The cannabis industry in Colorado is a model for the rest of the country, and for the rest of the world for that matter. There are few other industries in America that are as willing to go the extra mile as the cannabis industry, especially in Colorado.The marijuana understands that the world is watching and are very cognizant of the need to prevent voter backlash and federal intervention.  I think people would be hard pressed to find another industry that is as compliant and willing to jump through hoops as the cannabis industry, even when those hoops are unfair.

A prime example of this is in Colorado, where numerous cannabis stores are getting to keep some of their sales tax revenues because they are paying their share to the tax man promptly. Per The Cannabist:

Colorado’s cannabis shops, on the hook for higher taxes than traditional retailers, are nonetheless reaping more than half a million dollars in rebated sales-tax revenue in 2014 thanks to timely payment to the tax man.

The refunded money from the state’s so-called vendor fee, a 79-year-old agreement the state made with its businesses, suggests the state’s marijuana businesses are achieving an important goal, that of becoming more establishment, despite the extra hurdles they face in the marketplace.

Colorado is being rewarded every month with extra tax revenues generated by the cannabis industry because the state decided to take a sensible approach to cannabis laws. Thousands of people have jobs in Colorado because of the cannabis industry. Those people spend their paychecks in their communities, which boosts the local economy that they shop in. Law enforcement is now freed up to pursue real criminals. Add to that the fact that teen cannabis use has decreased, and road fatalities are at an all time low in Colorado, prohibitionists’ Reefer Madness arguments will ultimately fail, and we will only see more states legalize marijuana in the coming years. 

The arrest and citation of marijuana growers, providers and consumers across the country is a vast drain on our nation’s limited resources. In Oregon, a state with rather progressive cannabis laws, the state still arrested and cited more than 10,000 adults for marijuana every year, something that will thankfully end as the state’s voters have chosen to legalize cannabis use and its commercial production. Despite prohibitionists’ claims that those 10,000-plus arrests and citations really didn’t take any time, Oregonians wisely saw through the ruse and chose to better prioritize the Beaver State’s law enforcement time and resources.

Across the United States, police arrest someone for marijuana every 42 seconds, taking valuable time away from battling real crime, such as robberies and murders. Additionally, all of these arrests, mainly for victimless “crime” of marijuana possession, takes time away from finding large-scale grow operations that are actually harming people by polluting land and water.

Pollution from marijuana grow sites are causing issues in California especially. From an AP story published by the Weather Channel:

“People are coming in, denuding the hillsides, damming the creeks and mixing in fertilizers that are not allowed in the U.S. into our watersheds,” Denise Rushing, a Lake County supervisor, told the Associated Press. “When rains come, it flows downstream into the lake and our water supply.”

Suspicions arose 18 years ago, when water supplies in Humboldt, Mendocino and Lake Counties began running dry shortly after the state passed Proposition 15, which legalized medical marijuana usage in California and sparked demand for homegrown marijuana farms.

“We knew people were diverting water for marijuana operations, but we wanted to know exactly how much,” said Scott Bauer, the department biologist who studied the pot farms’ effects on four watersheds, told the Associated Press.  “We didn’t know they could consume all the water in a stream.”

While many operating both in the illegal and gray marijuana markets may be resistance to rules and regulations, such compromises must be made to prevent serious voter backlash or federal intervention. The cannabis community has a long history of compassion and a passion for sustainability; this goodwill is threatened when our land and water is being polluted. Common sense regulations can protect licensed farmers, our environment and end wasteful and harmful arrests. Without regulations, more lives will be needlessly ruined and the environmental implications could become deadly. Let’s all move forward to sensibly legalize and regulate cannabis for the benefit of all.

When it comes to holiday shopping, I tend to be a last-minute shopper. And by “tend to be,” I mean I always wait until the last minute. I try my best to be as sustainable as possible and support local businesses. So, this past Christmas Eve, I gave Oregon Hemp Works a call and had the local Oregon business put together a collection of soaps and lotions for those special hempsters in my life.

