Tag: legalized marijuana

Michigan Lawmakers Embrace Marijuana Tax Hike Plan Proposed By Governor

Michigan Senate Democrats are reportedly moving toward implementing a major tax hike on marijuana that was previously proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).

While no legislation to effectuate the policy change has been filed yet, the plan is to impose a 32 percent wholesale excise tax on cannabis—which would be in addition to the existing 16 percent in taxes that are placed on marijuana at the retail level.

The governor said in February that the proposal would “close a loophole that exempted the marijuana industry from wholesale tax, which is applied to similar smoking products, like cigarettes, and other tobacco items.” Aligning those tax policies, her office said, could help the state fund plans to “fix the damn roads for generations to come.”

“After voters legalized marijuana, the industry has grown exponentially thanks in part to Michigan’s industry-friendly taxes, the fourth lowest in the nation,” the governor said at the time. “The industry, which recorded billions in sales in 2024, uses Michigan roads to transport marijuana multiple times throughout the process, including to grow operations, testing labs, distribution hubs, and finally retail stores. This will add an additional $470 million to help fix roads across the state.”

It would also effectively double the total tax rate on cannabis in Michigan, which advocates say would unfairly burden businesses and consumers.

“Michigan’s cannabis consumers already pay more than their fair share of taxes. They should not be singled out to bear the costs of ‘fixing the damn roads,’” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment.

“Michigan’s excise taxes are about 10 times as high on cannabis as they are on alcohol,” she said. “Gov. Whitmer’s proposal would roughly double the tax burden on consumers, many of whom are medical patients who are struggling to make ends meet.”

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Huge legal cannabis farm told to cut smell or risk closure

A massive legal cannabis farm in the Netherlands has been told to reduce the odor coming from its facility or risk closure after more than 2,000 complaints from hundreds of residents, according to a regional Dutch environmental agency.

If the farm fails to sufficiently limit the smell, CanAdelaar – the company that operates the farm – could face fines of up to €3.5 million ($4.1 million) or risk being shut down, local authorities said after a court ruling earlier this week.

The farm is located west of the Netherlands’ second largest city Rotterdam. It opened in 2023 as part of a government scheme permitting several companies to grow cannabis under strict conditions, said DCMR Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors the business on behalf of the municipality of Voorne aan Zee, where the farm is located.

Reports of “odor nuisance” were received immediately after the farm’s opening, DCMR said in a statement first published in December but amended Wednesday.

“By August 2025, DCMR had received approximately 2,000 reports from nearly 300 different residents,” the agency said. Rotterdam’s judiciary court said in a statement Wednesday that more than 2,000 complaints had been filed.

The company has previously promised to implement “odor mitigation measures” to tackle the issue, according to DCMR.

According to DCMR, inspectors observed “odor nuisance” during multiple inspections and concluded that the company was “not always” complying with the appropriate regulations. As a result, Voorne aan Zee municipality imposed customized regulations on the farm to reduce odor, DCMR said.

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Canada’s Experience Provides Evidence Marijuana Legalization Doesn’t Fuel Gun Violence

On Fox News this week, Laura Ingraham and Alex Berenson pushed the narrative that marijuana use is fueling violent crime and mass shootings, with Berenson claiming cannabis is regularly found in autopsies and warning that rescheduling would put “public safety at stake.” It’s a familiar line from prohibition-era talking points — and one that falls apart when you look at Canada.

Canada legalized recreational marijuana for adults 18 and older in October 2018. In the years since, millions of Canadians have consumed marijuana legally, with usage rates climbing steadily. If marijuana truly triggered psychosis and mass violence on the scale Ingraham and Berenson suggest, Canada would have seen a dramatic rise in gun deaths and shootings. That hasn’t happened.

