Welles: Legalized marijuana would hurt Alaska

  • By Stan Welles
  • Wednesday, October 1, 2014 8:23pm
  • Opinion

How do you destroy a State in one easy lesson? Vote in marijuana!

Drugs are definitely not family friendly are they?

Have you ever had an employee on drugs? Just like the $600 Wagon Wheel theft the other day in Homer, the Homer police found one of our first employees of our Pizza restaurant at home with our cash drawer and drugs on the table.

Our last trip to Colorado in April was the most depressing trip we have ever had to Colorado. Drugs are now placed in food. One kid knowingly ate a laced cookie, went nuts and jumped out a window to his death. A fourth grader stole his Mother’s ‘medical marijuana’, took it to school and sold it!

My wife’s sister and husband live in Nederland. They say that 80% of Nederland is on drugs. The smell is nearly always in the air.

My wife is from Colorado. I went to college there. Over some 20 years, we have lived and/or worked in Englewood, Cascade, Colorado Springs, Boulder and Broomfield as well as on a ranch at 9,000 ft above sea level with an address of Tenth and Plumb: Ten miles south of Parshall, Colorado Plumb at the end of the road! Deer and elk were plentiful. The first elk I shot from my porch using the tractor to put it in the barn! We loved Colorado. Had the international steel market not gone flat in the early 1980’s taking the molybdenum demand down with it; we would probably still be there.

While the politicians are jumping for joy over the tax revenues — though they have not been as high as anticipated — they don’t see the phase lag of the tax burden freight train coming at them due to the:

— destroyed lives of the kids

— destruction of the families

— inability of employers to find drug free employees

Just like Washington State where Boeing has moved a lot of its production out of the State and moved its headquarters, Colorado employers will be bailing out also.

Phase lag taxation is one of the stealth tax forms commonly over looked. Phase lag taxation is that form of stealthy taxation that strikes after a foolish, emotion-appealing policy has been implemented. A suburb example was Saturday, September 13th Alaska Dispatch News’ Commentary “Break up Alaska’s economic monopoly by legalizing and taxing marijuana.”

In Colorado an attorney friend tells me non-violent crime is accelerating. Here in Alaska drug abuse is already epidemic even without legalization! Take the September 26-27 edition of the Clarion’s article, “Nikiski residents fight back against rampant property theft”. Non-violent crime is accelerating here in our State and I bet it is in your area as well? The State Patrol has a real challenge meeting the need. They are having great difficulty filling vacancies. There are currently 16 State patrol vacancies Statewide.

As a potential steward of your resources and property rights, I would strongly recommend rejection of this Ballot initiative.

More in Opinion

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, a Nikiski Republican, speaks during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Sen. Jesse Bjorkman: Protecting workers, honoring the fallen

Capitol Corner: Legislators report back from Juneau

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, a Soldotna Republican who co-chairs the House Education Committee, speaks during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Rep. Justin Ruffridge: Supporting correspondence programs

Capitol Corner: Legislators report back from Juneau

The Alaska State Capitol on March 1. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: We support all students

In the last month of session, we are committed to working together with our colleagues to pass comprehensive education reform

Rep. Ben Carpenter, a Nikiski Republican, speaks during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Rep. Ben Carpenter: Securing Alaska’s economic future through tax reform

Capitol Corner: Legislators report back from Juneau

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Alaska House makes the right decision on constitutionally guaranteed PFD

The proposed amendment would have elevated the PFD to a higher status than any other need in the state

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, a Soldotna Republican who co-chairs the House Education Committee, speaks during floor debate of a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Rep. Justin Ruffridge: Creating a road map to our shared future

Capitol Corner: Legislators report back from Juneau

An array of solar panels stand in the sunlight at Whistle Hill in Soldotna, Alaska, on Sunday, April 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Renewable Energy Fund: Key to Alaska’s clean economy transition

AEA will continue to strive to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy to provide a brighter future for all Alaskans.

Mount Redoubt can be seen acoss Cook Inlet from North Kenai Beach on Thursday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: An open letter to the HEA board of directors

Renewable energy is a viable option for Alaska

Most Read