Medical Marijuana Lessens Pain and Budgetary Woes

In 2010, Colorado faces a $61 million budget deficit and is turning to Medical Marijuana to alleviate its pain.

The Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry received 41,000 applications in 2009, and expects to receive over 150,000 by the end of 2010. At $90 per application, that amounts to some serious capital available to Colorado's ailing budget.

Before the Bill Ritter became the governor of Colorado, he was Denver's district attorney and he vehemently opposed Medical Marijuana in Colorado. Ironically, now as the state's governor, he chooses to embrace its upside--revenue, and lots of it. Ritter claims that while he is still not a fan of Medical Marijuana, he is a lawyer and a governor, and respects that voters made the use of Medical Marijuana into law.

Even though the State of Colorado used $3 million generated by Medical Marijuana fees in 2009, Ritter claims the reliance on Medical Marijuana's fees in 2010 is a one time instance. Along with budget cuts from prisons and higher education funds, Colorado will use $9 million of the $10 million collected in 2010 Medical Marijuana fees.

With the financial benefits to ailing government budgets finally being realized, the future may see an abrupt change in opposing politician's viewpoints on Medical Marijuana.