the dope on potholes

Bob Giusti - [email protected]

The state roads have resembled a lunar landscape dotted with potholes after all the snow removal this season. Various cities, towns and DOT's budgets have been strained to the max. It's a wonder if they'll be a budget to even patch and fill (let alone resurface). Where will we find the money to care for our infrastructure?

Well Governor Lincoln Chafee appears to have joined the ranks of Michigan governor Rick Snyder in calling for their state legislatures to consider boosting road funding by legalizing marijuana to the extent that it would be treated and taxed as tobacco products are today. 

Even though Chafee has nothing politically at stake (he is not seeking re election) he is still cautious of a full endorsement and chooses his words carefully to express the revenue as "enticing" but not necessarily attainable. The governor also said he wants to see what the General Assembly does with legislation that would legalize pot, (which has been introduced by Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence and Sen. Josh Miller, D-Cranston).

Chafee also inferred that Colorado (a state that already has legalized pot sales) would be monitored before signing any bill that may come across his desk before the end of his term

There is no doubt that funds from taxation on pot would provide a revenue flow any state's coffers would be happy to spend, but is the proposed legislation prepared to address earmarking the money towards that specific purpose? Particularly when issues like unfunded pensions and state social services also are vying for a piece of the pie,,,pot pie.

It appears to be a better selling point to promise something tangible like civic improvements rather than the usual practice of plugging a spending gap with dollars earmarked for something quite specific (does anybody remember where the lead paint settlement money went?). It might be that Chafee isn't so on the fence after all. By quoting on record (to The Huffington Post no less) he gave the notion national attention while sweetening the proposition to include these "home improvements". He's using his bully pulpit to sell "pot for potholes" as he phrased it. But it sounds like a tease more than an outright endorsement. 

And so goes the saga of (what could be) the end of the prohibition of marijuana and the beginning of yet another new revenue to join the other "sin taxes". More money that we hope will be wisely spent. We're basically putting our hope on dope.

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