Posted on 12/27/2018 2:38:53 PM PST by Mariner
When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses, making the drug easily available to all adults within a short drive.
But as the first year of licensed sales comes to a close, California’s legal market hasn’t performed as state officials and the cannabis industry had hoped. Retailers and growers say they’ve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes and decisions by most cities to ban cannabis shops. At the same time, many residents are going to city halls and courts to fight pot businesses they see as nuisances, and police chiefs are raising concerns about crime triggered by the marijuana trade.
Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who played a large role in the legalization of cannabis, will inherit the numerous challenges when he takes office in January as legislators hope to send him a raft of bills next year to provide banking for the pot industry, ease the tax burden on retailers and crack down on sales to minors.
“The cannabis industry is being choked by California’s penchant for over-regulation,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a pro-legalization group. “It’s impossible to solve all of the problems without a drastic rewrite of the law, which is not in the cards for the foreseeable future.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
In looking up how many grams were in a lid, I learned that a lid was named for the amount of grass you could scoop up with the lid of a Hellman’s Mayonnaise jar. This, naturally enough, originated in San Francisco.
Sounds right. ‘My day’ was in the mid-sixties.
I know someone in CA that explained that to me recently - he knows a guy that has been a dealer for years and his business has not been impacted by legalization.
Proof that CA is so virulently anti-business that they could take something like a guaranteed money-maker like legalizing pot and manage to screw even that up.
I remember the term well, thanks for the history lesson.
Can it be that there are fewer lowlifes in California than previously thought? Or is Milton Friedman again proven the man. Whenever government regulates and taxes any industry, it slows down, never gets off the ground or collapses.
I suppose so. But the deregulation of the airline industry saw borderline carriers go out of business.
I’d put my money on Milton!
It just shows I never bought any, legal or illegally. LOL
SOOOO—California is going to DEMAND that banks violate FEDERAL drug laws by forcing them to bank pot money?
That is going to be interesting.
“...... named for the amount of grass you could scoop up with the lid of a Hellman’s Mayonnaise jar.”
Hellman’s isn’t sold in California. Here it is called “Best Foods.”
I love the getting high on cat pee(Heavy Metal), and the WoW episode.
The “progressives” always envision that things like legalized pot will yield a bonanza in higher tax revenues. Then they spend the money. Then the expected tax revenues never materialize. Happens every time.
It also may have been named for the capacity of a tin of Prince Albert tobacco.
Why not? Federal laws on immigration are violated routinely, too.
California, such is the life of a drug dealer. Bonus, increased traffic fatalities and more drug related psychosis in the state!
And formerly nice family neighborhoods that smell like the inside of a skunk’s bowels at various times of the day.
Are you missing that people are allowed to grow six plants in their backyards?
“So potheads weren’t as smart as they thought they were. Imagine that.”
This only affects those in the business. The consumer can buy top quality pot at a very reasonable price with no legal consequences.
It’s a buyer’s market.
Our town soaked two companies for a cool $100k each to open a medical marijuana dispensary. Mind you, the only sales which will be permitted are to those who have a medical marijuana card issued by the appropriate county. My county, there’ 12 cards total issued, in the neighboring county, they’re now up to 15 cards issued. That’s 27 customers to supposedly keep two dispensaries open and profitable.
Since one of the companies didn’t meet paperwork deadlines (and just copy and pasted from other applications), they’ve had their $100k permit revoked, with the city keeping the fee (since it was an application fee, not a permit fee...)
The other is steadily working towards completion. I think they were counting on traffic from another county to the north to keep prospects alive, but since the closest city there just approved licensing retail stores (up to 3), that is a hope that’s just going to fade away.
Meanwhile, dozens of companies continue to illegally distribute via delivery, none of which are licensed as required in the county, to the point they even have advertising billboards up.
I’ve the feeling that the remaining dispensary will open their doors, find no one there, then go whine to the city that they need to do retail sales to survive. And odds are they’ll bring their lawyers with them to ensure compliance with threat of lawsuit if they decline.
Ahh, the fun of the pot game. (Meanwhile, there’s still hundreds of medium scale pot grows in the county; it’s harder to buy liquor after 7pm than to buy pot.)
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