A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is calling on Congress to address “the glaring vagueness” that has led to legal cannabis products being sold over the counter across the country — including sometimes from vending machines or online.
A letter dated March 20 addresses the consequences of Republican lawmakers’ choice to legalize hemp production in the 2018 omnibus Farm Bill — a decision that perhaps inadvertently led to a multibillion-dollar market in intoxicating cannabis products that are arguably federally legal.
Now, the attorneys general want Congress to shutter the market it helped create. In the new Farm Bill, they want the legislature to enshrine in statute the idea that intoxicating cannabis is not federally legal — contrary to what the law currently states.
Then shouldn’t they want highly-taxed cannabis?
I think you’re giving them too much credit. They’re ideologues that think taxes = bad. They just don’t care so much when they hurt the poor because they think the poor deserve to have bad things happen to them.
To prove your point, Colorado has collected over $1.5 billion is cannabis tax since it was legalized. That’s just a single state, and not a huge one at that.
Here’s even republican/wealthy friendly article talking about it: https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthoban/2021/05/23/the-success-of-colorados-marijuana-tax-dollars/?sh=14e60c79529d
Illinois got even more. $1.6 billion in 2020 alone. That’s where I buy from, although I cross the border from Indiana.
Is it expensive because of the tax? Yes it is. But I’m fine with that because legalizing and taxing it should be the model everywhere and I’m happy to support it.
As someone from MO, fuck IL’s tax. Went from paying $125 for a gram of wax to ~$40 once MO legalized.
It’s better than it being illegal, obviously, but it’s so clearly only that high so they can extort out of state buyers.
Sounds like an argument for national legalization. Which raising a bunch of tax money will encourage.
Oh absolutely agreed. The fact we have to play these games in the first place is bullshit
Yup. In MO we’ve seen not far off of $100mil in state tax revenue and it’s only been legal since Feb 2023. At least one city near me was pushed into a surplus because of the extra revenue (admittedly, they were running at a very, very small deficit previously, but still).