Personally, I have long been a fan of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and am very appreciate of the company’s products (and activism), so I definitely encourage everyone to support Dr. Bronner’s. However, it felt rewarding to support a local business that is doing great work and activism as well. In the relatively immediate future, we should see more and more hemp businesses flourish as  federal and state laws improve. While it is legal for Americans to purchase and consume hemp, it still violates federal law to cultivate the plant, forcing businesses to support farmers in countries that do allow their farmers to cultivate the sustainable and profitable crop, such as China and Canada.

Oregon actually decriminalized hemp production in 2009, under a hemp farming bill, championed by State Senator Floyd Prozanski, a long-time champion of both sensible hemp and cannabis policies. The landmark bill allowed the state Department of Agriculture to issue hemp production licenses to qualified farmers, but the department hasn’t wanted to issue licenses for a variety of reasons, including the fact that federal law has remained an obstacle. Measure 91, passed by more than 56% of voters this past November, not only legalized cannabis for adults over 21, but also prohibited the state from using federal law as a reason to deny the issuance of hemp licenses.

Even before the passage of Measure 91, the state had taken some steps to move towards a rational hemp policy thanks to the work of Sen. Prozanski, along with United States Congressman Earl Blumenaur, attorney Courtney Moran and Oregon farmer Richard Mundell. Both Prozanski and Blumenauer have worked to advise the state on moving forward on hemp production and Richard Mundell, with the legal assistance of Moran, petitioned the state to allow the local farmer to cultivate hemp in Dufur. While the state wasn’t quite prepared to issue licenses at first, they have started the rule-making process to do so, so there is great hope that hemp production can start soon in the Beaver State. On January 6th, the state Department of Agriculture is holding a a hearing on industrial hemp regulations. Oregon, a trailblazer on many issues, should step up to the plate soon, and not let Kentucky or any other state get too far ahead.

Activist icon Jack Herer championed the many benefits of hemp long ago, publishing the Emperor Wears No Clothes and that mantle has very much been carried by bestselling author Doug Fine. Fine’s latest book, Hemp Bound, was deemed a “blueprint for the America of the future” by Willie Nelson himself. Today, Fine travels the globe educating the world about the economic and environmental benefits of hemp. As our world struggles with a multitude of economic and environmental issues, governments and businesses would be wise to heed the calls of those promoting such a multitude of industrial uses and environmental benefits. The War on Marijuana has had many nonsensical implications and we are starting to roll back many of those, the ridiculous prohibition of industrial hemp should be an easy issue to correct.

I am very proud that the first International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) held at the Oregon Convention Center last September in Portland, Oregon, was named the “Marijuana Event of the Year” in The Weed Blog Awards of 2014. The Weed Blog (TWB), for those that haven’t made it over to that site, has been one of the top marijuana blog sites in the world. With a focus on marijuana culture while promoting good activists, TWB, very much represents the hear and soul of the cannabis community. (In full disclosure, I work as Content Director for the ICBC, helping organize the conference.)

While many try to discredit the cannabis industry as only caring about money and trying to usher in the era of “Big Marijuana”, the ICBC blends good politics and good business practices. While the ICBC certainly promotes and helps the cannabis industry, we are always cognizant of the fact that social justice and civil liberties are of the utmost importance and that the industry must always take into account the concerns of patients, consumers, voters and their communities at large.

Here’s what TWB had to say about the ICBC:

International Cannabis Business Conference – in it’s first year, right before Oregon legalized marijuana, the International Cannabis Business Conference was held in Portland, Oregon. People came from all over the world to hear world class speakers and reformers. There’s another one coming up in San Francisco, make sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

The ICBC in Portland brought in the outside-the-box speaker choice of Andrew Sullivan, the conservative-libertarian blogger that founded one of the top blog sites in the world, The Dish. Sullivan brought his wit and unique perspective regarding politics and business to the conference. The spirit of the cannabis community reminded him of the gay and lesbian communities that have also been struggling for freedom and equality. While he would consider himself a journalist first, over an entrepreneur, Sullivan had the guts to abandon the security of corporate sponsorship and leap into trusting his brand and that subscribers would be willing to part with their hard-earned money to pay for his blog. Many have, including myself, and his blog has more paid subscribers than any blog in the world.

