Posted on 11/05/2017 7:37:00 PM PST by BenLurkin
On a retail level, it costs about $35 to buy a small bag of good quality medical marijuana in Los Angeles, enough to roll five or six joints.
But in 2018, when recreational sales take hold and additional taxes kick in, the cost of that same purchase in the new market is expected to increase at the retail counter to $50 or $60.
Medical pot purchases are expected to rise in cost too, but not as steeply, industry experts say.
Or consider cannabis leaves, a sort of bottom-shelf product that comes from trimming prized plant buds. The loose, snipped leaves are typically gathered up and processed for use in cannabis-laced foods, ointments, concentrates and candies. Growers sell a trash bag stuffed with clippings to manufacturers for about $50. But come January, the state will tax those leaves at $44 a pound.
That means the tax payment on a bag holding 7 or 8 pounds would exceed the current market price by five or six times, forcing a huge price hike or, more likely, rendering it essentially valueless.
“All it would become is compost,” predicted Ryan Jennemann of THC Design in Los Angeles, whose company has used the leaves to manufacture concentrated oils.
...
Come January, state taxes will include a 15% levy on purchases of all cannabis and cannabis products, including medical pot.
Local governments are free to slap on taxes on sales and growing too, and that has created a confusing patchwork of rates that vary city to city, county to county.
In the agricultural hub of Salinas, southeast of San Francisco, voters approved a tax that will eventually rise to $25 a square foot for space used to cultivate the leafy plants, a rate that’s equivalent to about $1 million an acre.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
In the 70”s...
It was 10 bucks for 4 fingers.
don’t they realize smoking pot causes global warming?
It is typical of liberal types to do contraband and then say “there should be laws... weed gives lung cancer” etc
“The black market would like to thank greedy politicians”.
The Mexican cartels love it. Stupid Gringos.
I think you’re right. Pretty cheap.
And “No stems, no seeds, bad ass weed”.
A four-finger "lid". Uh, or that's what my friends called it. The ones who smoked pot, that is. Which none of them did, certainly not me. Officer.
i really don’t see the problem: just grow your own or buy at half price from your friendly local neighborhood drug dealer.
In Colorado, the cops have pretty much given up on enforcing most pot laws because they realize that all they’re doing is enforcing the legal monopolies of the licensed stores and that they are no longer enforcing drug laws but simply going after black marketeers.
It’s transferred from other areas like healthcare, education etc (increased costs). I haven’t seen a calculation indicating increased health insurance premiums passed down to non-pot using consumers. It’s hard to get clean data on the results because the pro pot lobby outspends heavily and produces their own favorable reports. How do you put a cost on the fact that Colorado youth have the highest marijuana use rate in the nation? That’s Colorado’s future work force - so the impact of pot legalization has yet to be realized in full.
“Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 154 percent between 2006 and 2014; Colorado emergency room hospital visits that were “likely related” to marijuana increased by 77 percent from 2011 to 2014; and drug-related suspensions/expulsions increased 40 percent from school years 2008/2009 to 2013/2014, according to a September 2015 report by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area, a collaboration of federal, state and local drug enforcement agencies.”
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/08/unpacking-pots-impact-in-colorado/
“Here are the highlights in just three years since legalization:
Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 48 percent.
Over 20 percent of all traffic deaths were marijuana related compared to only 10 percent six years ago.
Marijuana-related emergency department visits increased 49 percent.
Marijuana-related hospitalizations increased 32 percent.
Marijuana-related calls to the Rocky Mountain Poison Center increased 100 percent.
Diversion of Colorado marijuana to other states increased 37 percent by vehicle and 427 percent by parcels.
Colorado youth now rank number one in the nation for marijuana use and 74 percent higher than the national average.
Colorado college-age group now rank number one in the nation for marijuana use and 62 percent higher than the national average.
Colorado adults now rank number one in the nation for marijuana use and 104 percent higher than the national average.”
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/08/31/studies-show-results-of-legal-pot-in-colorado/
Humorously, there are foggy statistics like “Colorado’s drug related crime rate has dropped” and they mean the crime of possessing or selling marijuana or factor it in to overall CO crime rate decreases- you just have to read the fine print! Of course if it’s legal than the crime of possession/selling will drop by “precipitously”!
As I researched, I frequently found stories saying dispensaries in counties which have legalized pot (it’s not statewide) report most business is from tourists (so taxes collected are coming from residents who don’t live in CO) so, in theory if it was federally legalized, the revenue would be much smaller (drastic reduction in tourist tax dollars).
Colorado Marijuana Taxes, License, and Fee Revenue
Calendar Year Total Revenue
2014 $67,594,323
2015 $130,411,173
2016 $193,604,810
2017 (Jan-Sep) $181,981,627
Updated October 2017
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data
I just checked the proposed CO budget for 2017 and it’s $28.5 Billion. So if 2017 marijuana fees and taxes is around $200,000 million, it constitutes a contribution of .007% to the state budget and an unknown exchange in healthcare/crime/social/educational costs.
None of which has anything to do with your claim that:
“They’ll just buy it on the black market for cheap. In the meantime, Marijuana legalization will provide cover for black market sales.”
The numbers refute that contention.
It has to do with my statement that the full impact of legalization have not yet been realized in full. Note the new “sticker shock” in the OP will reduce legal sales and balloon the black market so tax/fee revenue will go even smaller than .007% of current state budget.
You said nothing about that in the post I was replying to, which was your only post on the thread at the time. You threw that other stuff in later.
As for sticker shock, CA’s proposed taxes are not drastically out of line with other states. It is nonsense to say that legal sales will ballon the black market. Without legalization it’s all black market. Even with onerous taxes, some amount will be collected, which does not go the b.m.
“Legalize it and then TAX THE HELL OUT OF IT!” LOL.
“I don’t know what “a small bag” amounts to”
Enough to roll five or six joints.
“I don’t know what “a small bag” amounts to”
Enough to roll five or six joints.
From my original post, first paragraph, last sentence:
“That’s Colorado’s future work force - so the impact of pot legalization has yet to be realized in full.”
Much of my original post was responding to your assertion re “hundreds of millions in revenue to WA and CO.”
I demonstrated in my response that the revenue was offset by other costs. My second post I underscored the negligible “benefit” of revenues.
Bringing back black market dope. Raise the price of legal weed high enough that it becomes profitable to smuggle it and grow it illicitly.
Back in the 60s forty bucks might buy half a pound.
CA’s going to tax themselves right out of the weed business.
“From my original post, first paragraph, last sentence:
“That’s Colorado’s future work force - so the impact of pot legalization has yet to be realized in full.””
_______
That was not your original post. Here is your original post (the one I responded to) in its entirety =>
“They’ll just buy it on the black market for cheap. In the meantime, Marijuana legalization will provide cover for black market sales.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3602041/posts?page=17#17
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