John Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, rolled out some rather noteworthy facts on Sunday regarding America’s war on weed – the least of which is that Marijuana is little more than “catnip for people.”
In addition to exposing Richard M. Nixon as “the Mozart of racially motivated lawmaking,” Oliver put America’s most duplicitous marijuana laws under the microscope for public dissection. Now a rapidly growing billion-dollar industry, adult-use marijuana sales are perfectly legal in eight states. Despite the medicinal herb’s legal status, Oliver demonstrated how the prejudicial U.S. tax code continually undermines these legitimate businesses.
“Marijuana businesses have all of the tax liabilities of other businesses, but what they don’t get is one major advantage.” The Last Week Tonight host explained, “You can’t deduct certain expenses.” In other words, “the shop where you bought your weed may pay double the amount of taxes as the shop where you bought that sh***y pizza.”
Up from its 1969 low of just 12%, a recent Gallup poll pegged American support for total legalization at 60%. Like one-hit wonders searching for that second hit of fame,“marijuana is something we’ve just all gradually decided is okay, like Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor.”
Bestowing credit on the Obama Administration for our country’s incremental progress, Oliver cited the progressive advancements as a direct result of Obama’s attitude toward weed. “Basically, ‘I’m not going to hassle you over this unless you make me.’”
credit: marijuana.com
