California has a reputation for being one of the most cannabis-friendly places in the world. In February, though, newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom (an advocate for legal cannabis) proposed moving 150 National Guard troops to Northern California to help deal with a problem that doesn’t seem to be going away: illegal cannabis growers.
Recreational marijuana legalization is stalled in both New York and New Jersey—partly because some lawmakers of color say the proposals don’t go far enough in making certain that the communities hit hardest by arrests from illegal drugs aren’t locked out of the newly regulated weed industry.
Across the border in Massachusetts, experts and regulators say that New Yorkers are right to be worried.
Origin House (NASDAQOTH:ORHOF) and MariMed (NASDAQOTH:MRMD) rank as two of the hottest marijuana stocks on the market. Over the last 12 months, both stocks have come close to tripling.
So far in 2019, Origin House has emerged as the bigger winner by far. But which of these stocks is the better pick now? Here's how Origin House and MariMed stack up against each other.
A package of bills aimed at legalizing marijuana for recreational use in New Jersey cleared Assembly and Senate committees Monday night after a long day in which legislators and staffers scrambled to amend earlier drafts of the bill before getting to the committees for a vote.
If and when marijuana becomes legal in New Jersey - and we’ll probably find out a lot more about that this week - there will be some twisted poetry in the law. Basically, people who are currently in the illegal marijuana business will have pretty much zero shot at being allowed into the legal marijuana business.
If everything goes off without a hitch, it could be a boon for marijuana businesses and the state's tax coffers. The proposed bill includes a $42-per-ounce tax on marijuana, and it allows towns to collect a 3% tax from cannabis retailers, a 2% tax from cultivators, and a 1% tax from wholesalers. GreenWave's Karnes estimates New Jersey's medical marijuana sales were just $66 million in 2018, but legalization of recreational use could grow regulated marijuana sales to $750 million next year and to over $930 million in 2022.
“There is a great future in plastics. Think about it,” Dustin Hoffman’s character is famously advised in the classic 1967 movie “The Graduate.” A half-century later Hoffman’s character would likely be advised that the next “great future” is in cannabis.
Why?
In just two decades, the cannabis industry has evolved from an untracked black-market business to a legitimate industry – generating $10.4 billion in revenues in 2018. The industry’s growth is poised only to continue, with expectations that it will eclipse $25 billion by 2025.
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis in some form, whether for recreational or medical use, and many others elected pro-cannabis governors in last year’s midterm elections, meaning that another big leap forward may happen as soon as this year.
“Like anything else it’s all about the money,” Bucci argued.
Bucci believes the state is missing an opportunity if there’s any tax at all, at least in the beginning.
“I firmly believe if you really want to get rid of that street corner dealer, legalize marijuana and put no tax on it the first two years.”
The former trooper says lawmakers can then gradually add in the tax after that. Supporters are still up against those who say “slow down.”
Stavola is staying on at iAnthus. She and her co-workers are now part of an organization that’s among about a half-dozen contestants racing to establish multistate marijuana chains, hoping for a chunk of what some claim could be more than $50 billion in annual sales of legal cannabis products. How long that takes and what it ultimately will look like are among the questions the young, fragmented marketplace must answer.