Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
On November 8th, 2016, California, Massachusetts, and Nevada legalized recreational cannabis initiatives on the ballot. Florida, North Dakota, and Arkansas voters approved medical cannabis measures in their state.
Despite these huge wins, not every state was so accepting of the green revolution. Arizona voters defeated the legalization measure there, and Maine narrowly passed cannabis legalization; a re-count was filed in late November.
This brings the tally to eight states plus the District of Columbia with legal recreational cannabis and 28 states with legal medical cannabis on the books. Now that over half of the states have some form of cannabis regulation it can no longer be ignored by the federal government.
So, where does this leave the national conversation as we head into 2017?
According to Forbes, California's economy is the sixth largest in the world–its GDP is $2.5 Trillion USD. Legalization in this state is good news for cannabis entrepreneurs who have been waiting years for banking and tax reform to allow their businesses to operate on par with any other legal industry. With such a massive economic force joining the legalization club, the federal government will no longer be able to ignore the pressure to examine its war on cannabis.
In a best case scenario, this could lead to the reclassification or de-scheduling of cannabis by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). The current classification of cannabis is in the most restricted category: Schedule I. This presents a conundrum as more states move towards legalization, because this classification on the federal level creates an inherent conflict with the states.
Despite the current classification, it will be difficult for the federal government to ignore the tax revenue coming from the passage of Proposition 64 in California, which could add as much as an estimated $8.38 billion on top of California's current medical market. This will mark a tipping point for national financial institutions.
If the federal government passed broad cannabis reform and decriminalized cannabis across all states, the industry would have instant access to commercial banking, transparent financing, and the release of the 280e tax burden that does not allow businesses conducting federally illegal activities to take tax deductions.
Additionally, with inter-state commerce legalized, the booming economy in legal states would expand nation-wide, allowing many more state economies to open their arms to the industry. This positive impact could help economically depressed cities and neighborhoods with job creation, additional tax revenue (that would be best earmarked for infrastructure and schools), and recovery efforts for economies hit hardest by the recession. Putting the culture war aside, the cannabis industry is just good business sense.
With the addition of California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, 65 million people now live in states with some form of recreational cannabis regulation. More than half of all Americans have access to medical cannabis, and many more states regulate CBD. This seems promising for proponents of legal cannabis, and after November 8th, many voters had high hopes that businessman, now President-Elect, Donald Trump would be hands-off in the recreational debate and leave it to the states.
"Hopefully they will see Colorado's example as a great way to regulate and tax marijuana and use it for a better purpose, rather than trying to go backwards and remake it illegal and shut the industry down," Choice Organics' Recreational Manager, Maria Chacon, said.
However, the impending administration is seemingly anything but "pot-friendly". Trump's pick for Attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has been an opponent of cannabis for decades, even once stating, "I thought those guys [the Ku Klux Klan] were okay until I learned they smoked pot." Sessions currently serves as the junior U.S. Senator from Alabama. This year, Sessions was quoted as saying, "good people don't smoke marijuana...[a] very real danger...[and] not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized."
Any action on the federal level will have major impacts in Colorado, as well as the other states who have legalized medical and recreational cannabis. "I'm worried a little bit just because there are so many people whose jobs could be on the line... a lot of people are going to be losing their jobs and that is really scary. Colorado would also lose a lot of tax revenue that we have been creating," Chacon said.
Even if Trump decides to leave the cannabis question up to the states, there is a very real concern that Sessions will be less benign to the industry. The Cole Memo is the fragile baseline that gave states tentative control over cannabis while the feds agree to remain 'hands-off'. Further, Sessions has been critical of the Obama administration's laissez-faire attitude on federal enforcement. By redacting the Cole Memo, Sessions would have the authority to arrest cultivators, retailers, and users, even in legal states. So the question in the next year becomes: will he?
Sessions will have broad authority to crack down on cannabis. Jared Polis, Colorado's U.S. Representative, stated, "in one fell swoop, the federal government could damage state economies, and discourage entrepreneurship–placing some of our innovators behind bars, all while eroding states' rights." Representative Tom McClintock from California is more optimistic, "He [Jeff Sessions] is a strict constitutionalist who believes in the rule of law. I would expect he will respect the prerogative of individual states to determine their own laws involving strictly intra-state commerce."
The industry will be watching Sessions closely over the course of his first year in office and will remain diligent to keep up the good fight for smart cannabis regulation and the personal liberty to consume cannabis safely. The industry will hope to maintain the status quo while working toward better access to banking and tax reform federally, regardless of this administration's stance on cannabis regulation.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Road Ahead For Colorado Cannabis Could Be Bumpy
Author: Choice Organics
Contact: 970-493-6397
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Coloradoan
Despite these huge wins, not every state was so accepting of the green revolution. Arizona voters defeated the legalization measure there, and Maine narrowly passed cannabis legalization; a re-count was filed in late November.