Statistics Canada data shows the homicide rate in 2019 — the first full year after legalization — actually declined slightly from 2018. Gun deaths have fluctuated year-to-year, but there has been no sudden increase linked to cannabis policy, with mass shootings remain exceedingly rare. The country’s worst modern mass shooting, in Nova Scotia in 2020, involved illegal firearms and police have confirmed that it had nothing to do with marijuana. In response, Canada tightened gun laws further, banning more than 1,500 models of assault-style weapons.

Meanwhile, cannabis consumption has grown. Surveys show that adult use climbed from around 22% in 2018 to about 27% in 2021. Emergency room visits related to cannabis rose somewhat, but public health experts attribute this to more people being willing to disclose use, not to a sudden surge in dangerous outcomes.

In short, Canada provides years of data proving that legalizing marijuana does not drive psychosis-fueled gun deaths or mass shootings. Claims to the contrary are rhetoric, not reality.

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Analysis: Marijuana Retailers Not Associated With Increased Prevalence of Motor Vehicle Accidents

The opening of marijuana retailers is not associated with any immediate increases in motor vehicle accidents, according to data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.

Yale University researchers assessed motor vehicle crash data for the weeks prior to and after the adoption of adult-use marijuana legalization in Connecticut. They also compared motor vehicle crash data during the same period with that of a control state (Maryland). 

Researchers reported “no significant changes” in the prevalence of either statewide accidents (compared to Maryland) or local (within proximity to dispensaries) accidents.

“Here we show that the introduction of recreational cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut did not lead to a significant rise in MVA [motor vehicle accident] rates statewide or at the local level near cannabis dispensaries,” the study’s authors concluded. “The lack of substantial differences in crash rates within the eight weeks before and after recreational dispensary openings suggests that dispensaries may not be a relevant determinant of traffic safety in the proximity of these outlets.”

The study’s findings are consistent with those of a three-year analysis of motor vehicle crash data from Washington state, which reported “no statistically significant impact of cannabis sales on serious injury/fatal crashes” following retail commercialization. By contrast, assessments from other states evaluating longer-term trends in traffic safety following legalization have yielded mixed results. 

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California’s Small Cannabis Farmers Have Been Left High and Dry

Dan Golden has been growing weed for almost 20 years. As he hand-watered his plants on his 70-acre farm, he maintained a firm stare. He’s long abstained from alcohol—ever since his daughter was born—and his daily routine begins at 6 am. “This is life or death for me. I’ve never done anything else,” said Golden. The property is seated in a narrow valley in Humboldt County, California, a three-hour drive from the nearest store in Garberville, with large rock outcroppings running east to west. Before 2020, he owned the land outright, but four years ago, he was forced to refinance it to pay for the exorbitant fees and permits required to be a compliant legal cannabis farmer.

Cannabis has long been part of counterculture in America, and arguably no place and its peoples have done more to fuel the evolution of the plant and its mythos than Humboldt County. And yet, perversely, no place has been as left behind by legalization.

Through a series of broken promises, legislative missteps, and onerous compliance measures, the small, legacy farmers once on the front lines of normalizing marijuana for decades have been snuffed out. Now their communities are suffering. “Everyone thinks: Growing weed, that must be fun,” Golden said. “They don’t know how hard it is.”

Since 2016, when cannabis was voted legal for adult use by ballot measure, the market has been rife with snafus in California. Promises to protect those that gave rise to the industry fell flat; instead, these farmers have been met with byzantine laws, expensive permit fees, regulations, and taxes that have hampered their ability to stay competitive in open markets. Most attempts to aid craft cultivators have failed or have been denied, and many farmers say the July 1 increase of the California cannabis excise tax—from 15 percent to 19 percent—could be yet another crushing blow. Though Governor Gavin Newsom said he’d sign a freeze of the increased excise tax if it reached his desk, legislators have so far failed to act.