For an encore, the San Francisco ICBC (#ICBCSF if you are inclined to spread the word on social media), is bringing in Dr. Carl Hart and travel guru Rick Steves. Dr. Hart is one of the most renowned addiction experts of today and he is bringing science to the forefront of political debate, helping end the ignorance around cannabis that permeates all levels of our culture and political discourse, unfortunately. Steves, like Andrew Sullivan, is a self-made business man who self-published his own travel books, putting in years of hard work that ultimately led to his own brand that has spawned numerous bestselling travel books as well as a TV and radio show. These mainstream voices are imperative for the cannabis law reform movement and industry as we still need to alleviate the concerns of mainstream voters.

The ICBC is not about making money without consequences. It is about responsible business practices that will ultimately help end cannabis prohibition while creating jobs and revenue. In the long run, sensible policies and practices will serve businesses better in the long run as we work to legitimize and professionalize the cannabis industry state by state until the cannabis community is equal and free. You can learn more about the ICBC in San Francisco at www.internationalcbc.com; hope to see you in San Francisco or one of our future conferences.

In September 2014, the State of New York legalized medical cannabis via the New York Legislature. It was a very significant victory for the medical cannabis industry and for patients considering how populous of a state New York is. New York recently issued proposed medical cannabis industry regulations. As expected, they are strict, and have a high barrier to enter the New York medical cannabis market. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

Businesses seeking to become one of five companies that will be allowed to operate up to four dispensaries each must pay a $10,000 application fee. They also must submit a $200,000 check for the actual license, though that will be refunded if the application is denied.

If approved, the license would be valid for two years, according to the regulations. Businesses would lose their permit if they don’t start operations within six months of approval.

Each cultivator would be allowed to grow only five strains, which advocates say will limit income for businesses and put undue stress on the industry, making it difficult for the program to move forward.

New York is a great example of what the medical marijuana industry will likely look like in states that legalize medical cannabis in the future. There will be heavy regulations, limits on strains, a small amount of licenses being issued, and hefty fees for those licenses. Compare that to a state like Oregon, which has a $4,000 fee to get a dispensary license, and assuming there is not a moratorium on dispensaries in the city being applied in, there are no limits on the number of licenses that can be issued, nor are there any restrictions on strains or forms of cannabis that can be sold. Over time, states will understand the need for a balanced and sensible regulatory system and many states will have to work out the kinks.

Every industry that experiences too much regulation will be hindered because the increased regulations translate to increased prices. The cannabis industry is not immune to this economic principle. Sure, the cannabis industry needs to be regulated to a certain extent to keep the industry above reproach. However, prices need to be low enough so the regulated system can compete with the unregulated, illicit market. This is even more important when the market is only a medical market and the consumers are patients battling severe and debilitating medical conditions. Minnesota’s medical cannabis regulations are likely to lead to prices so high that many patients will be unable to afford medicine, not to mention unnecessarily limit the size of the industry. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

One of the licensed companies, Minnesota Medical Solutions (MinnMed), said a patient can expect to pay between $100 and $500 a month for its products, while the other, Leafline, will likely offer a month’s supply of cannabis-based medicine for between $250 and $500, according to the AP.

The high pricetags are a direct result of state regulations that prohibit smokeable marijuana and require cannabis to be converted into pills, oils or vapors. Also adding to the cost are tight security requirements, along with transportation costs from production facilities to dispensaries.

