Much of Cuomo’s marijuana plan this year seemingly mirrored his legislation in 2019, including the creation of a new state agency to oversee recreational pot, medical marijuana and hemp.
The proposal would limit recreational pot sales to over age 21 and promote social equity in the cannabis industry through various programs. It also is expected to feature a regional approach to legalizing recreational marijuana in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Cuomo said.
According to the latest report from the Colorado Department of Revenue, marijuana sales in 2019 are expected to eclipse November in 2018. That leaves an extra month in December to pad that record-setting sales number.
Through October, dispensaries in Colorado reported a whopping $1.463 billion in cannabis sales. In all of 2018, dispensaries reported $1.545 billion in sales. Barring an unprecedented drop in sales, 2018 will be eclipsed with the November numbers, which will be released in January.
Traditional drug dealers are still formidable competitors in U.S. states where cannabis is legal. Governments planning for huge tax windfalls and investors expecting rapid market-share gains have to adjust to a slower burn.
How does this work in New Jersey?
The last iteration of the recreational marijuana legalization bill included a flat tax rate on cultivators growing the plant of $42 tax per ounce of marijuana.
The Legislature completed a fiscal impact analysis for an early version of the bill, but it doesn't calculate the costs for the latest proposal.
In May, Illinois became the 11th state to legalize adult-use cannabis, and the first to do so via legislative action. It’s made Illinois’ law different — and one might argue, better — than everyone else’s, and it provides a road map for other states struggling to get there.
Illinois joins 10 other states, and the District of Columbia, in making recreational marijuana legal. The rost of states where recreational cannabis is now legal (and the year voters approved legal sales) are:
More than a year ago, this page came out in support of the legalization of recreational marijuana, on the ground that keeping the drug illegal fed indefensible racial disparities in policing and punishment, with no public health benefit.
- Colorado revenue from marijuana sales experienced its two highest-grossing months in April and May, with roughly $24 million in total state revenue from cannabis each month.
- It took the state roughly three and a half years to reach the $500 million mark in total state revenue from marijuana sales, and just under two years to double the revenue source.
- Cannabis sales contribute to the state’s general reserve fund, as well as education and health care, including mental health services, and youth drug-prevention programs.
A while back, I wrote that New Jersey’s proposed tax on marijuana sales — at $42 an ounce — was too high and I predicted that would result in people buying cheaper black-market pot.
People wrote to me to say I was nuts because consumers would want the better quality pot that was being sold by legally sanctioned distributors.
Well, New Jersey has delayed pot sales. But Canada, where recreational marijuana has been legalized, is confirming that what I suggested about the weed business is true.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy appears to have rolled back expectations for how much marijuana will help ease the state’s financial pain.
Murphy’s $38.6 billion budget, which relies on a millionaire tax to bring in an extra $447 million, assumes that legalizing and taxing recreational marijuana would produce just $60 million of revenue during the first six months if sales begin on Jan. 1, half way through the fiscal year. That’s a far cry from the $300 million a year the Democrat estimated could be generated when he was running for election in 2017.