Recreational Marijuana Is Now A Business. Nine states have legalized the production and consumption of recreational marijuana, though retail stores are off to a slow start in Massachusetts. A former Methodist church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, could soon become home to a marijuana retail shop. buy recreational marijuana online
“High-minded,” the fourth such store to apply for a license in the town, chose the church for its “discrete location” away from schools, says Alexander Farnsworth, the prospective co-owner. He and Adam Lippies may open one of the first stores in the state; retail establishments for recreational marijuana have been legal since July 1 but none exists yet. marijuana for sale online.
Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older, and the law officially went into effect on Dec. 15, 2016, allowing for stores as of July. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has approved five provisional licenses thus far, and those applicants need to meet several other conditions before being allowed to begin adult-use operations, according to the commission. weed for sale in USA.
In addition to the Bay State, eight others – Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana. (By comparison, 30 states plus D.C. have legalized medical marijuana.)
States that have legalized recreational marijuana hope it leads to jobs and tax revenues. Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in November 2012, reported $247,368,473 in tax revenues from marijuana sales for the year 2017. For Massachusetts, the state legislature expects tax revenues to reach $63 million annually. Because retail sales have yet to begin, that figure is unrealistic, says the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) could not be reached for comment.
This money could be used as a serious investment in communities, says Justin Strekal, political director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, an advocacy group devoted to the legalization of recreational marijuana. “We’ve seen that it has generated over a billion dollars in tax revenue over the last few years, and just this year we saw the largest ever amount of money being allocated for new school construction (in Colorado). A significant amount of that allocated money was from the taxes generated from the sale of marijuana.”Lessons Learned From Legal PotAn expert on the ever-evolving cannabis market discusses hurdles the industry has faced and offers advice for novice consumers.Joseph P. WilliamsJune 15, 2018
According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, $40 million from the retail marijuana excise tax has been distributed to the Marijuana Cash Fund Program, which works to fund capital construction projects for public schools, and the rest was transferred to the state’s public school fund. “The marijuana license division is fully paid for by the licenses fees and the rest of the tax and fee revenues are dedicated to unintended consequences of legalization, such as public health campaigns,” says Shannon Gray, marijuana communications specialist for the Colorado Department of Revenue.
In addition to the tax revenue, Colorado has seen an influx of jobs from the recreational marijuana industry. According to Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office, as of July, there are 40,334 active occupational licenses for the industry. For calendar year 2017, the occupational license renewal rate was 32 percent, which, according to Gray, is “probably a closer estimate of the amount of individuals actually employed in the industry.“
Jobs in the marijuana industry fall into three categories: owner; key employee, who is necessary to make operational and management decisions, such as a grower or store manager; and support employee, who works within the business but does not make operational decisions, such as a “budtender,” who sells the marijuana products. “There are more jobs in marijuana than there are in the coal industry,” NORML’s Strekal says.
Back in Great Barrington, leaders think those jobs will help the local area: “From an economic point of view, legalizing marijuana will be extremely beneficial for the town,” says Ed Abrahams, vice-chairman of the Great Barrington Select Board. “We already have four or five businesses that have told us they will employ locals. If these were toy stores, that would be the end of it, but because they are not toy stores, we also get a 6 percent tax on their revenues, which will be very beneficial for Great Barrington.“
A cannabis plant greets job seekers as they sign in at CannaSearch, Colorado’s first cannabis job fair, on March 13, 2014, in Denver.(DOUG PENSINGER/GETTY IMAGES)
But others are skeptical of the potential economic benefits. “The marijuana industry is going to cost many more jobs than it creates,” says Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), a nonpartisan interest group opposed to the legalization of recreational marijuana. “First of all, there are multiple jobs that require drug tests, and there is going to be a huge issue of people not being able to pass them. It is going to hurt the poor the most, who are more often required to pass drug tests.“
Sabet also worries that any economic benefits will be undermined by the social costs of legalization. “Before talking about funding things (with taxes from marijuana sales), let’s first talk about the cost of legalization, impaired driving costs, mental illness, school dropouts, accidents in the workplace, just to name a few.”
But some point to the potential social benefits. Legalizing recreational marijuana will decrease imprisonment rates for minor offenses, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) says. “For decades, the failed War on Drugs has locked up millions of nonviolent drug offenders — especially for marijuana-related offenses — at an incredible cost of lost human potential, torn-apart families and communities, and taxpayer dollars,” he wrote in a Facebook post last summer. Booker has been vocal about legalizing recreational marijuana and has received support for his Marijuana Justice Act, which would rescind federal marijuana laws and let states decide whether to legalize the drug, from several Democratic senators and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).First Marijuana-Based CBD for EpilepsyEpidiolex will be used to treat patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome.Elaine Wyllie and Ajay Gupta, M.D. July 3, 2018
At the federal level, legislators want the freedom to implement their own policies regarding marijuana legalization in their states. “We are trying to take care of business in Massachusetts, in Colorado. We are trying to respect the voters of our states that said this is how we want to do business around marijuana … and we just want the federal government to get out of the way and let them do it,” said Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren at a press conference earlier this year about the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, a bill that would protect states that legalize marijuana, which she co-sponsored with Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).
Among the licensing policies in Massachusetts, to make sure that no one under 21 gets marijuana products in the stores, recreational marijuana stores in the state are required to have an extensive ID checking procedure as well as a double camera system covering the entire store at all times. “I am not expecting negative consequences from legalizing marijuana, because the state will closely monitor it,” Abrahams says.
In addition to a 6.25 percent state sales tax and a state “impact fee” that will be collected in the form of a 10.75 percent excise tax, local jurisdictions are allowed to add their own regulations to the commercialization of recreational marijuana. The town of Great Barrington decided to levy an additional 3 percent tax and requires recreational-marijuana shop owners to make a $10,000 donation to a local nonprofit dedicated to educating the population on marijuana. The Cannabis Control Commission recently asked local officials of several towns in Massachusetts to tone down their regulations, in order to not slow down the process and discourage marijuana retailers.
But the process already seems to be slow at the state level, says Farnsworth, who plans to open the “Highminded” store. “The state application (for a license) is pretty intensive in terms of background checks and checking financials and verifying sources of income,” he says. “I think that a lot of people will be weeded out at the state level.”
Play VideoPauseUnmuteLoaded: 54.60%Current Time 0:21/Duration 1:28Corrected on Aug. 9, 2018: This story has been updated to clarify the requirements for applicants of recreational marijuana establishment licenses in Massachusetts.
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