HIGHTIMES IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY AND THE LEGALISATION
Marijuana is the world's most widely farmed, trafficked, and used substance, and as the drive for legalization develops at home and internationally, it's attracting a lot of interest from investors, producers, and academics. Despite the plant being illegal under federal law as a Schedule I drug, the U.S. legal marijuana industry was estimated at $13.6 billion in 2019 with 340,000 jobs devoted to the handling of plants, according to New Frontier Data.
A total of 35 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use, 16 of which allow adults to legally use the substance for recreational use as of April 2021. And that number may continue to rise, as more people are accepting the idea of legalizing marijuana across the United States.
In the midst of the pandemic, the cannabis industry is booming.
As a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, every sector of the US economy has faced tremendous upheaval. As a necessary service, the cannabis sector has proven to be robust, and it is ideally positioned as state legislators seek to encourage growth in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The pandemic's worry, as well as the market sell-off that followed in March, as well as civil instability across the country, have resulted in strong product demand. According to Marijuana Business Factbook, the entire economic impact of the cannabis sector in the United States will be $71.4 billion in 2021 and might reach $106.4 billion in 2024. We fully expect that tax revenue derived from the legalization of cannabis will provide the economic boost that local governments will need to help recover from the economic damage caused by the pandemic, just as it did after the prohibition of alcohol helped the United States recover from the Great Depression.
Marylanders are showing their strongest support for cannabis legalization ever.
Two-thirds of Marylanders — more residents than ever — support the legalization of recreational or adult-use cannabis, according to new polling data released Tuesday by Goucher College.
Public support for legalizing recreational marijuana has grown steadily across Maryland, which has been home to a legal medical cannabis market since 2016. Although polls have consistently shown that a majority of residents in the state favor fully legalized sale and use of the drug, the most recent poll showed the strongest level of support recorded since the Goucher College Poll started measuring legalization opinions in October 2013.
Two years ago, Goucher polling showed 57% of Maryland residents supported legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, and 37% opposed it. Those percentages have shifted to about 67% in support, and 28% opposed in 2021.
Notably, this year is also the first that legalization support broke the 50% mark among the state's Republican party, which has historically demonstrated the lowest levels of support for the issue.
"Some clear divisions in support along partisan lines remain, but more Republicans than not now support legalization for the first time on a Goucher College Poll," Goucher wrote in a report on the latest polling data.
The poll was overseen by the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College. It collected responses from 725 adults in Maryland in February, via random digit dialing phone surveys. It has a reported margin of error of plus or minus 3.8%.
Here is the breakdown of legalization support by party affiliation:
Among Democrats: 77% support; 18% oppose
Among Republicans: 50% support; 47% oppose
Among Independents: 60% support; 34% oppose
This year's polling results come as state lawmakers are making yet another push to legalize recreational cannabis in the Maryland General Assembly. A pair of bills, House Bill 32 (HB32) and Senate Bill 708 (SB708), represent the latest attempts at fully sanctioning the possession, cultivation and use of marijuana. Those bills recommend making it legal for state residents aged 21 and older to possess cannabis for personal or recreational use, and also lay out parameters for expanding economic opportunities for minority residents in the industry, and for repairing some of the damage that has been done to certain communities by marijuana criminalization.
Recreational cannabis legalization has also gained significant momentum nationwide. Four states voted to legalize the drug by ballot measure this past November. And this year, New Jersey and Virginia have both passed new adult-use marijuana legalization laws.
Marijuana Sales Could Finally Become Legal in DC
Mayor Bowser just introduced legislation that would take effect in 2022.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced legislation today that would legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in DC. Should it be passed by the end of the year, legal cannabis sales could be expected to start in October 2022.
Sales would be restricted to people 21 and older, and would be taxed at 17 percent. That revenue would be reinvested into communities that have been disproportionately affected by the criminalization of cannabis. The bill also requires the automatic expungement of records for certain cannabis convictions.
“This is about safety, equity, and justice,” said Bowser in a press release. “Through this legislation, we can fulfill the will of DC voters, reduce barriers for entering the cannabis industry, and invest in programs that serve residents and neighborhoods hardest hit by the criminalization of marijuana.”
Bowser introduced similar legislation in 2019 that ultimately failed to come to fruition. Since 2014, Congress has imposed a rider on DC’s appropriations bill prohibiting the District government from using any funds toward cannabis legalization. Under current District law, residents are allowed to grow and possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, but they cannot legally purchase the it.
D.C. Gears Up for Adult-Use Cannabis Sales
What’s the current status of cannabis in D.C.?
D.C. legalized cannabis with its Initiative 71, which passed in 2014 and went into effect in February 2015. The new law allowed adult residents to possess up to two ounces of cannabis, grow up to six plants at home and consume on private property. Residents are also allowed to “gift” someone up to an ounce, but sales of any amount are prohibited thanks to the infamous “Harris Rider,” a provision blocking D.C. cannabis sales which for years was added onto the federal budget by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).
The prohibition on sales has created an industry of discrete “pop-up” marketplaces, often staged at a private residence or other location revealed only to attendees. Though these underground “dispensaries” are often heavily-guarded, they are also frequent targets of police raids and violent crime, particularly robbery, since perpetrators know vendors are in a legal grey area and unlikely to call the police or report the incident.
Recent movement on D.C. cannabis sales
Early in 2021, the government moved to rectify the situation through local legislation. Two separate bills have been introduced: Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Safe Cannabis Sales Act of 2021, and Councilmember Phil Mendelson’s Comprehensive Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Act of 2021.
The bills are similar but contain some important differences. Mayor Bowser’s bill sets specific caps on the amount of revenue to be put towards community grants and business startup assistance, while Councilman Mendelson’s bill devotes 50% of cannabis revenue into a Community Reinvestment Fund and 30% into a Social Equity Fund to provide loans and assistance to social equity license applicants. The Mayor’s bill also limits license types to just five kinds, although both bills create microbusiness license categories. Bowser’s bill also has a higher tax rate at 17%, compared to 13% in Mendelson’s proposal.