States that allow cannabis industry operations need to balance regulations with consumer sticker shock. This goes for medical cannabis regulations as well as adult, social-use cannabis regulations. A good example is Washington and Oregon. Washington has a lot of regulations in place, which has led to prices of upwards of $30 per gram. Compare that to what regulations being proposed in Oregon, which will be far less than what Washington businesses are experiencing, which should result in much lower prices, bringing more people into the licensed and regulated market. Lower prices will lead to more consumers being able to make purchases, which will lead to a larger industry, which will ultimately benefit states in the form of more tax revenue and low-income patients who can’t afford exorbitant prices. States will eventually recognize the economic realities of cannabis, but hopefully too many patients won’t be priced out before more reasonable regulations are implemented. 

The State of Washington voted to legalize recreational cannabis during the 2012 Election. The successful initiative allowed possession of up to one ounce of cannabis, and legalized production, processing, and distribution of recreational cannabis. The initiative did not provide for home cultivation, making an effective retail commercial system a necessity.

Implementation of commercial marijuana sales has been slower and more deliberate in Washington than in Colorado. Whereas legal recreational sales started in Colorado January 1, 2014, legal recreational sales in Washington didn’t start until July 2014. Despite the slower start in Washington, the recreational industry has been growing steadily. November saw Washington experience it’s first one million dollar sales day for regulated adult cannabis sales. Per MJ Headline News:

On Wednesday, November 26^th the state of Washington achieved a milestone the industry has been anticipating for months; the first time single-day recreational cannabis transactions (producer, processor and retail sales) broke the one million dollar barrier. Given this milestone was achieved with 75 retail stores in operation, we can anticipate that this will be a regular occurrence once the majority of the state’s allocated 334 stores are licensed and in operations.

It will be interesting to see what the numbers are once all 334 stores are open and serving customers. It will also be interesting to see how the eventual rollout of cannabis stores in Oregon affects the industry in Washington. Prices for cannabis in Oregon are expected to be significantly lower than they are in Washington, which could result in either lower prices in Washington, or a decrease in business in Washington, especially along the Oregon/Washington border. Regardless of how prices and tax laws shake out, it is clear that Washington is generating new revenue that would otherwise be flowing into an unregulated, untaxed market. 

There are many ancillary benefits to cannabis legalization. When some people think of the benefits of cannabis legalization, they tend to only think about cannabis stores and the tax revenues they generate. However, cannabis legalization has a butterfly effect. Cannabis legalization also boosts other industries, which we are seeing right now in Colorado’s real estate industry. Per Denver Business Journal:

The most visible pot real estate is the retail space in strip malls around the metro area that has gone to house dispensaries, with new operations going up throughout the year as various cities approved the sale of recreational pot.

But the sector of commercial real estate that has felt the biggest impact is industrial properties.

The pot industry is partially to blame for the Denver metro area’s record-low industrial vacancy rate, real estate experts say. Other causes include food distribution companies and a lack of large-enough parcels of land to build new industrial. But as far as Class B industrial space around 50,000 square feet are concerned, marijuana companies are the go-to tenants.

Industrial areas of most cities are dilapidated and run down. Spaces are hard to fill by real estate agents as a result. The cannabis industry is helping to revitalize those areas, and bring much needed jobs. Just about every metro area in the country has vacant industrial buildings due to downward trends in the industries that used to inhabit the facilities. If every state in America followed in Colorado’s footsteps, those industrial facilities could be occupied once again.

Chances are if you watch television, or read magazines, or browse major media websites, you will see advertising for pharmaceutical products. We have all seen the pharmaceutical commercial where the portion of the TV advertisement describing the side effects of the product is longer than the description of the benefits of the product. Such advertising is commonplace, and no one bats an eye. However, in Canada, medical cannabis advertising is so frowned upon that it is essentially going to be banned in the near future. Per Vice:

In a few weeks, Canadian cannabis patients will find it harder than ever to get information about their medicine.

Last month, Health Canada (the federal government’s public health agency) sent a letter to 16 licensed pot producers saying they can’t display photos of plants on their sites, tweet links to articles about the benefits of marijuana, or tell clients what a certain strain tastes, smells, or feels like.

All of that information is advertising, according to the government, and it’s illegal to promote the sale of a narcotic like “marihuana.”

