how to get the budgets back in the black

As I have posted before most governments are missing out on billions of tax dollars from this.....
ABC Online...
Legal sales of marijuana for recreational use have begun in the US state of Colorado.

Dozens of people lined up at some stores in Denver wanting to buy up to 28 grams of marijuana legally for the first time, costing them an average of $257 plus tax.

Colorado legalised the drug for recreational use in November, 2012, in a ballot that coincided with the US presidential election.

"We expect to have 2,000 joints ready to go by the time we open," Robin Hackett, co-owner of Botana Care, adding that that she expected between 800 to 1,000 customers to patronise her store the first day.

A quarter-ounce sampler packet with seven strains of weed labelled with names such as King Tut Kush and Gypsy Girl - each said to produce a different kind of high - will retail for $95 to $100, including tax, Ms Hackett said.

The store hired a private security firm to help with any traffic and parking issues that might arise.

Colorado is expected to earn $78 million in tax revenue this year from legal sales of the drug.

It has already approved 348 marijuana business licenses state-wide, but local government areas can block approval of the shops if they choose.

While it is now legal to buy the drug, consumption in open and public places is outlawed.

Marijuana for health purposes is legal and regulated in 19 US states.
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And before anyone starts moralising about this, our governments already reap huge bucks from alcohol and tobacco sales, plus gambling.
Dave R.