https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...-collapse/ar-AARVKla

Dozens of executives, industry officials and legalization advocates in California's legal cannabis industry sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday requesting additional tax breaks and other governmental support, claiming "our industry is collapsing."

The letter said the significant amount of regulations and taxes imposed on the industry forces it to have prices that are much higher than what can be purchased illegally. The marketplace to buy marijuana illegally generates two to three times the amount of sales that the legal industry can , according to the letter.

"The opportunity to create a robust legal market has been squandered as a result of excessive taxation," the letter said. "Seventy-five percent of cannabis in California is consumed in the illicit market and is untested and unsafe."

They requested a removal of the cultivation tax for growers and government support for the expansion of more retail stores, as an estimated two-thirds of cities in the state do not have a dispensary due to a requirement that stores and production facilities must be approved at the local level. The letter also requested a three-year hold on excise taxes.

"We need you to understand that we have been pushed to a breaking point," the letter said.

related:

Marijuana wars: Violent Mexican drug cartels turn Northern California into ‘The Wild West’

https://news.yahoo.com/marijua...-drug-200554666.html

Mexican drug cartels are muscling in on America's burgeoning multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry, illegally growing large crops in the hills and valleys of Northern California.

The state legalized marijuana in 2016 for adult recreational use, yet the black market continues to thrive with thousands of illegal grows. Criminal syndicates, in turn, are cashing in across the U.S. on the "green gold rush."

They're undercutting prices of legalized products offered by permitted farmers who follow the rules and pay taxes.

And they're exploiting workers, robbing and shooting adversaries, poisoning wildlife and poaching water in a state fighting widespread drought and devastating wildfires.

Lured by America's push toward legalized cannabis, cartels have abandoned many decades-old marijuana farms in Mexico, moving their operations to Northern California where they can blend in seamlessly alongside legitimate grows, said Mike Sena, executive director of Northern California's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces.

"Why try to bring that bulk marijuana into the United States, when you can just grow it in the United States in remote locations like Mendocino County and then move it across the entire country?"

The reality is that California politicians didn't legalize it to help people they claim to be helping they legalized it for the tax money. Just like everything else in a Democrat run state that over tax everything and ruin it.

People are only going to pay so much for it when there is a massive black market. There's no way to allocate the manpower to go after all the illegal growers so they need to cut the ridiculous taxes down to make the legal product competitive with the illegal product or it will be a fail.

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"Why try to bring that bulk marijuana into the United States, when you can just grow it in the United States in remote locations like Mendocino County and then move it across the entire country?"

Who would have ever thought this would happen?

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"Seventy-five percent of cannabis in California is consumed in the illicit market and is untested and unsafe."

Oh, give me a fucking break. The author of that letter has no doubt been involved countless times in testing all that "unsafe" marijuana. What a joke.

Just cut the bullshit.

When you lock up people for a very long time over a plant and business you later deem to be “essential” it might be better if your whole state collapses under the enormous weight of its own bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
The letter said the significant amount of regulations and taxes imposed on the industry forces it to have prices that are much higher than what can be purchased illegally.

"The opportunity to create a robust legal market has been squandered as a result of excessive taxation," the letter said.

That's right government destroys everything it touches. Everything. No exceptions. And anybody who didn't see this coming is a complete moron (cue Gavin Newson and the Sacramento legislature).

I don't know about California, but in Washington, it's taxed three times at 25% for 75% tax before it even makes it to store shelves, then there's 10% sales tax.

What you do get for all that tax is a safe, relatively secure place to buy it at your convenience, and you get unparalleled selection. However, if you happen to know someone who really knows their shit and grows a variety of high quality strains who is willing to drive a duffel bag full of dope to your house for you to choose what you want on a regular basis, it is FAR cheaper.

I don't buy the numbers in the article, that only 25% of the weed consumed is from the "legal" industry. I can see the complaints about the tax, because the "legalize it and tax the shit out of it" crowd really wasn't factoring in that the new legalized and regulated industry would be in competition with an established illicit industry from the start, and those people were in it to make money, not smoke dope. I had a friend in Florida who did the duffel bag thing and showed me a laundry basket full of cheese wheels of pressed blonde hash a foot in diameter and several inches thick one time. He was strictly against legalization because it would fuck with his livelihood.

I don't mind sharing my thoughts on these things now. I'm sober and don't ever plan to smoke weed again. I don't think the current model many states are working with is really sustainable and some sort of overhaul will have to happen at some point. If it's going to be legal on a federal level, unless you're selling it, you should be able to grow your own, just like brewing beer or making wine. As it stands now, most states where it's legal have outlawed that level of competition. They simply saw a huge revenue stream and decided they wanted to stick a fat straw in it.

In the many weed threads at SF over the years, this was predicted almost exactly. Taxation, black market weed, cartel involvement, etc.

CA can really fuck anything up can't they... It's just like growing any garden vegetable, if anyone can do it for free in their back yard, or an unregulated cartel can ship it in by the ton, then how is a heavily regulated producer going to bring to market a competitive product?

CA shoots itself in the foot for what 400+ time this year or am I off count?

The weed was made legal in Michigan too. The number of "pot shops" that have sprung up is amazing. I think its a matter of time before there is market saturation and people get tired of buying expensive taxed weed and just grow their own.

We have watched the same thing happen here in Colorado (I think the first state that legalized "recreational" use).

I'm an old school retired cop, no interest in dope of any kind, never have and never will. But I know a lot of people who use regularly, and very few of them use licensed "dispensaries" for their needs. Grow it themselves, or purchase from black market illegal dealers specifically to obtain what they want without paying the exhorbitant taxes demanded by the state and local governments.

