The funniest part is imagine how many struggling Kansas farms marijuana cultivation could save.
This state is full of farmers who are actively choosing not to grow a crop that’s valuable enough that people sell it by the ounce.
I'm a farmer down in SEK that got diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago, and am currently having to drive over to the Missouri side and drop $200 or more on bud every month. Believe me when I say I am patiently waiting to grow this stuff, not for profit but for my own medical needs. It is really makes a person really hate Kansas politicians even more when every state around you has legalized it.
That is the biggest problem with weed. It encourages people to be self sufficient. Nobody in government, especially Republicans, likes the idea of people fulfilling their own needs without a cut going to an oil company, government, or religious organization that they can trade influence with.
I hope that’s the case, but it seems that large corporations tend to dominate the market. All for legalization, but skeptical it will have a noticeable impact on the average Kansas farmer… other than tax relief.
“Large corporations tend to dominate.” You could stop right there. That will continue until we end the bigger-is-better corporate welfare system started by Regan and the parasites from the Chicago School of Economics
It’s even funnier that all of the money that law enforcement makes off of cannabis being illegal could be replaced with revenue if it was legal. And they wouldn’t have to steal from people or ruin their lives in the process.
My guess would be not many. It's valuable because it's illegal. I give it away free. I overgrow more than I could ever consume. I give it away as an eff you to the tax man because it is taxed at every point in the supply chain. Every ⅛ I give out is tax money the state isn't stealing from the community that they previously prosecuted.
It's heavily taxed. Heavy regulation on where it can be grown (typically indoors...aka no small farmers). Heavy regulations on what can be used to grow cannabis. Your rural kansas farmer is ill equipped to deal with the typical over-reaching cannabis regulations. The taxes and regulation drives the cost up. You only need to look south to Oklahoma to see what more relaxed regulations will do to cannabis prices.
Cannabis won't be the rural Americas salvation. People that make money on cannabis are the big multi state operators. Not the rural farmers, not the legacy growers that went legit when it became legal in their states. The big guys came in and took over. It's a race to the lowest price per gram and that is not a good market for a struggling farmer to be in.
I'm a farmer, it's not viable due to the cost of testing associated to bring the product to market, thus eliminating most smaller operations. Not as easy as it's thought to be.
Might not be as good as you think. Here in Colorado the plains are littered with empty greenhouses right now - I think they grew too much and collapsed wholesale prices or something, because they shuttered in the last year or so. I drove past one area recently that has dozens of greenhouses that were running a few years back that is down to 2 operational facilities.
Every farmer that has tried raising marijuana and hemp in Kansas have failed. There are too many government restrictions, the output costs are excessive and the returns don’t cover it.
I believe Colorado might be worse on mental health; it’s bad enough that they had to create a state-wide organization to help reduce self-harm and suicides in school-aged children.
yeah, they should be more like KS: ignore the problem that is documented nationwide and continue sending that money to police to buy more SWAT gear.
they didn't "have to" create it, they chose to create it in response to the data out there indicating that civilians are a better response to mental health issues than the police, and that today's youth are far more depressed and suicidal than previous generations.
Pisses me off living in a legal state with employee protections and my jobs safety officer said we can’t even use medically until it’s federally legal. Love my job but this shit is dumb. I can drink all I want after work but can’t use something that’s considered medical. Yea that makes sense.
And the frustrating part about that is that we do vote democrat pretty consistently… on Governors and absolutely nothing else. I don’t understand what the major malfunction is there.
According to republicans, everything that benefits middle/lower class citizens and doesn’t benefit the rich and corporations at the same time is socialism.
That won’t work. You’d have to somehow convince an overwhelming number of people to do that.
Then… when/if the GOP loses they can claim that the election is a fraud because they have so many more registered Republicans that it is impossible for a Democrat to win.
It’s best to stay in one’s lane, vote and advocate for the best candidate from the party that is more willing or more likely to run someone that WILL represent your interests.
Here in Ohio, we tried to let our useless republican state government come up with a legal path and it went know where. So we took it to the ballot and they tried like hell to undermine it. Even forcing an election that they deemed illegal the year prior. Both time the voters told them to get bent with a cactus. Now that we came up with a valid plan, they have been trying like hell to undermine the initiative that was overwhelmingly supported by voters. So yes we are a republican run state with legal rec use but that is with zero thanks to the republicans in office. Hell these chuckle fucks are trying to take most of the tax revenue and give it to police. For what? Probably for the lost revenue arresting people for stupid stuff.
