Colorado raises $150 million from marijuana. Will more states legalize?

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Colorado has brought in more than $150 million in marijuana tax revenue, according to official state data.

That doesn't make it a budgetary panacea, warn lawmakers. 

"The big lesson we tell other states is you probably shouldn't legalize marijuana if you want to make money – that's not why you do it," said J. Skyler McKinley, deputy director of the governor's Office of Marijuana Coordination, to the Huffington Post. "You do it because you think that a regulated marketplace might be safer than an unregulated marketplace, or you believe that the war on drugs didn't work."

A representative from Washington – which has raised about $83 million in taxes since becoming the second state to legalize marijuana sales – agreed.

"The legalization initiative was not driven by a desire for a revenue, but it has provided a small assist for our state budget," said Jaime Smith, deputy communications director for Washington Gov....

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