The ban on medical cannabis advertising in Canada is ludicrous. Of course, there can be common sense restrictions that everyone can agree upon as no one is advocating that medical marijuana be marketed to children. However, it doesn’t make sense to ban the advertising of one medicine, when other substances that are more lethal, are allowed to advertise Pharmaceutical drug overdoses kill many people every year in Canada, but cannabis has never caused a fatal overdose, in Canada or anywhere.

Many pharmaceutical commercials contain disclaimers about the deadly side effects that you wonder if you are listening to a Saturday Night Live skit. Alcohol and tobacco are more addictive and dangerous substances and are allowed to advertise, with certain restrictions. So why is medical cannabis being singled out? This ban will hurt patients, in addition to the industry, and that’s unacceptable. Hopefully, common sense rules and regulations will prevail over such Reefer Madness restrictions. 

Cannabis opponents try very hard to make it seem like keeping cannabis prohibition in place is good for society for health reasons. They claim that legalization will result in increased consumption by youth, that it will cause mayhem on public roadways, and it will lead to increased drug use of harder drugs. Never mind the fact that since Colorado has legalized cannabis, youth consumption has decreased and traffic fatalities are at an all time low.

Prohibitionists even claim that ending cannabis prohibition is only about making people rich and ushering in a “Big Marijuana” industry. However, most of the people fighting to end cannabis prohibition are fighting for civil liberties and social justice issues. Not to mention the fact that the cannabis industry is much more likely to follow the microbrewery industry than Big Pharma or Big Tobacco. Ben Cohen co-founder of Ben And Jerry’s Ice Cream, effectively argues that many big money interests are fighting cannabis legalization due to their own financial interests. Per US News & World Report:

The crusaders against weed constitute a long list of suspiciously self-interested folks. Lobbyists work hard to secure for police departments millions of dollars in federal grants towards eradicating weed. Pharmaceutical companies compensate leading anti-marijuana researchers in order to keep their customers on painkillers over cannabis, which is cheaper. The prison-industrial complex would like to keep making money on building more prisons to fill with non-violent grass-smokers.

The alcohol and beer industries have also lobbied for years to keep marijuana illegal because they fear the competition that legalized weed would bring. Howard Wooldridge, an anti-drug war activist and retired cop told the online publication Republic Report: “Marijuana and alcohol compete right today as a product to take the edge off the day at six o’clock.”

Cannabis prohibition has failed in every measurable way. There is simply no logical reason to keep such a failed public policy in place. Doing so harms society, and helps keep cartels in business. It’s time that every state and every country took a new approach to cannabis policy. It’s time to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis so that the emerging cannabis industry can help generate revenues for governments, to free up law enforcement resources so that they can be dedicated to fighting real crime, and to bring much needed jobs to areas that desperately need them.

There are many reasons to support legalizing, regulating and taxing cannabis. For many, it’s civil liberties and social justice. For others, it’s the economic opportunities and new tax revenue. If marijuana sales in Colorado and Washington are any indication, the economics make sense, especially as federal law improves and states improve upon their own rules and regulations.

Retail cannabis sales started in Colorado at the beginning of 2014. Retail cannabis sales didn’t start in Washington until July of 2014. Both states have seen steady sales numbers as the months have gone by, with increases most months over previous months. New numbers are out in both states, which show a huge increase in Washington, and steady sales numbers in Colorado. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

November retail marijuana sales in Washington State rose 24% from the previous month to hit $16 million, boosting excise taxes due to the state to more than $4 million, according to the liquor control board. Revenues and tax collections from recreational cannabis have risen each month since sales beganin early July.

In Colorado, recreational marijuana sales totaled about $30.6 million in October, up about 1.5% from the September total. Medical sales totaled $32 million, up 2% from $31.3 million the previous month.

