Council plans to put marijuana tax on the ballot 

The drain that marijuana is putting on our health care system, department of transportation (with automobile accidents), local schools and academic decline, workforce, and more has a huge impact on society. Every day we are seeing marijuana laced with more serious drugs, and acting as a genuine gateway to other drugs as well as activation of other mental health diagnoses such as suicidality, schizophrenia, and depression. The regulations on medical cannabis alone is failing at a global level. It is reasonable to add a tax for recreational use to help off set these issues, but it won’t come close to assisting with the problems we are seeing already. The number of people wanting health care providers to treat and manage known side effects is on the rise- and it’s only going to get worse. A workforce already in short supply is now presenting with lack of motivation, delayed reflexes, impaired cognition, and questionable safety to drive or use good judgment.

Ultimately, the federal government will end up paying for something they don’t even have the authority to regulate at this point as most of this is a tax on federal and state funds on our health care system. Definite allocation to task prevention forces in public school system would be advisable as children as young as 12 are now saying “just weed” as their parents have endorsed it- and the repercussions are just beginning. It won’t stop people from using, it doesn’t stop them from smoking cigarettes, but it may help fund some of the collateral and direct damage this has brought.