Many of the players have since quit the game altogether. Agricultural real estate prices have tumbled in Humboldt County as local businesses not directly associated with cannabis try to hold on in the shifting economic landscape. Meanwhile, mega-cannabis corporations dominate the market with questionable labor practices and deflated prices meant to eliminate competition. In typical corporate-capture fashion, these companies have pushed out competitors by sheer scale, lowering their prices so no one else can survive, then, once they’re the only ones left standing, they’re able to jack the prices back up.

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Minnesota Marijuana Businesses Say Tax Increase Could Drive Consumers To The Illegal Market

A last-minute tax hike on cannabis products passed as part of Minnesota lawmakers’ special session budget compromise may prove to be a boon to illicit dealers.

That’s according to cannabis industry experts, business owners, and at least one prominent DFL lawmaker who say the state’s relatively high cannabis tax will give consumers reason to avoid regulated, legal dispensaries in favor of informal sources on the black market.

Minnesota’s 15 percent state tax on marijuana and other cannabis products is among the highest in the country, trailing only Arizona (16 percent), Oregon (17 percent), California (19 percent), and Washington (37 percent).

“I thought it was the wrong thing to do, increasing the tax,” said Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, chair of the Senate Tax Committee. “What we saw in California is that the high tax on legitimate cannabis leads straight to the black market. And I’m very concerned that that’s going to have the same or similar impact here.”

How do Minnesota taxes compare to other states?

Minnesota’s cannabis tax was initially set at 10 percent. The increase was a product of bipartisan budget negotiations between Gov. Tim Walz, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and the late Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park. The leaders stepped in to try to forge a compromise on the state’s budget after months of gridlock in the Legislature due to a tied House and a one-seat DFL majority in the Senate.

At the time, Demuth said the tax increase was simply “rightsizing” the tax rate to be more in line with other states’ rates. But, research by the Tax Foundation shows that the new rate puts Minnesota above the median tax rate for states that have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana.

Of those 23 states, 14 have a lower cannabis tax than Minnesota. There are nuances, like Illinois’ higher tax on edibles and concentrates compared to marijuana flowers, as well as two states that tax by weight rather than price.

This doesn’t account for Minnesota’s sales tax of 6.875 percent, and any local taxes. In Minneapolis, state, county, and city sales taxes are 9.03 percent. Add that to the cannabis tax and you end up with an effective tax rate of over 24 percent on cannabis products sold in the city.

“I’ve had people pick out their products, ring them up, and then when they hear the final price, they just walk out the door,” said Mark Eide, owner of In-Dispensary, the first recreational dispensary licensed in Minneapolis.

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Trump’s Pick For Traffic Safety Agency Will ‘Double Down’ On Marijuana-Impaired Driving Warnings As More States Legalize

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a key federal traffic safety agency says he’s prepared to “double down” on increasing awareness about the risk of marijuana-impaired driving in partnership with the White House.

During a Senate committee hearing, the nominee to serve as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Jonathan Morrison, was pressed on the need to develop technology to detect impairment from THC and also educate the public about the issue.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who has long focused on promoting public safety around cannabis and driving, noted at the hearing that while there’s a national standard for assessing alcohol impairment, “currently, there is no uniform national standard to measure marijuana impairment.”

“Creating a national standard marijuana impairment is going to ease the burden of law enforcement, prosecutions, help clarify legal requirements for states and, without question, save countless lives,” the senator said.

The NHTSA nominee agreed and added that he feels “there isn’t necessarily public consciousness that when people are using marijuana, that it has an impairing effect on their ability to drive a vehicle.”

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Federal Agent Warns DC Residents Trump Is ‘Tired Of’ Public Marijuana Consumption Amid ‘Surge’ To Combat Crime In Nation’s Capitol

President Donald Trump is “tired of” marijuana and alcohol being consumed in public, a federal agent told a group of people sitting on a porch in Washington, D.C. in a video that was highlighted by Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver.

As the National Guard and multiple federal agencies—including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—take part in the federalization of law enforcement in the District of Columbia, there was one interaction over the weekend that caught national attention.

