これから奨学生となる学生は、大喜びだ。
コロラド州のプエブロ郡政委員会は2月13日、世界初の大麻資金による奨学金を承認した。
約47万5000ドル（約5400万円）の調達資金は、2017年秋からプエブロ・コミュニティ・カレッジ（PCC）とコロラド州立大学（CSU）プエブロ校に入学を希望するプエブロ郡の高校生を対象に提供される。
その資金のうち、約42万5000ドル(約4865万)は、大麻販売の消費税収入から拠出される。その消費税は、プエブロ郡で栽培されたすべての大麻に課せられる郡の税金だ。残りの4万9664ドル（約568万円）は、州政府が運営する奨学金プログラムから補充される。
奨学金の条件を満たしているプエブロ郡の高校の卒業生全員に、2017年は約1000ドル（約11万円）の支給が見込まれ、能力と必要に応じてさらに多くの援助が与えられる。PCCの州内出身者用学費は年間3000ドル(約3４万円)、CSUプエブロ校では、取った履修単位時間数にもよるが、年間で最大約6000ドル（約68万円）になる。
サル・ペース郡政委員は地元テレビ局「KKTV」に、「お金がコミュニティの利益になるために役立つのを見られてとてもうれしい」と語った。
「2〜3年前だったら、闇市場や麻薬カルテルに流れていったはずのお金です。今では麻薬カルテルの資金だったお金が、大学の奨学金の資金として使われています」と、ペース郡政委員は語った。
大麻プラントは、プエブロ郡にある36エーカーの農地で栽培されている。この農地は、地元農場「ロス・スエノス・ファームズ」がリースした、認可された小売大麻栽培所だ。
プエブロ郡の消費税は、栽培者が小売業者に販売する大麻に対して2％の税金を課す。この消費税は、5％を限度に毎年1％ずつ上がる予定になっており、少なくとも税収の半分はプエブロ郡奨学金基金に割り当てられる。
大麻栽培の売上と課税率の両方が上がるにつれて、奨学金基金も今後数年間で増加すると見込まれている。
「毎年消費税が上がるので、奨学金基金も毎年増えていきます。また、2017年に多くの新しい農場が稼働することも期待しています。2016年には、認可された農場の約半数しか稼働していませんでした」と、ペース郡政委員はハフィントンポストUS版に語った。
プエブロ郡の広報担当者はハフィントンポストUS版に、「学生たちが大学の授業料を払えるよう支援するための方法を新たに見つけることが、このコミュニティにとって重要なんです」と述べた。
「このコミュニティに長期的なビジネスチャンスをもたらすため、若者のために大学の授業料が手の届くものにすることは非常に重要です。大勢の子どもたちが大学に行く金銭的余裕がありません。しかしこのプログラムがあれば、大麻税から収入を得て、それを使ってプエブロ郡のより明るい未来のために備えることができます」
ハフィントンポストUS版より翻訳・加筆しました。
▼画像集が開きます
大麻使用経験のある有名人
50: Snoop Lion(01 of49)
“It makes me feel the way I need to feel.” (credit:Koen van Weel/AFP/Getty Images)
49: Rick Steves(02 of49)
\"I have used cannabis all over the world.\" (credit:AP)
48: Oliver Stone(03 of49)
“I went to Vietnam, and I was there for a long time. [Using marijuana] made the difference between staying human or, as Michael Douglas said, becoming a beast.” (credit:YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)
47: Rihanna(04 of49)
\"Kush rolled, glass full... I prefer the better things!\" (credit:VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
46: Hugh Hefner(05 of49)
“Smoking helped put me in touch with the realm of the senses.” (credit:Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Playboy)
45: Miley Cyrus(06 of49)
\"You know you\'re a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake.\" (credit:AP Photo/MTV, John Shearer)
43: Robert Downey Jr(07 of49)
“Robert Downey Jr. said he started smoking weed at age 8.” (credit:Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, file)
42: Madonna(08 of49)
\"It [my behavior on the show in 1994] wasn\'t because I was excited about you [David Letterman]. I think it may have had something to do with the joint I smoked before I came on.\" (credit:AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
41: Johnny Depp(09 of49)
\"I\'m not a great pothead or anything like that… but weed is much, much less dangerous than alcohol.\" (credit:AP)
40: Phil Jackson(10 of49)
In 1975 he wrote “Maverick,” a memoir about his days playing in the NBA. Among other things, Jackson spoke frankly about marijuana use. -- Salon (credit:Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
39: Sarah Palin(11 of49)
\"I can\'t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled.” (credit:AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
38: Justin Bieber(12 of49)
\"Bieber both confirmed that he\'d been caught smoking weed and apologized for it.\" -- Huffington Post (credit:AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
37: Maya Angelou(13 of49)
“Angelou settled into a job as a waitress and began smoking marijuana with abandon.” (credit:AP Photo/Nell Redmond, file)
36: Lincoln Chafee(14 of49)
\"In 1999, then-Warwick Mayor Lincoln D. Chafee won accolades for his honesty in acknowledging he used marijuana and cocaine as a 1970s student at Brown University.\" (credit:AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith)
35: Matt Damon(15 of49)
“The first time I smoked was at home with my mother and step-father.” (credit:AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File))
34: Conan O'Brien(16 of49)
“I’ve tried pot, but it doesn’t do much for me.” (credit:Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
33: Susan Sarandon(17 of49)
\"Cocaine didn\'t interest me. Not at all. I\'m way way back in the early pot…\" (credit:Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
32: Andrew Sullivan(18 of49)
\"The blogger and commentator Andrew Sullivan was busted in July for possessing a small amount of marijuana within the Cape Cod National Seashore.\" (credit:Peter Kramer/Getty Images for TFF))
31: John Hickenlooper(19 of49)
\"As I\'ve already been open about in the past -- and as I assume many would expect -- I made personal choices when I was younger that I neither support nor condone for others and certainly wouldn\'t encourage through public policy.\" (credit:David Cannon/Getty Images)
30: Seth MacFarlane(20 of49)
\"I don\'t smoke much pot anymore.\" (credit:AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
29: Martha Stewart(21 of49)
\"Of course I know how to roll a joint.\" (credit:Getty Images)
28: Angelina Jolie(22 of49)
