Asheville to HASHVILLE: NC Town Prepping for Pot Prosperity
It has been said several times before, but it will always bear repeating: You don’t have to smoking marijuana to reap the benefits of legalization.
Think of the cannabis plant as the mythical situation where money really does grow on trees…er…weeds.
Our nation, and the world at large, is moving toward legalization of the plant at a breakneck speed. Given the advances in modern science and medicine, we are just now beginning to realize the potent power of pot, for both the recreational enthusiast and for the seriously ill.
The problem with this rapid economic growth is that the United States is still living under the antiquated idea of federal prohibition of marijuana – a circumstance that has prevented the roots of this prosperity initiate to take hold. We could very well be in the midst of the new green gold rush, but we have laws on the books from nearly a century ago standing in our way.
It would be as if miners made it to California in the 1860’s just to find out that panning for gold was illegal there.
With over half of the states in the nation preferring to decriminalize or legalize the plant at the state level, it is far past time. Now, one southern city is taking matters into their own hands.
A North Carolina city’s alcohol regulators say they’re preparing to sell marijuana should it become legal in the state.
The Asheville Alcoholic Beverage Control board chairman told the City Council Tuesday that there’s a national trend of marijuana legalization, and it’s the board’s job to anticipate changes.
The Asheville Citizen Times reports Board Chairman Lewis Isaac told the council he expects the agency would oversee marijuana sales and distribution if the drug were to become legal.
In places like Colorado, where marijuana is available both medicinally and recreationally, state lawmakers’ toughest challenge with legal weed seemed to be figuring out how to spend all of the tax revenue.
