Dear editor:
This letter is in response to the August 20th, 2023 “Letter To The Editor: Don't Californicate Wyoming”
First of all, using the term “Californicate” is not novel nor clever, and borders on the pointlessly obscene.
Second, Wyoming will never be California, or Colorado, or anyplace else but Wyoming despite your irrational fears otherwise.
Finally and regarding the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana issue, I find your example of “16th Street in Denver” to be baseless and arrogantly pejorative.
The “array of losers, dopers, [and] crazies” as you put it is the inevitable result of urbanization, and has nothing to do with marijuana decriminalization. Go to any medium- to large-sized city in the US, and you will find the same regardless of state cannabis laws or politics.
Further, if you believe that any and every adult in Wyoming who desires access to cannabis isn’t already obtaining it from one of the three neighboring legal states, then I have a bridge to sell you. Cannabis is already here and it’s everywhere.
The problem is that – due to its ongoing illegality here – those other states are reaping the tax revenue from hardworking Wyomingites that by all rights should remain in and be used for the benefit of our communities. Millions of dollars lost each year that could be leveraged to improve our roads, parks, schools, policing, water infrastructure, and so many other public goods without the need to raise taxes elsewhere.
Also legalization is a small business job-creator, and something that would help diversify Wyoming’s economy making us less sensitive to the cyclical boom-and-busts of fossil fuel and agriculture commodity markets.
In fact and according to a recent 2020 survey by the University of Wyoming, most Wyomingites now support decriminalization and legalization of cannabis. It is the will of the people, and for that reason alone our legislators should respond accordingly. Let’s stop wasting taxpayer money and law enforcement time arresting decent people for something most of us don’t believe is a crime, and instead make smarter decisions for Wyoming’s future.
Sincerely,
Jordan Benoit-Wylie
Wheatland