In the clip featured on Oliver’s HBO show Last Week Tonight, an agent approached a group, apparently on suspicion that they were publicly using cannabis outside their residence.

“We’re doing checks, keeping everybody safe down here,” the agent said, asking if they had “heard of the federal surge that Donald Trump’s putting out.”

He was referencing an executive action that activated the National Guard and other agencies to participate in policing in the nation’s Capitol, with the aim of tackling violent crime. Local officials have disputed the justification for the “surge,” pointing to lower-than-average crime rates in D.C. in recent years.

But as federal agents swept the streets of D.C.—which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday resulted in 465 arrests over about two weeks—questions are being raised about the nature of the crimes those officers were targeting.

Oliver said that “the purest expression” of the disconnect was “this cringe-inducing encounter where a group of agents approach a man they mistakenly think is smoking marijuana on his back porch, which, by the way, is completely legal in D.C.”

(For the record, possession of limited amounts of marijuana by adults is legal in the District under a voter-approved law—but public consumption is prohibited.)

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Anti-Marijuana Groups Narc On D.C. Dispensaries In Letter To Trump, Saying They Are Too Close To Schools

Anti-marijuana organizations are formally narcing on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in Washington, D.C.—sending a letter to President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District of Columbia officials.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin Sabet and the head of a D.C. organization called “1000 Feet” recently sent the letter to the White House and DOJ, saying they “support prioritizing public safety and reducing drug use in the District of Columbia.”

This comes as the president considers a proposal to federally reschedule cannabis, which he said last week will be decided imminently. The issue has divided key voices in the MAGA world, and SAM is among the most vocal opponents of the reform.

But as Trump has moved to federalize D.C. law enforcement by putting DOJ and the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in positions of power to subvert local police control, the letter from the anti-cannabis groups encourages the administration to address the “ongoing lawlessness” allegedly associated with certain marijuana businesses in the jurisdiction.

Specifically, they say that over the last two years, “the DC government has licensed marijuana retailers to operate in close proximity to several elementary schools and daycare centers, over the strenuous objections of parents and educators, and in blatant violation of the Federal Drug-Free School Zones Act.”

The groups said that while they were “pleased” to see former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin “take initial steps against one of the worst offenders” by threatening a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution back in March, “we have not seen any public progress since then.”

Martin, for his part, has since been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. pardon attorney.

“We hope the initiative you announced this week will provide another opportunity for you to protect the District’s children by taking swift action to close down all the offending marijuana retailers near schools and to inform the DC government that any further licensing of retailers at locations in violation of the Federal Drug-Free School Zones Act will be treated as a criminal conspiracy,” SAM and 1000 Feet said in the letter, which was sent on Friday.

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Is Cannabis Really Legal If You Can’t Grow Your Own Weed?

For many, the cannabis policy reform movement is rooted in the quest for personal liberty. Legalization isn’t just about getting high; it’s about being able to live your life the way you want to live it.

In too many places, however, the legalization of cannabis does not include the freedom to grow the plant. Instead, cannabis patients and consumers are forced to participate in an overregulated and overtaxed market that not everyone can afford.

The Freedom To Grow Depends on Where You Live

A total of 25 states with legal weed have also legalized home cultivation, either for medical cannabis patients or all adults aged 21 and older, according to information from cannabis reform advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). But 15 states that have legalized pot (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and West Virginia) still forbid home cultivation. Most of these states have only legalized cannabis for medical use. Delaware and New Jersey, however, have legalized recreational use but don’t allow home cultivation.

Additionally, some states that have legalized home cannabis cultivation for some still deny many adults the right to grow. In Illinois and Washington, home cultivation has only been legalized for medical cannabis patients, while in Nevada, only those who live more than 25 miles from a licensed dispensary can grow their own weed.

The fact that so many states that have legalized marijuana still deny the people the right to grow plants at home raises a fundamental question. Is cannabis really legal if you can’t grow your own weed? 

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