Amy O’Gorman Jenkins: Cannabis industry crisis

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Today we welcome Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the state’s preeminent cannabis lobbyist – so much so that she earned the nickname “Pot Girl” back when Gavin Newsom was still just the Lieutenant Gov. Jenkins was one of the first lobbyists for the state’s once-maligned, now coveted, cannabis industry, first when she worked out of Darius Anderson’s shop, then later at her own firm, Precision Advocacy. She was lead lobbyist for the California Cannabis Industry Association for a decade, but left this year to head up new a new cannabis trade group representing the state’s largest retailers, The California Cannabis Operators Association. Jenkins describes an industry in peril, with legal outlets closing, legal sales dropping, and the state’s cannabis excise tax poised to go up July 1 unless the legislature acts.

Plus, as always, we tell you Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.

1:42 Prop. 103 repeal?

4:25 Changing the excise tax on cannabis?

5:24 “A week of Lea/hs”

6:19 Should Kamala Harris still be considered a frontrunner for California Governor?

7:08 Polling on Democrats’ attitudes

8:11 Jason Sisney’s Budget odds

8:46 California and AI

9:44 Amy O’Gorman Jenkins

10:59 Origin story

12:04 “Pot Girl”

13:01 The change in attitude toward the cannabis industry

15:02 Matt Haney, #AB564

18:03 The cannabis industry in crisis

20:13 Illicit sales are still far larger than legal sales

26:47 CA’s cannabis excise tax is 124% higher than Michigan’s

27:27 Cannabis is taxed at 2.5 times the rate of tobacco and 6 times the rate of alcohol

29:44 How dire is the crisis?

30:51 about 68% of CA jurisdictions ban legal cannabis

31:54 National cannabis legislation?

33:32 “This is a heritage industry”

37:53 #WWCA