Tag: legalized marijuana

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.

Keep reading

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.”

Keep reading

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.)

Keep reading

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.

Keep reading

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? 

Keep reading

13 Minnesota Cities Are Looking To Launch Government-Owned Marijuana Stores

As some Minnesota cities fret over regulating newly legalized and normalized marijuana sales, others see an opportunity.

Elk River is among 13 Minnesota cities considering opening municipally owned cannabis stores. They would be blazing new trails in this regard, as government-run pot shops aren’t currently in use anywhere else in the country. City Administrator Cal Portner talks about Elk River’s approach as making the most of a situation.

“I don’t sense that our council is enthusiastic about the law to legalize, but they’re accepting of reality,” he said.

Revenue potential from cannabis sales, and how it can be put to use in the community, is part of the appeal. Assuring compliance is also part of it.

“Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor,” Portner said. “We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry.”

Keep reading

Another powerful Democrat nabbed by U.S. Attorney Leah Foley

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has become the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s worst nightmare.

Foley nabbed yet another powerful Democratic elected official on Friday, indicting longtime Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins for extorting a Boston cannabis company executive.

Tompkins, who has loomed large on the Boston political scene, allegedly demanded a $50,000 “pre-equity interest” in the cannabis company right before it went public with an IPO, according to Foley’s office.

“His alleged actions are an affront to taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department,” Foley said in a statement.

Tompkins is the most prominent Democrat in a string of indictments that Foley has secured this year, including Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson on a bribery charge and state Rep. Chris Flanagan on wire fraud.

Anderson eventually resigned in disgrace and is awaiting sentencing. Flanagan is still holding on to his seat in the Legislature.

Foley has single-handedly done more damage to the state Democratic Party than the feeble Massachusetts Republican Party.

She has been a breath of fresh air in this politically corrupt state, doing the job because few have the guts to take on the powerful Democratic establishment.

“Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain,” Foley said.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell has been a no-show when it comes to prosecuting political corruption, choosing instead to issue frivolous lawsuits against President Donald Trump.

The Tompkins case exposes the continued culture of corruption in Massachusetts politics. It also exposes the corrupt cannabis industry, where a number of politicians have tried to cash in on the lucrative business.

Tompkins’ predecessor in the Sheriff’s office, Andrea Cabral, left to become a top executive for a Boston area cannabis company, Ascend Cannabis, which looms as a likely player in the Tompkins case.

The indictment charges that Tompkins tried to bully a cannabis executive to give him the early $50,000 equity stake in exchange for cooperating in a program the Suffolk Sheriff’s office was participating in with the company. The company was hiring ex-cons from jail to work for the cannabis firm.

The indictment never names the cannabis company or executive, but according to a 2018 story in the Boston Globe, Cabral’s company “plans to work directly with the Suffolk County Sheriff to hire people recently released from jail as workers at its facilities.”

Cabral and Tompkins were also college classmates and close friends, according to the story.

Tompkins “is downright enthusiastic about the partnership,” the fawning Globe story went on to say.

“We’re a nation of second chances, or at least that’s what they used to tell us,” Tompkins was quoted as saying. “If someone who hasn’t had good opportunities in life can catch on and make a decent living? It’s awesome. There’s no squeamishness on my part at all.”

Now we know just why Tompkins wasn’t so “squeamish.” He was allegedly planning to make a pile of cash on the deal as well.

Keep reading

FBI Arrests Sanctuary County Sheriff in Massachusetts After Cannabis Retailer Extortion Investigation

The FBI announced the arrest of a sheriff from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on charges of extortion. The arrest of the immigration sanctuary county sheriff follows an investigation into allegations that he extorted $50,000 from a Boston-based cannabis company.

FBI agents arrested Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins on Friday in the Southern District of Florida, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He will be transported to Boston after an appearance in the Florida federal court.

Tompkins is charged by indictment for two counts of Extortion under Color of Official Right. He allegedly extorted $50,000 from the owner of a national cannabis retailer based in Boston.

“Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks said in a written statement. “Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself.”

Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding – not self-serving,” Docks said. “His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better.”

Court records reveal that the cannabis company sought to open a retail cannabis dispensary in Boston. Following the application with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, Sheriff Tompkins allegedly pressured one of the owners to obtain stock in the venture. After increasing pressure from the sheriff, he wired a $50,000 payment for shares in the company.

The stock eventually decreased in value to the point that the sheriff allegedly lost money in his investment and demanded a refund of the $50,000. The individual refunded the money in smaller payments, labeling them as “loan repayments” to disguise the nature of the payments, prosecutors stated.

Keep reading

Opening Legal Marijuana Dispensaries Is Tied To A Huge Drop In Opioid-Related Deaths, Analysis Finds

Counties that have marijuana dispensaries see an average of 30 percent fewer opioid-related deaths compared to counties without legal cannabis shops open, suggesting a substitution effect away from prescription pills and heroin toward the plant-based treatment, according to a new data analysis.

In a Washington Post piece on Wednesday, Harvard University economics student Julien Berman used data from the University of Michigan that identifies dispensary locations at the county level to compare opioid overdose trends over 10 years in jurisdictions where cannabis became legally available compared to those without regulated access.

“The theory is straightforward: making cannabis more available—and reducing its cost—could induce people to shift from opioids, which are super dangerous, to marijuana, a significantly safer alternative,” Berman said. “Existing opioid users seeking pain relief can choose marijuana instead of heroin, especially in counties where recreational use is legal and access is easy. And new potential users might never turn to opioids at all if they could get marijuana instead.”

Other factors were taken into account to support the conclusion, including comparisons of opioid mortality rates in counties within a legal state where some allow retailers to operate and others have chosen to opt out.

“That kind of variation helps rule out other state-level changes such as expanded access to naloxone—a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose—as the main cause of the drop in deaths,” Berman said.

On average, the opioid death rates following the establishment of cannabis dispensaries declined more sharply in the immediate years after the opening compared to dry counties. But from years five to 10, there’s a more precipitous effect, with an average rate of 27 percent fewer opioid deaths in jurisdictions that have cannabis storefronts after a decade.

Keep reading

Supreme Court to Take Up Ban on Gun Ownership for Marijuana Users

The Supreme Court will consider hearing a gun control case related to a federal ban on firearm possession by marijuana users.

The high court is reportedly expected to have a private discussion on whether it will take up the case of US v. Cooper on September 29. The law has been roundly criticized by gun rights advocates who argue that it is a violation of the Second Amendment.

The case centers on LaVance LeMarr Cooper, who was prosecuted for owning a firearm as a marijuana user, which made him a “prohibited person” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), a federal criminal statute that bars certain people from owning firearms or ammunition.

This subsection targets those who unlawfully use controlled substances.

A police officer pulled Cooper over in Iowa during a traffic stop. They found a loaded Glock 20 in his vehicle. He did not have any felony convictions, but did have a misdemeanor conviction in 1996 for driving with a suspended license and marijuana possession.

Cooper later admitted to smoking marijuana on a regular basis — about three to four times per week. Prosecutors charged him with violating the federal statute. He waived his right to a jury trial and consented to a bench trial. This means he did not dispute that he owned a firearm while being a marijuana user.

The district court found him guilty on both counts and sentences him to over three years in prison  for the offenses — even though he was not intoxicated at the time of the traffic stop.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in February vacated Cooper’s convicted and remanded the case. The panel rules that the lower court failed to properly apply the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in Cooper’s case.

Keep reading