STATE TAX
Title: Pushing marijuana back into the shadows with high taxes
Author: Orange County Register
Date: 11 November 2017
URL: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/11/pushing-marijuana-back-into-the-shadows-with-high-taxes/
Extract: A global credit rating agency says taxes on recreational marijuana in California could reach 45 percent in some places, high enough to keep the thriving black market in business despite legalization.
The report by Fitch Ratings, “Local Taxes May Challenge Cannabis Legalization in California,” warns that state and local taxes may combine to threaten the government revenue expected from the sale of legalized cannabis and cannabis products. The recreational use of the drug will be legal in California starting Jan. 1 under Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, passed by voters last November.
The state will levy a tax of 15 percent on the purchase of all marijuana, including the sale of medical pot. Many local governments are still working out how best to cash in. Voters in the city of Salinas approved a tax of up to $25 per square foot of space used for cultivating, while further north, Humboldt County is more grower-friendly with a the cultivation tax that tops out at $3 per square foot.
Title: California Could Tax the Daylights out of Marijuana Consumers
Author: Madison.com
Date: 12 November 2017
Extract:
Of course, California isn’t the only major economy trying to implement legal weed into the mix. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, is aiming to become the first developed country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana by July 1, 2018. While Canada has leaned on the expertise of states like Colorado, Oregon, and Washington in crafting its recreational weed legislation, it set its tax policy in marked contrast to these states.
According to Canadian officials, the proposed tax rate would be $1 per gram, or $0.78 in U.S. dollars, on marijuana sales costing up to $10 a gram (or $7.80 U.S.). For more expensive marijuana, the tax is a flat 10%. This actually works out to a lower tax rate than on alcohol in Canada, and it winds up pricing legal marijuana very similarly to black-market weed. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau understands that the best way to remove the black market element is to be competitive on pricing, which he’s done w
CHINO
Title: Chino council considers cannabis ordinance
Author: Champion Newspapers
Date: 11 November 2017
URL: http://www.championnewspapers.com/news/article_1683ffa8-c659-11e7-b6e6-53bd56a06a43.html
Extract: Everything grows in Chino, but if you want to grow personal use marijuana in the city, you will have to grow it indoors.
Residents are limited to six plants.
Those specifications were part of an ordinance approved by the Chino city council Tuesday, following the passage of Proposition 64 last November by California voters, allowing recreational and medicinal marijuana use legally in the state.
LONG BEACH
Title: Long Beach to decide whether to allow sale of recreational marijuana
Author: Press Telegram.com
Date: 10 November 2017
Extract: The Long Beach City Council has two options on Tuesday: Direct the city attorney to draft an ordinance banning the retail sale, cultivation, distribution and laboratory testing of adult-use marijuana; or request the city manager develop a policy to allow it, and put on hold any sales until that process is complete. Staff offers no recommendation, but outlines a number of issues that need to be resolved if the city wants to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, including the number of dispensaries that would be allowed, where they would be allowed and what requirements might be imposed. Staff also recommends that if the city allows recreational marijuana, these businesses should “co-locate” with establishments that are licensed to sell medical marijuana. After years of debate and legal wrangling — and ultimately after local voters passed a law in November 2016 allowing the sale of medical marijuana — Long Beach recently has begun doling out permits for addresses where medical marijuana dispensaries can open. Long Beach’s first licensed medical marijuana dispensary opened in late September. A maximum of 32 medical marijuana dispensaries could open in Long Beach, under the voter-passed law.
MARIN COUNTY
Title: Marijuana Delivery Trucks Could Come To Marin County Supervisors will consider an ordinance that allows licensing of delivery-only medicinal marijuana businesses
Author: Patch.com
Date: 11 November 2017
URL: https://patch.com/california/novato/marijuana-delivery-trucks-could-come-marin-county
Extract: Marin County’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider an ordinance that allows licensing of delivery-only medicinal marijuana businesses. The ordinance requires a retailer to be closed to the public and dispense medicinal marijuana exclusively by delivery.
Delivery-only retailers would have to be located at least 600 feet from schools, day care centers, youth centers and playgrounds. The locations could be in industrial zones, office properties and commercial zones.
The proposed ordinance would replace a dispensary ordinance that was adopted in 2015.
The delivery-only ordinance would affect medicinal marijuana regulations in the unincorporated areas of the county. Towns and cities could create their own regulations, although Fairfax has a permitted medicinal cannabis businesses operation.
SACRAMENTO
Title: Think you’ll be able to buy recreational marijuana in Sacramento Jan. 1? Think again
Author: Sacramento Bee
Date: 10 November 2017
URL: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/california-weed/article183986026.html#storylink=cpy
Extract: Sacramento and Davis may allow dispensaries to sell pot to adults for recreational use, while other cities and counties already have voted against allowing retail sales. The city of Sacramento is the only place in the region planning to allow commercial cultivation of recreational pot, although Yolo County is permitting commercial growing of medical marijuana.
The Sacramento City Council expects to discuss retail sales and delivery at its Nov. 28 meeting. At least some of the city’s 30 medical marijuana dispensaries are interested in selling recreational weed, said the city’s pot czar, Joe Devlin. Delivery companies also are interested in selling pot, and they could become dispensaries without a storefront, he said.
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