Now here’s a plan to deal with the rising cost of college. Make the pot smokers pay.

Jesse Paul reports at the Denver Post.

Pueblo County commissioner seeks marijuana tax-funded college scholarships

A Pueblo County commissioner is proposing a ballot measure for a program to fund college scholarships through a marijuana excise tax.

Commissioner Sal Pace says he hopes the new measure will “give Pueblo kids a boost” and help fight college debt. The county commission is set to vote at their Monday meeting on whether or not the proposal will be placed on November election ballots.

“The excise tax would be levied when marijuana is transferred from cultivation to a store,” Pace’s office said in a news release Wednesday. “Pueblo County’s perfect economic and weather conditions have created a boom of recreational cultivations without yet generating a tax on these grows.”

Beginning in 2017, graduating seniors from all high schools in Pueblo who attend a public college or university in Pueblo County will be eligible for scholarships from the proposed program, the release said.

“Every kid deserves an opportunity to succeed,” Pace said in a statement. “Pueblo County has potential new tax revenue from a new marijuana industry that can benefit the kids of Pueblo.”

The ballot measure would propose a 5 percent excise tax on recreational marijuana grows from Pueblo County. It asks that on an annual basis, no less than 50 percent of the tax’s revenue be designated for scholarships.