Five Years Since Prop 64, California's Cannabis Industry Is in Disarray

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s been five years since California legalized marijuana under Proposition 64 and opened the doors to a new legal market. Yet today, the majority of cannabis consumed here is not legal. A key reason: it’s difficult and costly to start and maintain a state-licensed cannabis business. Meanwhile, a robust system for setting up shop as part of the illicit market has been in place long before voters approved Prop 64. Last week cannabis farmers, business owners and advocates gathered at the State Capitol to demand reform to the burdensome tax system that’s frustrating businesses and growers of all sizes but making small businesses and farms especially vulnerable to collapse. In outlining next year’s state budget proposal this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he “supports cannabis tax reform and plans to work with the Legislature to make modifications to California’s cannabis tax policy to help stabilize the market.” We’ll take stock of California’s cannabis industry and proposed reforms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:03.0	Coming up on forum, cannabis growers and small business owners gathered at the state capital last week to protest burdensome taxes and bureaucracy that they say is putting the legal marijuana market on the verge of collapse. It's been five years since California legalized marijuana under Proposition 64 to bring order to its illicit and quasi-legal market and ensure access to regulated
1:12.7	products while also generating billions in tax revenue. But the illegal market is still thriving,
1:18.6	with more than 75% of sales in the state coming from unlicensed sellers. We look at why
1:24.6	after this news.
1:46.6	This is Forum. I'm Mina Kim. The promise of Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana in California more than five years ago, was that it would create a robust legal market that could generate about a billion dollars of tax revenue a year
1:53.2	for social service programs and environmental cleanup of illegal farms,
1:58.4	and for repairing black and brown communities disproportionately targeted by the war on drugs.
2:04.6	Yet today, more than 75% of marijuana sold in the state still comes from illegal sellers,
2:10.6	and unregulated cannabis products are everywhere.
	...

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