The Destructive Wake of Marijuana Legalization: The Reality for One Colorado City
- Dr. Wes Moore
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- Mar 16
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 12
Julie Wernau of the Wall Street Journal recently published an article on the condition of Pueblo, Colorado, 10 years after the state legalized recreational marijuana use.[1]
The article details the disastrous long-term consequences of this legislation for families, businesses, schools, and the community at large.
In the paragraphs that follow, I will summarize some of the article’s key points and draw some lessons for those who would consider legalizing moral evil such as recreational marijuana in the future.
You can access Wernau’s full article here. (Note: This is a pay site, so you may not be able to view it without a subscription.)
Early Expectations and Impressive Results
Wernau begins by describing the positive expectations of residents and politicians to the potential boon marijuana sales could bring. New businesses, jobs, tax revenue, schools—all of these and more would be theirs when “marijuana lovers from around the country” poured into their community.
Those hopes were confirmed when, in the first month, the first two retail marijuana shops brought in $1 million, along with nearly $60,000 in tax revenue. Within a few years, there were more than 200 marijuana-related businesses producing jobs and income for the city. It seemed the plan was working to perfection.
But by year 10, those hopes had been dashed.
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The Situation Today
By 2023, total marijuana-related businesses in the city had dropped from 200 to 45 and tax revenue had fallen more than 32% in the prior two years. This decline occurred in spite of the fact that Pueblo lead the U.S. in daily marijuana use by 35- to 50-year-olds. The results statewide fared much the same. Marijuana jobs fell by 28% in 2023 and 16% in 2024.
So, what happened?
Several factors combined to shatter the marijuana panacea, including punitive tax rates (between 30-50% depending on locality), increased supply from new legal growers, and competition from the black market, primarily drug cartels.
On this final factor, Wernau reports that illicit producers account for nearly 70% of marijuana sales in the U.S., even after nearly half the states have legalized it.
The Social Cost to the Community
It wasn’t just the economy that was impacted by marijuana legalization, though. Its negative effects spilled over into the community, as well.
Many people moved to Pueblo so they could smoke weed whenever they wanted. The problem is that these kinds of people don’t make for good employees. Because marijuana impairs performance, they did not qualify for many of the jobs available in the area.
Moreover, as Wernau points out, drug use has made “many of them unreliable.”
The result was an influx of weed addicts who congregated in large homeless camps in the city. Wernau had this to say about the situation:
In November, the city gave notice to some 500 people living outdoors along the railroad tracks and the Arkansas River basin. “Their primary motivation for moving to Colorado was directly for marijuana,” said Pueblo City Police Corporal Ryan Masterson. “They never left.”
Marijuana legalization brought other harmful effects, too, including the following:
Increased criminal activity from cartels and gangs
Chronic use among high school students, resulting in delinquency, violence, and suicide
Medical emergencies related to marijuana use, including psychosis
Wernau closes the article with a quote from the president of the Pueblo Economic
Development Corporation about what business leaders wish they could do now that they have experienced the destruction of marijuana legalization:
The business community would say, "I wish we could un-ring that bell." But we can’t. It just came with so many issues.
Lessons from Pueblo’s Experience
Pueblo serves as an excellent case study on what the legalization of moral evil, like marijuana, actually does to an economy and community. Consider four takeaways:
It DOES NOT reduce use. When something is illegal, many people simply will not try it. When something is made legal, it becomes legitimized in the culture, and people who would never have done it before begin to engage in it.
It DOES NOT lessen the pervasiveness or influence of bad actors, like gangs and cartels. Because there were more customers, and because government taxes were so high, cartel-provided marijuana became more powerful than ever, and gangs, the typical distribution arm of illicit drugs, expanded.
It DOES NOT produce long-term increased tax revenue. The market power of illicit providers combined with high tax rates means top line tax revenue will falter over time. And, when spillover costs like hospitalization, police, homelessness, and unemployment are factored in, total costs can far exceed taxes collected.
It DOES NOT make lives better. Addicted high schoolers, failed businesses, homelessness, unemployment—the list of destruction that comes from moral evils like marijuana is much longer and far reaching than most people realize.
What this means for future illicit products and services
Efforts are underway all over the country to legalize not only recreational marijuana but also psychedelics (psilocybin, MDMA, LSD), hard drugs (heroin, methamphetamine), and prostitution.
(Learn more about psychedelics like Magic Mushrooms in this video; learn about efforts to legalize prostitution in this article.)
What insight does Pueblo’s experience provide for these?
Use will increase. Legalizing other drugs means more addicts; legalizing prostitution means more women offering their bodies to the lusts of men.
Bad actors will follow. Gangs and cartels don’t just engage in one type of illicit activity. They diversify their businesses, and drugs, gambling, and prostitution are their stock in trade. Where they offer one, they will offer the rest.
Costs will exceed revenue. Any initial bump in tax revenue will be quickly eroded by market forces and the costs of cleaning up the mess these illicit activities create.
Individuals and families will be destroyed. No one’s life is made better by marijuana, LSD, meth, or prostitution. The only thing that can come from these is disaster for everyone involved.
How should we respond to calls for legalization?
Pueblo’s experience is not surprising. It is the inevitable outcome of wickedness. Sin always produces economic, physical, and emotional death. However, having seen the hard data this city’s experience provided, we should be even more emboldened to shout down and defeat anyone who wants to destroy our children, families, communities, and economies through the legalization of moral evil.
Notes:
[1] Julie Wernau, “The Rise and Fall of the ‘Napa Valley of Cannabis,” The Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2025. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/marijuana-weed-economy-colorado-pueblo-a8b89091?mod=hp_lead_pos7
