The distribution of recreational marijuana became legal for the state of Washington on July 7 when many retail shop owners in the state received an electronic license to sell “just-for-fun cannabis.”

Only 80 distributors out of the 2,600 applicants have been approved by Washington’s Liquor Control Board because not all of the distributors have gone through the required lab testing. This leaves a large demand for pot, but not enough to go around.

While the retail for pot has helped Colorado tremendously in tax revenue, the retailers could sell out in only a couple of days because of a lack of retailers in Washington. While the prices to buy marijuana from the shops will be high anyway, after markup and a significant tax on the product, customers are looking to pay $15 to $30 per gram. With prices like that, it is suggested that regular users will be sticking to their dealers until markup decreases.

Both Colorado and Washington have ended the prohibition of marijuana, and other states should consider taking up the same idea. By legalizing marijuana, the illegal distribution of pot would ideally decrease and the state would begin to rake in tax revenue on the product because of the huge demand for marijuana.

When Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, flight searches to Denver went up 6.3 percent and the demand for marijuana in the state went up 14 percent. Colorado sold more than $5 million worth of marijuana in the first week, all of which was taxed.

Iowa is missing out on an opportunity to help gain tax revenue for the state. There is a demand for marijuana in every state in the United States and Iowa is missing out on millions of dollars by refusing to sell marijuana or even make medical marijuana legal.

When it comes to buying cannabis, people have a couple of options. In Iowa, they could illegally grow it themselves with the chance of being charged and arrested, they could smuggle it over state lines with the chance of being charged and arrested or they could purchase it from a local dealer, again with the chance of being charged and arrested.

Wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to purchase cannabis from local shops without having to worry about going to jail? Not to mention the fact that purchasing from a shop means that the money is going back into our economy and the tax on it will be able to help local schools and businesses.

People who want to smoke pot are going to do it whether people like it or not. Whether or not it is legal is up to our government leaders. Consider the pros and cons and let your state leaders know how you feel about the legalization of marijuana. Tell your governor that if people are going to be smoking pot in this state, we might as well make money off of it.

Who knows? In the next few years, we may be able to thank our local potheads for helping fund our children’s education.