Everyone wants to know which domino will be the next to fall.Which state will be next to legalize recreational marijuana?Well, up until this point, the most likely candidates were Vermont, Rhode Island, and Delaware.But now we have two more contenders: Illinois and New Jersey.Illinois has a limited medical marijuana program that went into effect last year. And now State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and State Sen. Heather Steans have co-authored legislation to make recreational marijuana legal.The proposed measure would allow Illinois to regulate production and sale of marijuana. It would also let residents grow up to five cannabis plants in their home and possess about 28 grams of marijuana.Driving the decision is Illinois’s massive budget hole. The state has $26 billion in debt and is facing a $4.6 billion operating shortfall. In February, Fitch cut its credit rating from BBB+ to BBB — the second lowest investment grade. Another downgrade will surely follow if the state fails to address its budget problem.Legalizing weed would help.Just look at the states already rolling in green... Colorado topped $1 billion in marijuana sales last year, up 30% from 2015. And that’s expected to rise to $20 billion by 2021. It raked in $200 million in cannabis business tax revenue — up from ZERO just a few short years ago — and saved the $145 million it previously spent each year combating the drug. That’s a $345 million swing for a state that’s still facing a $260 million budget deficit in 2017.
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Washington is expected to get over $300 million in cannabis taxes this year, up from $168 million in 2016. Given that, and the fact that 31 states currently face budget deficits, it’s no surprise the legal weed movement is snowballing so quickly.In addition to Washington and Colorado, California, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia have all legalized pot. Twelve states have decriminalized the drug and cleared it for medical purposes. And just five states — Idaho, South Dakota, Kansas, Indiana, and West Virginia — maintain an outright prohibition on the drug.As I said, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Delaware are looking to join in the fun.Vermont’s state legislature has already approved a legalization bill and sent it to the governor — making it the first state to pass a bill rather than a ballot initiative. The governor of Rhode Island said she’d seriously consider it if it passed in Massachusetts, which it did. And in Delaware, 61% of voters support legalizing recreational pot, with plans underway to introduce a bill this year.And now, you can add my home state of New Jersey to the list. The state has already legalized medical marijuana, and on Monday, State Sen. Nicholas Scutari introduced new legislation to legalize the drug recreationally. That means cannabis could soon be grown and sold in the Garden State. Possession would be decriminalized and there’d be an escalating sales tax on the drug starting at 7% in the first year, moving up to 10% in the second, and then advancing 5% a year all the way up to 25%. Standing in the way, of course, is Republican Governor Chris Christie, who took a brief break from kissing Donald Trump’s ass to call Scutari’s plan “stupid.” Yet, as governor, Christie has increased spending every single year he’s been in office and refused to raise any taxes to pay for it. As a result, credit-rating agencies have downgraded New Jersey’s credit rating 10 times during his term — the most for any governor in U.S. history. Furthermore, New Jersey’s job growth since the recession has been one of the slowest for any state in the union. And financial analysts and former state officials continue to warn that its tax base is not growing fast enough to cover all of its legally-mandated budget costs. The good news, however, is that New Jersey will elect a new governor this year. And Scutari is pushing to have his bill ready within the first 100 days of a potential new governor's administration. No doubt, this year and next will see marijuana laws advance whether New Jersey is among them or not. The genie simply cannot be put back into the bottle. [/table][/table]
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