2024's predicted cannabis sales will be in excess of $31 BILLION dollars. That's pretty high! More than triple from just 2019. America must stay high! David Craig, chief marketing officer of Missouri licensed cannabis producer Illicit Gardens, said “It should be clear by now that cannabis isn’t going anywhere.” “If the federal government is going to drag its feet on descheduling, then it’s up for the states to take the lead in removing regulatory hurdles to operators, especially multi-state ones,” Craig wrote in an email. “What most outside the industry don’t realize is the extreme burden operating without uniform standards across legal states.”
That's amazing! Glad to see legalization taking hold. Gray/black market sales are likely several times that!
Supply has far exceeded demand where I am. As a result, prices keep dropping lower and lower. Bad news for dispensary owners, great news for us potheads
People have literally been moving to a new state, just to smoke pot. Covid encouraged them to smoke more, and the only legal alternative is alcohol, so it might be interesting if those interested in such things, kept a running tally of how many people die from alcohol, as the number of pot smokers increases.
N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy wants to hike a special tax on cannabis from $2.50 to $15 an ounce to fund social service and violence intervention programs with tens of millions of dollars in new revenue. Murphy’s plan comes about two months after the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission hiked the tax from $1.24 to $2.50 an ounce in December. The tax, known as the social equity excise fee, is paid by cannabis cultivators. The money goes to a dedicated fund for social equity programs and investing in communities hurt by marijuana prohibition, and another portion is allocated to programs to divert youth from cannabis. As of August 2024, the tax has brought in more than $6 million, which is all sitting unspent, according to the cannabis agency. That money must be allocated by the Legislature and governor under the state’s cannabis legalization law. As part of his budget plan, Murphy also wants the tax to apply to intoxicating hemp products — a legal product that contains chemicals like delta-8 and delta-10, which can give intoxicating effects similar to THC in weed. Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), a supporter of legal cannabis, said he is not supportive of raising the tax right now. Scutari noted that it’s cheaper to buy weed illegally than it is to buy it from a legal dispensary (New Jersey has some of the highest cannabis prices in the nation). He said he wants more people visiting dispensaries, and increasing cannabis taxes isn’t the way to do that. “I don’t want to see our taxes for that product go up, which it already can’t compete with the gray market, the black market product,” he said. “That would be difficult right now.”
New Jersey could make possessing cannabis a crime again under new legislation advanced by the leaders of the state Senate that would target those who buy weed from those who are not licensed by the state. The measure would carry penalties of up to six months in jail. The move is led by the original architect of the law that legalized cannabis, Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union. It is co-sponsored by the Senate’s Republican leader, Anthony Bucco, R-Morris. “We have a legalized regulated market for a reason,” Scutari said during an interview Tuesday, saying consumers can buy weed in dispensaries across the state. New Jersey has more than 120 dispensaries, but only 30% of the towns allow them. It is already illegal to sell cannabis without a license, but people are allowed to possess up to six ounces of weed. The bill (S4154) would make it a disorderly persons offense for consumers to buy weed that is not licensed by the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission. It states that this offense carries punishment of up to six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000.
Look to California to see how legalization has screwed the small growers, and made some corporations even richer. Tax revenues were predicted to be astronomical, in fact, after adding in the costs of enforcement police, there is a tiny amount of the revenues anticipated in reality. Higher taxes (or tariffs) squelch sales. Maybe Trump will figure that out.