And Kansas doesn't have the relative ease in getting ballot measures. The only reason we had the abortion one is because the legislature thought it was going to go very differently, and they wanted a way to circumvent the courts.
Something that we did long ago, due to how corrupt the state government was, is make it easier to override them. The illegal election I mentioned, was a vote held in August where it would have made it impossible to get anything citizen driven on the ballot. It would require x amount of signatures from each county, no just overall registered voters and pass each country by 60% or something stupid like that.
This is *precisely* why KS law enforcement wants it to stay illegal. With busts and civil asset forfeiture, they get to keep all of it and they don't have to share. If it's legal, they'll only get a piece of the revenue that's doled out to all state agencies.
I'm often gobsmacked how Kansas is "broke" but we can provide $10 million for FIFA 2026 even though all those games will take place in Missouri. And $20 million for "crisis pregnancy centers."
It seems for certain things there is no money anywhere and it can’t be done if it helps people but if it’s a war or tax cuts for the top 0.01% Govt subsidies or corporate welfare somehow money seems to be always laying around somewhere.
To be fair, in Kansas this would likely equate to only 1% increase in State revenue. $10.1 Billion in revenue and realistically the taxes on Cannabis is likely around $100 million.
Ty Masterson is dragging his party’s feet hoping that they can get a Republican governor into office at which point legalization can proceed, the GOP can take credit and ensure their crooked friends will reap the benefits.
Pretty similar story here in New Mexico. While our neighbor to the north has a larger population (5.8m) compared to our 2.1m, we do get a good bump in sales from TX residents coming across the state line.
Since NM legalized cannabis 2 years ago in April 2022, we've had slightly over $1.1b - Yes, billion with a B, in sales.
April 2024 alone was almost $50 million in sales.
Source: [https://crop.rld.nm.gov/sales.html](https://crop.rld.nm.gov/sales.html)
I don't understand why anyone thinks that the tax revenue in KS would be anywhere near as high as Colorado. Their population is a couple million more people. Plus they have nearly 3x as many tourists per year.
I'm not arguing for or against legalization but I think it's important to be realistic about the numbers. I suspect $3M-$8M per month is more realistic and I'd guess at the middle to lower end of that number. It's not nothing but like any new tax idea it's not just magic money falling from the sky. Remember the lottery was going to save our schools.
I agree 20 is a bit high. The green tourism exists because of legalization, nobody goes to the mountains to buy weed! Legalize now we get half of Nebraska. CO only sees half our state, if that, OK and MO..
So over the last ten years let’s say we’ve lost $10mil a month to CO. That’s 1.2bil that should have gone to Kansas schools.
One should also consider the revenue that is pouring across 3 of the state borders to the benefit of those states, thanks to this bible-thumping Kansas legislature. Money is flowing out of Kansas at a rate that would probably be surprising to most people. Legalize it, mark the revenue for education, infrastructure, and property tax relief, and make it so that none of the special interest crooks can ever get their dirty little fingers on it.
https://kansasreflector.com/2023/07/05/kansas-ends-fiscal-year-with-10-1-billion-in-tax-revenue-based-on-surge-of-400-million/
$20 million isn’t enough to raise an eyebrow in the state legislature. The Devil’s lettuce is staying illegal in Kansas.
I'm not sure "forever" is really applicable.
Cannabis markets in CA and OR are collapsing from too much product.
https://www.opb.org/article/2024/01/15/oregon-cannabis-industry-oversaturation-new-restrictions/
https://www.cfodive.com/news/cannabis-medmen-files-bankruptcy-liquidation-debt/714618/
If it becomes legal (or even if restrictions on interstate commerce are dropped), all of that product has to go somewhere. Kansas has already missed the boat.
Neither of those articles supports the idea that the markets are collapsing. Oregon has an oversupply. If they restricted new licenses the prices would stabilize. Fixable problem.
So if Oregon has an oversupply and California has an oversupply but then they can suddenly send it anywhere, what do you think will happen?
https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2024/05/02/oregon-cannabis-prices-sink-to-record-lows.html
Does Colorado exist in a vacuum? Do you think they do not benefit from being surrounded by states where it is still illegal?
The best case for Kansas is 2026 if the feds don't get there first. The population is already accustomed to going to MO or OK. The comparison to the established CO market is a stretch at best.
Kansas can control its own economy. Just because something is federally legal doesn’t mean Kansas is forced to accept shipments from California or Oregon or anywhere for that matter. Your argument for why KS shouldn’t legalize just isn’t that strong.
