Interstate commerce is the biggest issue in cannabis, but hardly anyone knows it. Find out where we are, where we’re going, why and how.
With @CAcannabisdept’s General Counsel Matt Lee, @crc_coalition’s Rafi Crockett, @THATadamsmith and @_Marc_Hauser_ https://t.co/J0tfnx77RK
— SensibleMarkets (@statescantwait) May 11, 2023
If you need the background the best place, as always, is MM
All three western coastal states—California, Oregon and Washington State—have enacted legislation that would authorize governors to enter into agreements with other legal states to allow marijuana imports and exports once federal policy changes. California’s law also uniquely contains a provision to trigger that authorization if the state attorney general issues an opinion that interstate activity wouldn’t create a significant risk of federal enforcement action.
Matt Lee, general counsel of California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), said that restricting marijuana markets within state lines is economically untenable.
“If the Michigan auto industry could only sell cars to people in Michigan, or Florida orange growers could only sell oranges to people in Florida or if the California wine industry could only sell wine to California, I’m not sure that each of those would be a viable legal industry,” he said.
He also observed that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the three western states that have moved on interstate commerce legislation are the ones most closely associated with selling marijuana outside of state borders through illegal, unregulated means.
Regulators And Advocates Discuss Next Steps For Marijuana Interstate Commerce
