Legislature, Congress must update cannabis rules

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By The Herald Editorial Board

In the nearly 10 years since Washington state voters passed Initiative 502 — legalizing the possession, production and sale of recreational marijuana to adults — the state’s cannabis industry has grown. As of 2020, the industry employs 18,360 workers, paying total wages of more than $867.5 million, and for that year generated nearly $661 million in tax revenue for state and local governments, according to a recent economic impact analysis for the Washington CannaBusiness Association.

That growth has also prompted the need for changes in how a growing industry does business and how it is regulated. At the same time, said Aaron Pickus, a spokesman for the business association, the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana in a majority of states, has led to innovation in both marijuana and hemp products.

Cannabis, Pickus said, “isn’t taking on aviation or apples” as a leading industry in the state, but it will need to compete with the industry now thriving in other states.

Even as the state Legislature’s work begins to draw to its March 10 close, lawmakers have legislation before them that would begin to address some of those needs.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-legislature-congress-must-update-cannabis-rules/

[Wounded Bear]

1. They need to open up banking rules, so they aren't cash businesses...

that invites crime.

[LPBBEAR]

2. Grow Your Own

They also need to allow residents to grow their own.

[Blues Heron]

3. If it were truly legal there wouldn't be a that much money in it

It’s not hard to grow At scale, like potatoes. How much did you pay per pound for potatoes recently? Was it in the thousands? Of course not. The only way weed prices stay high is if it’s illegal at some level. 30 dollars should be able to buy a years supply. How much taxes would that bring in? Next to nothing. I could buy a years supply of garlic for about that much.