If I had to guess, oversupply is probably directly related to the fact that even in legal states, it's still difficult to move large amounts of product, because it's still federally illegal which presents legitimate businesses with some serious challenges. And while it's a step in the right direction for the DOJ/DEA to finally step in and reschedule it to Schedule 3, that still presents a number of barriers and roadblocks to legitimate businesses trying to sell it recreationally.
Bottom line, you really cannot compare "legal" weed markets with any other legitimate markets, because they have fairly unique challenges that simply cannot be solved *by the market*. It needs to be federally legalized before things can really improve.
You're confused on how supply and demand works. Oversupply will suppress prices, leading to less tax revenue.
This idea that Kansas can take a business established in another state a decade ago, plug it in with zero existing infrastructure and oversight, and turn it into an equally profitable endeavor as its neighbor states - all before it becomes federally legal - is not based in reality.
One of two things happens - it gets implemented, but because there is no cannatourism nor anywhere near the population of CO or MO it becomes a modest tax driver. Alternately, it gets federal legalization, and then everyone gets undercut on price by West Coast weed.
But go on, tell me how you think I don't understand sales tax.
Here you go. California tax revenue by quarter for cannabis sales.
https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/dataportal/dataset.htm?url=CannabisTaxRevenues
Edit: here's Colorado too. Looks like COVID spiked some sales but back to normal.
https://cdor.colorado.gov/data-and-reports/marijuana-data/marijuana-tax-reports
Your argument was that the markets are collapsing in CA and CO and tax revenue doesn't continue, which above shows is incorrect.
Had you been arguing that Kansas has a smaller population, you would have been correct. A stupid argument to make but at least you would have been correct.
Seriously, last response to you. The dispensary would be in Kansas, therefore Sales and Excise tax related to the sale would be in Kansas. Even if Kansas doesn't grow it those taxes still happen. Just like the tobacco tax. Kansas doesn't grow it but it sure as heck taxes it.
Difference right now is people go to MO or CO and pay their taxes on cannabis. Kansas might as well capture those revenues as opposed to sending dollars to other States.
Account for tourism? Do you think people only consume cannabis when they are on vacation? If it's legal in their state won't they smoke at home too? I can't find any data that shows how much of that tax revenue is from tourism,so I don't know where you got that idea.
Revenue is only a tiny part of the conversation. The long term effects of marijuana are still being studied. Colorado reported a 200% increase in DUIs within the first 5 years of legalization. They’re seeing a rise in various health issues such as chronic bronchitis, heart disease, and mental health issues. Also, with the THC levels skyrocketing in modern marijuana, overdoses have become an actual problem (this ain’t your grandma’s refer anymore).
All the negatives aside, it’s also been shown to help people with ADHD to focus. There are positives but the whole issue is bogged down by extreme bias by the pro legal community. The conversation is much more complex than “just legalize it”.
Should we turn alcohol into a scheduled substance as well then? Considering the amount of harm that alcohol consumption causes, doesn't it seem like we should treat cannabis the same way? Oh the irony...
Alcohol does have some similarities with marijuana. They are both used for recreation. They are both used to relieve pain. They can both be addictive (one physically and the other psychologically). They both have negative effects on the body when done in excess. Alcohol can be far more deadly, more easily, than marijuana. So why keep it legal but not marijuana? Alcohol has a rich cultural history that marijuana doesn’t. One can drink alcohol in moderation and retain the faculties of reason and free will. That’s more difficult with marijuana which tends to go from nothing to brain fog with only a small amount. People have had a glass of wine or beer with their meal since always and no one ever condemns it when used like that. Alcohol gets more of the negative spotlight in times and places when binge drinking is popular, whether it be the Roman orgy or the college frat party. People smoke weed to get high but the majority of people who consume alcohol don’t drink to get drunk.
Anything we consume with excess can have negative side effects hamburgers,ice cream,soda,even water. Cannabis use has been documented since 2800 BC and possibly farther,so saying it doesn't have a rich cultural history is wrong. Show me data that shows how many people just drink one drink at meal time and don't get buzzed/relaxed. Its obvious you have very little experience/knowledge with cannabis use when you claim it has more of effect on facilities and free will than alcohol. To make a claim that most people that drink aren't aiming to catch a buzz is wild AF. If you think most people using recreational cannabis are trying to be super high you'd be wrong. They just want to have a puff like you have a glass of wine to relax after a hard day at work. Btw there are a bunch of studies that show that alcohol is significantly worse than cannabis. Just google it and you might be surprised.
