Marijuana Moment have Polis’ latest thoughts on what should be done in Colorado’s ever maturing cannabis sector.
CLR agrees
The IP and knowledge (policy, compliance,tech, information, management etc etc etc) within states like CO, OR, WA and even CA now things are settling down are in turn another new industry sector with possibility for growth in international markets (and the national market) that i suggest, could in the future, outgrow in revenue terms the plant touching side of the industry.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
How about a private public partnership in the state that builds a new entity like an Andersons or McKinseys that focuses solely on highly regulated formally illegal compounds, natural plants and future as yet unrealised compounds.
I’d call that food for thought.
MM write
The governor of Colorado says his state should be at the “center” of the national and global marijuana trade once broad prohibition is lifted—and in the meantime he’s proposing new cannabis tax revenue distributions at the state level to further promote equity and streamline licensing as he pushes for federal reform.
Gov. Jared Polis (D) spoke about his newly released budget proposal in an interview on VS Strategies’s “Weed Wonks” podcast on Thursday, highlighting new ways he’s asking the legislature to appropriate millions of dollars in marijuana tax dollars for workforce development, licensing and industry investment in lower-income areas.
In his budget, unveiled on Wednesday, Polis is calling for $5 million in marijuana revenue to support the state Office of Economic Development and International Trade’s Cannabis Business Office, which focuses on economic development and job growth within the industry. He also wants $3 million allocated for licensing as well as a policy change to allow marijuana businesses located in economically distressed “enterprise zones” to take tax credits that are available to other traditional industries.
Under the proposal, the Cannabis Business Office would receive funding “in perpetuity,” Polis said, rather than rely on the one-time infusion it received in 2021. “We want to make sure that it continues to offer services like helping the link loans and grants to companies in this sector,” the governor said.
The governor’s budget document says that, beyond providing sustainable funding for the division’s existing work, the office will expand to “offer entrepreneurial aid to those outside of the cannabis industry and negatively affected by the war on drugs.”
On the podcast, Polis discussed how he’s also proposing $3 million in cannabis tax revenue to “better enable our units to process licenses quicker effectively.” Historically, that work has been funded by licensing fees.
“We don’t want backlogs. We want to turn these around quickly,” he said. “We don’t want to add fees. We want to make sure that we can continue to support that.”
Read the full report at
Sean Hocking
Source link
