Doubts about whether demand for recreational marijuana would cover the cost of the program put in place to regulate its sale appear to have been unfounded, at least during its early stages.
Evidence comes via Governor John Hickenlooper, who’s come up with a plan to spend recreational-pot tax revenues: $4.5 million this fiscal year and a heaping $99 million the next. But proponents of the amendment that made such sales possible are aghast at his proposal, which they call anti-pot and pro-booze.
There’s some irony in Hickenlooper being the beneficiary of this windfall beyond his past as a tavern owner. He actively opposed Amendment 64, the measure that allows adults 21 and over to use and possess small amounts of marijuana. And while he reacted to the measure’s passage with at least a modicum of humor, cracking that it was too soon to break out the Cheetos and Goldfish, he has since worked overtime to stress that he’s no cheerleader for legal weed.
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