Now, the phantom menace known as the Democratic supermajority in Sacramento has counter-attacked with a dose of absurdity that’s hard to comprehend. Just when the industry worked so hard to gather consensus that bold reforms must be enacted, Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed one tax cut and one tax increase in his budget that cancel each other out and will do nothing to lower prices for consumers or provide relief to farmers or even larger corporations. His proposal will work about as well as moving furniture around on the deck of the Titanic.
Our otherwise progressive governor claims that this tax schizophrenia is the only way to keep the funds flowing from weed taxes to the special interests that benefit from them: law enforcement, education, and the environment. Yet the state has a $100 billion surplus; it would only take a fraction of that (less than 1%) to save legal cannabis in California and keep all funds flowing to the same special interests.
I won’t even mention his grants to locals to license more cannabis dispensaries because… Why waste words on it? The locals need sticks not carrots to lift the bans that should never have been done in the first place. Those bans are not motivated by money but by stigma, NIMBYISM, and prohibitionists. You need to take money away from them and exert power, not give it to them and cave.
The big question now is… How will the cannabis industry respond? I’ve been calling on more aggressive measures from the industry for two years. I’ve been working to build bridges between craft and corporate cannabis, as bad frameworks and tax policy hurt everyone. The unity I saw a few months ago needs to hold together now. Funding is needed if the industry is going to punch back and take control of their own future. Corporate cannabis has to step up with the cash, as a small investment towards their own profitability. If not, they may die a slow and miserable death when the tax man cometh, the underground market beckons, and the investors flee to other states and countries, which is what’s already happening.
[Original Source]
