Flatlanders of Illinois shouldn’t rush to get a Rocky Mountain high

Well, they’ll stone you when you run to be the guv

They’ll stone you when you need some fiscal love

They’ll stone you when your eye it has a pain

They’ll stone you when your state goes down the drain

But I would not feel so all alone

If everybody didn’t want to get stoned.

Apologies to Bob Dylan, but is marijuana really a cure-all? Do the Democrats who want to be governor see the downside to fixing Illinois’ fiscal mess by additionally sedating the state’s populace?

They are spinning this issue like spiders on ganja. It is crazy to tell voters that social costs will be small while revenue will be huge.

“We also support legalizing small amounts of marijuana, which could bring in a few billions of dollars,” Democratic candidate Tio Hardiman told the Sun-Times.

He’s blowing smoke. Billions in taxes only come with bales of pot.

Republicans see a problem.

Incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner said Illinois should wait and see the impacts in Colorado and California, allowing them to experiment on their people, especially their youth, before we subject ours to recreational marijuana use.

His March 20 primary opponent, state Rep. Jeanne Ives, said impacts are already evident — literally. She cited the 48 percent boost in Colorado’s marijuana-related traffic deaths and boost in youth use of the drug.

Not to mention, until the U.S. Congress changes federal law on marijuana, no state should be in the business of making it legal.

It is one thing to decide the priority we place and resources we use on crimes related to marijuana. It is another to be so irresponsible, undisciplined and unimaginative about your state’s fiscal salvation that the only path you can see is taxation and proliferation of weed, especially without knowing how many lives you will lose or ruin.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Flatlanders of Illinois shouldn’t rush to get a Rocky Mountain high."