This week California Governor Gavin Newsom and his administration presented the 2020-21 budget proposal. With a budget of 222 billion dollars, the governor proposed plans to fund renewable energy technology, steps to take in the fight against the homelessness epidemic and a statewide ban on the movie Cats due to increasing reports of traumatization.
Governor Newsom then got to his plans to help the marijuana industry run “smoother and safer” His words, not mine. While he proposed things like raising taxes, somehow lowering taxes, and using taxes to fund other state programs and shit like that, his most notable proposal is the plan to create one agency that’s going to take care of cannabis licensing and enforcement: The Department. of Cannabis Control. The current system we use relies on 3 different agencies; Bureau of Cannabis Control, Department of Food and Agriculture, and Department of Public Health.
Governor Newsom’s proposal for one agency will not only make it easier for people to get licenses but also make it easier for people to renew their licenses.
That was a major problem for farmers in the past few years, the states’ system of renewing is so fucking slow. The way I imagine it is that the regulators basically took the wild 1000 mg edible, looked at all the licenses and said: ” fuck this shit, Imma go watch The Office”. The state’s plan of giving out temporary licenses for farmers awaiting their provisional and permanent licenses backfired on them. They were handing them out quickly and with no regard for what may happen. They are straight-up ripping a page out of America’s playbook on air strikes. Almost 6,700 licenses expired in November of 2019. The state also suspended about 385 licenses for not switching to the METRC, a track and trace system that follows each and every newborn ounce from birth to adoption. I’m hoping that the regulators really understand why the black market is so big. The legal market’s overly-complicated application process, slow ass renewal process, and tax gouging basically allow the black market to come into the legal market’s home and dick-down the legal market’s wife.
There’s a metaphor there.
If you’ve ever been on Weedmaps, you may have said something along the lines of , “Oh this is cool!”, and then after seeing prices “what the fuck” which usually leads to you just hitting up “Yo, you on deck?”. The taxes placed on cannabis is kind of insulting.
If you live in Los Angeles and look on weed maps it’s not uncommon to see 1/8ths priced for $50 and ounces for around $300. However, if you go on weedmaps and set your location to Bend, Oregon, you can clearly see how California is playing us. The normal price for an 1/8th is around $30 and about $200 for an ounce. Prices like that make you consider asking your boss if you can take a small vacation to go deal with “family issues” in Portland.
There are a few reasons why legal cannabis prices in California are so damn high. First off, if you live in Long Beach, state and local taxes already add up to 10.25%. You might think you’re chillin after that but then they bitch-slap you with that 15% excise tax. Then they hit you with that marijuana cultivation tax and finally uppercut you with quality control fee that companies just pass onto the consumer price. Then you dust yourself off and make another call to the plug.
It seems like regulators want you to. An ounce that may have priced at $200 now costs around $300 due to tax rates upwards of 30%. That’s why many dispensary shop owners feel cheated, they are losing sales due to the unbeatable prices of the local plug, Julio.
Here’s a rundown of the marijuana-related proposals that Governor Newsom and his administration presented this week.
- $60.3 million from Cannabis fund to fund subsidized child care
- The Bureau of Cannabis Control, The Department of Public Health, and The Department of Food and Agriculture are going to replaced by one agency; Department of Cannabis Control by July of 2021
- After taxes are used for running the incorrectly ran administration and working on legalization and criminal reform, they estimate that the administration will have about $322.8 million available for things such as-Clean up, remediation and enforcement of environmental impacts that stems from illegal cannabis cultivation- 20%(66.6 mil)-Education, prevention, treatment of youth substance abuse, and school rentention- 60%($199.7 mil)-Public Safety-related activities- 20%($66.6 mil)
- increases in tax on medical and adult-use cannabis
- talks of decreasing taxes on cannabis
- increases on the cultivation tax: $9.65/oz of flower, $2.89/oz of trim, $1.35/oz of fresh cannabis plant
We need the Golden State can start providing golden opportunities for its fairly new legal market. With the black market sales exceeding way past the legal market sales, I hope regulators figure out the obvious issue and pass regulations to fix it.
Ya know, before its too late
J420N.NET 