Gordon Forgey

Tuesday was the first day for legal recreational marijuana sales in the state.

Opening day here was introduced with less fanfare than the first day of legal marijuana sales in Colorado. That is because there wasn’t enough marijuana. The new retail outlets had to tightly limit the amount each customer could buy. Some licensed sellers are not even opening until supplies increase.

In fact, the legal supply is so low that the retail price for marijuana is three to four times that of the black market price.

Washington’s journey to this point has been an interesting one. For years, many citizens thought that marijuana should be legalized or, at the very least, decriminalized. The arguments against such moves were much the same as they had been since the sixties.

Then, suddenly, the state was faced with tremendous budget deficits. Money from drugs started to sound pretty good.

It took a vote of the people to legalize recreational marijuana, but that was well after officialdom was licking its chops over the potential new source of money and discarding every previously used moral, health and public safety argument it had previously used.

Now, the official worry is that the black market will soar. This is not a public health or safety concern. It is concern over lost revenues. Why let low-life drug dealers get the drug money when the state can?

Voters in Washington passed an Initiative that gave us open liquor sales at higher prices. Now, the will of the people has given us retail marijuana. If nothing else, voters should be more discerning about voting “yes” on Initiatives.

Next, we might be legalizing state run prostitution. Supposedly, there is good money in that.

Gordon Forgey

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