hard time accepting free will and free markets. Couple this with his disdain for the personal use of medical marijuana and you have a man on a mission to tax, regulate, control, and dictate the use of medical marijuana.
Never-mind that Amendment 20 was passed in the year 2000 and there hasn’t been the need for any regulation for the program to work. Some may argue that guidelines are needed so providers and dispensaries have clear rules to follow to avoid future problems, but this is only due to the hostile environment that politicians and bureaucrats create because they don’t agree with Colorado’s decision to legalize medical marijuana. The doctor’s prescribing the marijuana don’t need any regulation to properly prescribe a patient marijuana. The caregiver doesn’t need the state to dictate how best to provide care. The dispensaries don’t need to collect sales taxes from their customers to stay in business. The market and individuals don’t need any intervention from the state at all. The only thing the providers and customers need is for the state to stay out of their business.
It is only the state itself that feels the need for taxes and regulation of medical marijuana. Since it can’t outlaw medical marijuana anymore, they might as well extract more money from it’s citizens and regulate it’s consumers and providers. After all, how could medical marijuana be dispensed without the state controlling it; it would be chaos. Again, never-mind the fact the thousands of people have been utilizing medicinal marijuana for years now without the benefit of the state. How lucky they have been and how lucky we are in Colorado to have an Attorney General who worries endlessly about some sick patient ingesting a naturally growing herb.
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