Posts Tagged: Marijuana
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Today we welcome Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the state’s preeminent cannabis lobbyist. 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 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.
News
California’s legal cannabis industry has struggled under heavy regulation and taxation while the black market has thrived. In an attempt to turn the tide, Assemblyman Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, has authored legislation to take some of the pressure off of California’s legal cannabis operators.
News
The headlines were attention-grabbing; some were scary: “What will your mother say when she finds your corpse?” “The weed with roots in hell.” “Assassin of Youth.” They were, of course, all about marijuana. Movie producers discovered they could sell more tickets if their advertisements promised audiences lots of dissolute youth.
Opinion
OPINION; California cannabis regulations are taking one step forward and two steps back. Two landmark – and at times polarizing – pieces of legislation for California’s cannabis market are currently making waves: The state is set to raise the cannabis cultivation tax while regulators have announced plans to standardize cannabis testing.
News
With cannabis taxes to rise on Jan. 1 and a legitimate business landscape plagued by a thriving black market, California’s marijuana industry faces uncertainty. The tax hike — like others before it — stems from a state law requiring the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to recalculate the cultivation tax rates once a year because of inflation.
News
Though recreational marijuana has been legal in the state since January, good luck trying to open a marijuana business in much of the state. The state gives local jurisdictions the power to decide what type and how much cannabis businesses to allow. While big cities like San Francisco and San Jose allowed commercial activity right away, many other communities have banned it or are still debating how much to let in
Opinion
OPINION: No one expected California’s legalization of recreational cannabis, barely two months’ old, to be without plenty of problems. In a mixed metaphor so often the trait of politicians, state Sen. Mike McGuire noted, “… as I have always said, this is a tall mountain to climb and we are currently building the airplane and flying it at the same time.”
Recent News
The flood gates are about to open for California’s new commercial cannabis industry, as the state rushes to assemble temporary licenses for businesses looking to open on Jan. 1. California delivered its first batch of commercial cannabis licenses last week with the approval of 30 temporary licenses for cannabis businesses across the state.
News
It’s being called the Wine Country Fire, but the fatal October fires that blackened nearly 200,000 acres across Northern California might also be called the Cannabis Country Fire. While most of the coverage has focused on damage to the losses of homes, business structures and the wine industry, marijuana growers were also hit hard.
News
Illegal marijuana grows in rural Siskiyou County are out of control and state officials should help stop them, local authorities say. Earlier this month, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors took the unusual step of declaring a state of emergency because of the cannabis.