This brings the tally to eight states plus the District of Columbia with legal recreational cannabis and 28 states with legal medical cannabis on the books. Now that over half of the states have some form of cannabis regulation it can no longer be ignored by the federal government.
So, where does this leave the national conversation as we head into 2017?
According to Forbes, California's economy is the sixth largest in the world–its GDP is $2.5 Trillion USD. Legalization in this state is good news for cannabis entrepreneurs who have been waiting years for banking and tax reform to allow their businesses to operate on par with any other legal industry. With such a massive economic force joining the legalization club, the federal government will no longer be able to ignore the pressure to examine its war on cannabis.
In a best case scenario, this could lead to the reclassification or de-scheduling of cannabis by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). The current classification of cannabis is in the most restricted category: Schedule I. This presents a conundrum as more states move towards legalization, because this classification on the federal level creates an inherent conflict with the states.
Despite the current classification, it will be difficult for the federal government to ignore the tax revenue coming from the passage of Proposition 64 in California, which could add as much as an estimated $8.38 billion on top of California's current medical market. This will mark a tipping point for national financial institutions.
If the federal government passed broad cannabis reform and decriminalized cannabis across all states, the industry would have instant access to commercial banking, transparent financing, and the release of the 280e tax burden that does not allow businesses conducting federally illegal activities to take tax deductions.
Additionally, with inter-state commerce legalized, the booming economy in legal states would expand nation-wide, allowing many more state economies to open their arms to the industry. This positive impact could help economically depressed cities and neighborhoods with job creation, additional tax revenue (that would be best earmarked for infrastructure and schools), and recovery efforts for economies hit hardest by the recession. Putting the culture war aside, the cannabis industry is just good business sense.
With the addition of California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, 65 million people now live in states with some form of recreational cannabis regulation. More than half of all Americans have access to medical cannabis, and many more states regulate CBD. This seems promising for proponents of legal cannabis, and after November 8th, many voters had high hopes that businessman, now President-Elect, Donald Trump would be hands-off in the recreational debate and leave it to the states.
"Hopefully they will see Colorado's example as a great way to regulate and tax marijuana and use it for a better purpose, rather than trying to go backwards and remake it illegal and shut the industry down," Choice Organics' Recreational Manager, Maria Chacon, said.
However, the impending administration is seemingly anything but "pot-friendly". Trump's pick for Attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has been an opponent of cannabis for decades, even once stating, "I thought those guys [the Ku Klux Klan] were okay until I learned they smoked pot." Sessions currently serves as the junior U.S. Senator from Alabama. This year, Sessions was quoted as saying, "good people don't smoke marijuana...[a] very real danger...[and] not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized."
Any action on the federal level will have major impacts in Colorado, as well as the other states who have legalized medical and recreational cannabis. "I'm worried a little bit just because there are so many people whose jobs could be on the line... a lot of people are going to be losing their jobs and that is really scary. Colorado would also lose a lot of tax revenue that we have been creating," Chacon said.
Even if Trump decides to leave the cannabis question up to the states, there is a very real concern that Sessions will be less benign to the industry. The Cole Memo is the fragile baseline that gave states tentative control over cannabis while the feds agree to remain 'hands-off'. Further, Sessions has been critical of the Obama administration's laissez-faire attitude on federal enforcement. By redacting the Cole Memo, Sessions would have the authority to arrest cultivators, retailers, and users, even in legal states. So the question in the next year becomes: will he?
Sessions will have broad authority to crack down on cannabis. Jared Polis, Colorado's U.S. Representative, stated, "in one fell swoop, the federal government could damage state economies, and discourage entrepreneurship–placing some of our innovators behind bars, all while eroding states' rights." Representative Tom McClintock from California is more optimistic, "He [Jeff Sessions] is a strict constitutionalist who believes in the rule of law. I would expect he will respect the prerogative of individual states to determine their own laws involving strictly intra-state commerce."
The industry will be watching Sessions closely over the course of his first year in office and will remain diligent to keep up the good fight for smart cannabis regulation and the personal liberty to consume cannabis safely. The industry will hope to maintain the status quo while working toward better access to banking and tax reform federally, regardless of this administration's stance on cannabis regulation.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Road Ahead For Colorado Cannabis Could Be Bumpy
Author: Choice Organics
Contact: 970-493-6397
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Coloradoan
