Who could have not seen this a mile away. Weed is not all it's cracked up to be.

Multiple states have moved to "legalize" or decriminalize marijuana, seeing a pot of gold with taxation. I was in a discussion with a friend from Denver and they were very much in favor for this because it was dedicated to "roads, bridges and schools". We are both from Louisiana and I reminded them "Governor Edwards said the same thing of the lottery and gambling and where is the money? Remember this conversation because in five or ten years another politician will come up with another financial panacea that will be dedicated to 'roads, bridges and schools', then ask 'Where did the weed money go?'"

Now Washington and Colorado have started selling "legal" weed and guess what? They are not getting the money they were supposed to get.

Moody’s: Washington might not see the marijuana tax windfall previously projected

A slow start to sales, high taxes and easy-to-get medical marijuana may translate to lesser-than-expected revenues from Washington state’s newly legal recreational pot market, according to a new report from Moody’s, the credit rating agency.

Marijuana for recreational use went on sale in Washington earlier this month and is taxed three separate times—25 percent each at the production, wholesale and retail levels—in addition to state and local sales taxes. Combined, the trio of taxes translate to an effective rate of 44 percent, Moody’s finds.

“The tax structure in Washington State is likely to be a major deterrent for consumers who do not see the value in obtaining the product from a storefront as opposed to a medical dispensary,” writes Moody’s Analyst Andrea Unsworth, the report’s author. Why pay a higher tax when getting approval for medical marijuana is reportedly relatively easy? Washington’s forecasters last revisited their estimate in June, too, and anticipated $51.2 million in revenues from fees and taxes for the 2015 to 2017 budget and more than two times more for the following two years.

Wait, wait, hold it. High taxes inhibit economic activity. In the Washington Post!? This is heresy!

A similar situation appears to be playing out in Colorado, where recreational marijuana sales began on Jan. 1. Colorado economists in 2012 predicted $67 million in revenues from retail pot in the 2014-2015 fiscal year. They dropped that estimate to $54 million in March and $30.6 million again in June. State forecasters explained why in a June report:

“One reason that revenue has lagged behind earlier estimates is that medical marijuana users have not converted to the adult-use market,” they wrote.

Aside from its high tax rates on recreational pot, the state also has only opened up roughly 7 percent of the market. Of the 334 marijuana store licenses available, Washington has issued just 24, well below originally expected. The state has also licensed fewer growers than expected.

Yet Moody’s says it isn’t concerned about the state’s credit standing. The state never planned to lean heavily on the< revenues for funding and the shortfall will likely be short-lived. Supply will no doubt eventually meet demand, Unsworth writes.

I don't question you in that Moody's. The Laws of Economics are more certain than the laws of Physics.

However, one thing is not being put into this. The former distribution system for marijuana, know as drug dealers, haven't gone anywhere., They will continue to sell weed, they only have to undercut the "legal" price. If you want proof, look at smuggled cigarette sales in New York or New Jersey.

But don't cry for Colorado. The usual suspects have gone after fracking, something that would lead to a fortune in tax revenue and jobs.

UPDATE: I am now recalling the wisdom of the best president in my lifetime, Ronald Reagan. "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Welfare Cash for Weed in Colorado
Recipients are withdrawing thousands in cash at pot dispensaries, and Republicans want to stop it.
For the past six months, welfare beneficiaries in Colorado have repeatedly withdrawn their cash benefits at marijuana retailers and dispensaries, according to a new analysis by National Review Online. Such apparent abuses have caught the eye of Colorado’s executive and legislative powers alike, and the state has launched an effort to curb them.

At least 259 times in the first six months of legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado, beneficiaries used their electronic-benefit transfer (EBT) cards to access public assistance at weed retailers and dispensaries, withdrawing a total of $23,608.53 in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash, NRO’s examination found.

In 2012, the latest fiscal year available, Colorado used $124 million in TANF money from the federal government, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Withdrawals at marijuana establishments represented only a tiny fraction of the more than 500,000 total EBT transactions that have occurred since recreational weed became legal in Colorado on January 1. And it’s impossible to determine how much of that welfare money actually was used to buy pot, given that cash benefits are fungible and some of these establishments also sell groceries.

Nevertheless, welfare withdrawals at weed stores are coming under increasing scrutiny, and Colorado’s legislators and bureaucrats are beginning an effort to restrict abuses....

...Last session, some Colorado legislators attempted to pass a bill banning TANF withdrawals at marijuana establishments, but Democrats blocked it. The state’s Republicans did succeed, however, in passing a budget amendment that would preclude such use. Because of a legislative technicality, however, the amendment “doesn’t have the power and teeth behind it that a statute does,” says Colorado Springs representative Dan Nordberg, one of the key proponents of the ban. Republican lawmakers plan to re-introduce stronger legislation next session...

Money for roads, bridges and schools.