Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2005 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Author: Devon Swezey Note: Titled by newshawk Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1156/a05.html?97859 MORE MARIJUANA DIALOGUES I appreciated Armstrong's article "The Price of Prohibition" about the costs that the state incurs criminalizing marijuana and the revenue it could generate if it did not. While I agree with the basic tenets of the article, and strongly believe that marijuana should be decriminalized, Mr. Armstrong's remarks about TABOR reform are ill-informed. He states that "Owens, along with many Democrats and some other sellout Republicans, are asking Colorado taxpayers to fork over an estimated $3.1 billion over the next five years." The truth is that the proposed reform of TABOR would not be an involuntary tax hike, but a voter-approved revenue increase for the state of Colorado, which would greatly benefit our ailing public education system. It strikes me as odd that Mr. Armstrong is in favor of generating state revenue through the taxation and decriminalization of marijuana, but not by foregoing an average of $20 per taxpayer in refunds to help a public education system that ranks 47th in the nation in K-12 education funding as a share of income. While I agree that the state has often spent funds quite frivolously in past years, it seems important that we increase support for students in public education in Colorado before "increasing liberty" to allow those kids to do more of what they do best... smoke weed. Devon Swezey Boulder - --- MAP posted-by: Beth