Adult users now can buy from 18 dispensaries scattered around the state that also serve medical patients. The CRC has issued 140 conditional legal weed dispensary licenses, but none have opened.
The social equity fees, which are due on each sale of an ounce of recreational cannabis, is at the rate of $1.10 per ounce, according to the CRC and state Treasury Department.
By state law, at least 70% of all tax revenue, including funds from the social equity excise fee, is earmarked for investing into “impact zones,” which are towns with higher than average unemployment rates, crime indexes, and marijuana arrests. Nearly 90 municipalities qualify under the guidelines, which also take population into account.
The CRC is able, but not mandated, to amend the fees anywhere between $10 and $60 an ounce after nine months after the first social equity fee was imposed. That way, as retail marijuana prices fall when more dispensaries open up, impact zones will continue to be funded by the same tax.
An eighth of an ounce of weed at a dispensary can cost as much as $70, while the same amount costs between $40 and $50 on the black market.