Alaska, Oregon, and hopefully Washington D.C. will soon be rolling out legal recreational cannabis sales. I’d assume that they will see strong sales numbers too. With those strong sales numbers come much needed jobs, tax revenues, and a boost to local economies. Is there a state in America that can’t use extra tax dollars and jobs? Why isn’t every state in America doing this? It’s likely only a matter of time until the federal government allows for states to more freely implement all of their own marijuana laws and more and more states will want to cash in on the br

On Election Day 2014 Alaska voters approved a cannabis legalization initiative. The campaign slogan that the initiative was based upon was ‘regulate marijuana like alcohol.’ The Alaskan Alcoholic Beverage Control Board was the default governing agency that would oversee cannabis legalization implementation and regulation. However, at least on lawmaker in Alaska wants to see a completely new control board oversee cannabis in Alaska. Per ADN.Com:

McGuire said Thursday she intends to introduce legislation that would create a marijuana control board charged with crafting and implementing marijuana rules. McGuire, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to make it clear that the Legislature will be addressing marijuana legalization. With that, she feels the first step is creating a separate board to regulate the substance.

The authority to do that is one of the few clear requests Ballot Measure 2 specifically makes of the Legislature. However, it only indicates that it “may create” the board — not that it must. Per the initiative, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is in charge of marijuana unless a new organization is formed. With the board moving swiftly, some involved in marijuana legalization find themselves mulling whether a separate board should exist.

Taylor Bickford said the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska is still analyzing the pros and cons of whether to create a marijuana control board. Jeff Jessee, CEO of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and a volunteer with the group opposing Ballot Measure 2, said he has no stance either way on whether the ABC Board or a newly created board should handle marijuana rules.

So far, Colorado is considered to be the best standard of successful cannabis legalization implementation as Washington State has taken a much more deliberate approach. However, it’s worth noting that Colorado already had a system in place for medical cannabis sales, unlike Washington. Oregon’s Measure 91 also tabbed the state’s liquor control board to regulate marijuana, while keeping medical marijuana sales under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Health Authority.

Alaska, like Washington, also didn’t regulate medical marijuana sales first. Will Alaska ultimately create a new governing agency specifically for cannabis, or will they keep alcohol and marijuana under the same regulatory banner? Only time will tell, and it’s a situation worth monitoring. Creating a completely new control board could potentially delay implementation in Alaska.

Internal Revenue Code section 280E denies deductions or credits for expenses in a business involving drugs “prohibited by Federal law or the law of any State in which such trade or business is conducted.” 280E reform is vital if the cannabis industry is ever going to reach its full potential. The section of the tax code known as 280E results in many state-legal cannabis businesses having to pay taxes on their expenses, unlike other non-cannabis businesses. This can result in tax rates of 70 to 85 percent of profits for most of the cannabis industry. For at least one cannabis store in Washington, Cannabis City, 280E rules are hampering success. Per Crosscut.Com:

As of Dec. 4, Cannabis City owed $631,171, one quarter of the shop’s $2,524,685 in total sales, to the state in the form of excise tax, according to state Liquor Control Board figures. Because of the 280E provision this excise tax expense cannot be written off. The Internal Revenue Service would view the $631,171 as income and tax it accordingly.

“I’m being taxed on the tax I’m paying the state of Washington,” Lathrop said.

Dean Guske is an accountant who has about 150 clients in the cannabis industry. He sees the excise tax as a critical challenge for Washington’s marijuana businesses.

“I would say that the biggest problem right now under 502 is the current structure of the excise tax,” he said, referring to Initiative 502, the ballot measure that voters approved in 2012 legalizing recreational marijuana in Washington. “It’s making it extremely difficult for retailers in particular to really be profitable.”

280E reform is not a sexy issue to people that aren’t directly involved in the cannabis industry, and the federal government knows that. Unlike SWAT raids which involve a lot of guns blazing and doors being kicked in which the media loves to cover, 280E reform is boring tax stuff to most people. However, if the cannabis industry is ever to reach its full potential, 280E reform needs to be addressed. The cannabis industry can still be profitable without it, but much less so than if cannabis businesses were allowed to operate on an even playing field with like other industries.