Pot use has become so common here that it barely attracts any attention. I see people smoking dope while driving in city traffic. I belong to two private clubs, members and invited guests only, and regularly have to ask people to take their crap off the property. Just last week one club had rented out the hall for a funeral, couple hundred people attended, had people passing out joints, groups passing pipes around in front of children. After asking nicely a couple of times for them to take their nonsense elsewhere I called a couple of board members and had their event cancelled and evicted them from the property. They have a lawyer now threatening a lawsuit over the hall rental and deposit.

Another old retired cop owns a decent little neighborhood bar, now run by his daughter. People firing up all the time, just what they need when the liquor license comes up for renewal hearing and my old buddy loses his entire investment. I have stopped going there because the daughter keeps begging me to make it stop, but if I say anything I am facing a dozen people ready to take my tired ass on a ride to the emergency room for spoiling their fun.

Give the dopers an inch and they will take a yard. Give the government a taste of the revenue and they will want it all.

Last year while travelling out of state I was stopped by a deputy sheriff on the highway. Saw my Colorado plates and decided it was time to interdict a drug smuggler. By the way, I know a 50-plus year old guy who does just that, taking Colorado MJ to states with lower tobacco taxes and bringing back hundreds of cartons of cigarettes (Colorado taxes the bejesus out of tobacco, too). Couple of trips every month, couple of grand every trip.

People I know who own construction companies are being forced by their workers compensation carriers to do drug screening on employees. People show up for work and see the van in the parking lot, walk in and quit (knowing they will test "hot" and have to do the dance again; easier to get another job).

The New Normal in modern America.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
The weed was made legal in Michigan too. The number of "pot shops" that have sprung up is amazing. I think its a matter of time before there is market saturation and people get tired of buying expensive taxed weed and just grow their own.

I cannot imagine why anybody would not. It's not as if it's terribly difficult. (Never grew any, myself, but have known two or three people that did so on a small scale in the past.)

Year 3 of medical marijuana in Oklahoma. 400,000 medical marijuana cards issued (10% of the state). Cost is $250 for 2 years and they are all approved. 8,000 licensed growers, and 2,300 licensed shops. Cost to get a business license is $2,500. There are so many businesses the regulators aren't getting to them all even once a year. There is a shop on every corner in Oklahoma City. A few of the shops aren't making it as there is so much competition.

Yes there are 1,500 more pot shops in Oklahoma than California. They are still finding illegal operations, but it is so easy to to do it the licensed way there is not much incentive to go black market.

I need employees that can pass a drug screen. My corp hq in non weed state is having a hard time understanding why my labor rates have needed to go up $6/hr in the last 3 years. I am sure they will learn in a few years when their state passes it.

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Originally posted by LoboGunLeather:
We have watched the same thing happen here in Colorado (I think the first state that legalized "recreational" use).

Alaska, actually. 1975-1990, then again in 2015 per Wikipedia. I'm sorry to hear of the trouble your friend's daughter is having; is there no legal way to simply ban the stuff from private property? One of the other big stories out of Colorado in the media is about Denver's adamant no-smoking policies applying to marijuana as well as tobacco.

I wish there was some way to determine with some reasonable degree of precision how much weed used in California is home grown. It may not actually be that much, but I'm with those who are surprised that people don't simply use legalization as an opportunity to grow their own.

As for the cartels, hell, they're still growing weed in Texas too, and the stuff is still very much illegal here.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
The letter said the significant amount of regulations and taxes imposed on the industry forces it to have prices that are much higher than what can be purchased illegally.

"The opportunity to create a robust legal market has been squandered as a result of excessive taxation," the letter said.

That's right government destroys everything it touches. Everything. No exceptions. And anybody who didn't see this coming is a complete moron (cue Gavin Newson and the Sacramento legislature).

Yep. I was going to post this very thing but you did it better. I would only add that those morons are morons because even with a macro object lesson like this to see and feel, they cannot learn. The equation could not be any simpler and more obvious. It’s like failing an open book test. They will see this and learn all the wrong lessons.

But... but... but... making it legal and taxing the hell out of it was supposed to make illegal growing a thing of the past, right?

Who would have thought that if you introduced a highly regulated venture that commands a 30-40% price premium into a previously uncontrolled market you'd have issues. Especially when the the competition would rather kill you than compete with you.

I'm shocked I tell you....

Do I care? In a word -- no. I don't consider it a useful product that improves humanity. It is apparent that I am in the minority, and I'm OK with that. I will not associate with weed users, especially ones who smoke it. (I don't associate much with tobacco smokers, either -- I hate the smell.)

So the "legal marijuana" market is not my consern. Others can worry about the harm the illegal market causes.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by ibanda:
My corp hq in non weed state is having a hard time understanding why my labor rates have needed to go up $6/hr in the last 3 years.

You're not kidding. My wife is a teacher, and she is looking at Hobby Lobby's wages continuing to climb. She is starting to question some of her life choices.

California could fuck up an orgasm

It’s amazing how so many room temp IQ and outright idiots continue to get elected in California.

It’s a shame the harm they caused a great state

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
But... but... but... making it legal and taxing the hell out of it was supposed to make illegal growing a thing of the past, right?

Who would have thought that if you introduced a highly regulated venture that commands a 30-40% price premium into a previously uncontrolled market you'd have issues. Especially when the the competition would rather kill you than compete with you.

I'm shocked I tell you....

Yep. Who woulda thunk it?

If you're gonna make it legal, just make it legal. Don't tax and regulate the shit out of it. People who use it already have their reliable source. They aren't going to want to pay 2-3 times what they are paying just to make some bureaucrats happy.