California’s cannabis law lets local officials decide whether to open the door to cannabis or slam it shut. So far, most are opting for the latter. | Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesLOS ANGELES — California’s cannabis market is booming nearly five years after voters legalized recreational weed. But there’s a catch: the vast majority of pot sales are still underground.
Licensed cannabis shops offering legal goods are sparsely scattered across the state — there are roughly 2 per 100,000 people, one of the lowest rates in the nation among states that support legal recreational sales. Law enforcement agencies in the last few months alone have broken up sprawling grow operations in the arid Antelope Valley and urban Alameda County, discovering around 50 tons of processed cannabis goods and more than 100,000 plants, a haul valued well above $1 billion.
Unlicensed dispensaries shuttered for city code enforcement violations often pop up again, sometimes right down the street. And cultivation sites like the one raided in Antelope Valley often resume operations just days later, law enforcement officials concede. California’s cannabis law lets local officials decide whether to open the door to cannabis or slam it shut. So far, most are opting for the latter.
Public meetings in places like Mountain View in the Silicon Valley and Anaheim have devolved into hours-long marathons filled with protests and name calling when the topic of allowing cannabis shops comes up. “Local control has, let's just be honest, crippled the California market and prevented it from reaching its potential,” said Hirsh Jain, founder of cannabis consulting firm Ananda Strategy.will take away that power, largely due to fierce support for local control from law enforcement and city and county officials.some jurisdictions to open their arms to weed. By Jain’s count, 28 cities will open their first dispensaries in 2022 and 37 more that will pass a retail ordinance.
Regulators warn that products purchased from unlicensed retailers pose a public health risk, pointing to a rash of lung illnesses related to untested vape cartridges that killed 68 people and hospitalized more than 2,800 nationwide in 2019.the face of opposition from SEIU, the powerful union that helped bankroll the 2016 ballot measure. The union disagrees with the industry argument that reducingwill spur growth and eventually boost tax revenue, said Robert Harris, a lobbyist for SEIU.
If only this could have been anticipated somehow. But how could anyone know that piling on all of the regulations and taxes you could imagine would lead to this effect?
Taxes, baby. Same reason we make our own beer, wine, whiskey.
maybe that’s Bc California is exploiting cannabis patients? Charging an INSANE amount in taxes for a medicine insurance won’t cover. So guess what? We won’t pay those insane taxes. Fix ur life. God r ppl REALLY surprised that if u deal ppl shit u will get shit in return? Shocking
something to do with sales tax being 30% perhaps?
Yea Bc dispensaries are buy black market weed then and charging excessive fees to customers just saying ppl look for scams
This will always happen as long as people don't make enough money to pay for the Dr bill, Medical license and the weed etc.
It’s true MumsieCulpepper is behind this entire situation….
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Probably because California has over regulated and over taxed this industry like everything else.
What do you want me to do about it? A man has got to eat.
Decriminalizing should go along with legalizing.
The fact that recreational marijuana is legal in DC, to me, is well, just nuts. Elected officials are legally smoking weed while their constituents are still being arrested for it at home. That's got to be some sort of constitutional level conflict of interest.
Now do Illinois
The underground pot business has been around since and before Reefer Madness. It will be here even when the Rich boys with a license is allowed to sell from a storefront. Above ground or Underground I'll give my $$ to the guy without the Expensive License and Store.
It would be a good plan to be light on taxation while the commercial marijuana market becomes legitimate. Pricing is the way to defeat illegal sales.
....how do they know
Insanely high taxes, and over regulation, did what again?
Prices . Prices . Prices
Yes it can, they just choose not to and then blame the little guy.
Yea it can...just stop taxing it so damn much
Awwww. What's the matter? Government can't get their greedy little fingers on the money? GOOD.
And it’s fucking poison, being abused by middle schoolers and up, all over LA. Nothing like the pot of old. It’s more like acid. Cruel to the growing brain.
We must change the banking rules surrounding this industry, and that's for a whole raft of sensible reasons.