“… the one that has the worst effect for me was pot. I felt silly and giggly - I hate feeling like that.” (credit:TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
27: Morgan Freeman(23 of49)
\"Never give up the ganja.\" (credit:Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for AFI)
26: David Letterman(24 of49)
“I went through one period when I smoked a surprising, a really breath-taking, amount of grass almost every night.” (credit:AP Photo/CBS, John Paul Filo)
25: Jennifer Aniston(25 of49)
“I enjoy it once in a while. There is nothing wrong with that. Everything in moderation. I wouldn\'t call myself a pot-head.” (credit: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP)
24: Michael Phelps(26 of49)
“[Phelps] firmly denies that he takes drugs, suggesting that the notorious photo of him smoking from a bong was a one-time lapse of judgment.” (credit:Al Bello/Getty Images)
23: Tom Brokaw(27 of49)
“…what I did was experiment with a little marijuana like a lot of other people and walked away…” (credit:Kris Connor/Getty Images)
22: Ted Turner(28 of49)
\"CNN anchor Gwen Scott claimed it is common knowledge that Turner sits in his office and smokes marijuana.\" (credit:Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
21: Brad Pitt(29 of49)
“I was hiding out from the celebrity thing, I was smoking way too much [marijuana].” (credit:Todd Williamson/Invision for Fox Searchlight/AP Images)
20: Lady Gaga(30 of49)
\"I smoke a lot of pot when I write music.\" (credit:D Dipasupil/Getty Images for The Daily Front Row)
19: Michael Bloomberg(31 of49)
\"You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.\'\' (credit:Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
18: George Clooney(32 of49)
“The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there.” (credit:AP Photo/David Azia)
17: Rush Limbaugh(33 of49)
Rush Limbaugh admits that he used cannabis during his recovery from opiate addiction and says that the legalization of marijuana is \"a great issue\" for the GOP. (credit:AP Photo/Chris Carlson, file)
16: LeBron James(34 of49)
“James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.” (credit:AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
15: Sanjay Gupta(35 of49)
\"I have tried it.\" (credit:Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
14: Rand Paul(36 of49)
\"According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, \"He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They\'d been smoking pot.\" (credit:AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
13: Andrew Cuomo(37 of49)
\"I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth.\" (credit:Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
12: George W. Bush(38 of49)
\"I wouldn\'t answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don\'t want some little kid doing what I tried.\" (credit:AP Photo/LM Otero)
11: Bill Gates(39 of49)
“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice…” (credit:AP Photo / Jonathan Brady)
10: Bill Maher(40 of49)
\"Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana... About 50,000 times.\" (credit:AP Photo/HBO, Janet Van Ham)
9: George Soros(41 of49)
\"He said he had tried marijuana, enjoyed it, \'but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years.\'\" (credit:ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)
8: John Kerry(42 of49)
\"Yes.\" [In response to the question: \"Which of you are ready to admit to having used marijuana in the past?\"] (credit:AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
7: Jay Z(43 of49)
\"I smoked some weed, and that’s how I finished ‘Izzo.’\" (credit:Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
6: Jon Stewart(44 of49)
“Do you know how many movies I wrote when I was high?” (credit:Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
5: Stephen Colbert(45 of49)
\"First, [in high school], I smoked a lot of pot...and that’s how I got to know the people ‘half in’ the society of my high school and we waved at each other over the bong. Then I got to know people by making jokes.” (credit:AP Photo/Comedy Central, Scott Gries)
4: Clarence Thomas(46 of49)
\"The White House said today that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush\'s Supreme Court nominee, had smoked marijuana while in college.\" (credit:AP Photo/Tribune Review, Sidney Davis)
3: Bill Clinton(47 of49)
\"I experimented with marijuana a time or two.\" (credit:STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
2: Oprah Winfrey(48 of49)
\"To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked marijuana. \'Uh … 1982,\' Winfrey replied. \'Let\'s hang out after the show,\' Cohen joked. \'Okay,\' Winfrey laughed. \'I hear it\'s gotten better.\'\" (credit:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
1: Barack Obama(49 of49)
\"When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point.\" (credit:Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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