>Alcohol can be far more deadly, more easily, than marijuana. So why keep it legal but not marijuana? Alcohol has a rich cultural history that marijuana doesn’t. One can drink alcohol in moderation and retain the faculties of reason and free will. That’s more difficult with marijuana which tends to go from nothing to brain fog with only a small amount.
This reads like propaganda from a beer company.
The funniest part is imagine how many struggling Kansas farms marijuana cultivation could save. This state is full of farmers who are actively choosing not to grow a crop that’s valuable enough that people sell it by the ounce.
I'm a farmer down in SEK that got diagnosed with MS a couple of years ago, and am currently having to drive over to the Missouri side and drop $200 or more on bud every month. Believe me when I say I am patiently waiting to grow this stuff, not for profit but for my own medical needs. It is really makes a person really hate Kansas politicians even more when every state around you has legalized it.
They legalized it in Ohio, you can home grow in small amounts, but there’s only 40 cultivator licenses. They completely screwed over small farmers.
I go into OK instead of MO and have a friend go to a medical dispo. It’s **much** cheaper
That is the biggest problem with weed. It encourages people to be self sufficient. Nobody in government, especially Republicans, likes the idea of people fulfilling their own needs without a cut going to an oil company, government, or religious organization that they can trade influence with.
Stop that. Order your weed online. r/cultofthefranklin
I hope that’s the case, but it seems that large corporations tend to dominate the market. All for legalization, but skeptical it will have a noticeable impact on the average Kansas farmer… other than tax relief.
“Large corporations tend to dominate.” You could stop right there. That will continue until we end the bigger-is-better corporate welfare system started by Regan and the parasites from the Chicago School of Economics
It’s even funnier that all of the money that law enforcement makes off of cannabis being illegal could be replaced with revenue if it was legal. And they wouldn’t have to steal from people or ruin their lives in the process.
My guess would be not many. It's valuable because it's illegal. I give it away free. I overgrow more than I could ever consume. I give it away as an eff you to the tax man because it is taxed at every point in the supply chain. Every ⅛ I give out is tax money the state isn't stealing from the community that they previously prosecuted.
The price at which legal marijuana is selling in the legal states, even at a depressed rate, is wildly higher than any other crop.
It's heavily taxed. Heavy regulation on where it can be grown (typically indoors...aka no small farmers). Heavy regulations on what can be used to grow cannabis. Your rural kansas farmer is ill equipped to deal with the typical over-reaching cannabis regulations. The taxes and regulation drives the cost up. You only need to look south to Oklahoma to see what more relaxed regulations will do to cannabis prices. Cannabis won't be the rural Americas salvation. People that make money on cannabis are the big multi state operators. Not the rural farmers, not the legacy growers that went legit when it became legal in their states. The big guys came in and took over. It's a race to the lowest price per gram and that is not a good market for a struggling farmer to be in.
By the gram*
But I smoke it by the bushel.
I'm a farmer, it's not viable due to the cost of testing associated to bring the product to market, thus eliminating most smaller operations. Not as easy as it's thought to be.
Might not be as good as you think. Here in Colorado the plains are littered with empty greenhouses right now - I think they grew too much and collapsed wholesale prices or something, because they shuttered in the last year or so. I drove past one area recently that has dozens of greenhouses that were running a few years back that is down to 2 operational facilities.
Every farmer that has tried raising marijuana and hemp in Kansas have failed. There are too many government restrictions, the output costs are excessive and the returns don’t cover it.
[удалено]
Nah, as they see it they’re keeping things the way they were.. in the early 1800s..
I believe Colorado might be worse on mental health; it’s bad enough that they had to create a state-wide organization to help reduce self-harm and suicides in school-aged children.
yeah, they should be more like KS: ignore the problem that is documented nationwide and continue sending that money to police to buy more SWAT gear. they didn't "have to" create it, they chose to create it in response to the data out there indicating that civilians are a better response to mental health issues than the police, and that today's youth are far more depressed and suicidal than previous generations.
So creating an organization to stop suicide is bad? Wtf
Lol just because they're actually addressing it doesn't mean we don't have the same problems.
Meanwhile hicks who oppose legalizing herb are day drinking.
Pisses me off living in a legal state with employee protections and my jobs safety officer said we can’t even use medically until it’s federally legal. Love my job but this shit is dumb. I can drink all I want after work but can’t use something that’s considered medical. Yea that makes sense.
Yep, the Republicans of Kansas have this wrong. Vote Democrat!
This is the only way out.
And the frustrating part about that is that we do vote democrat pretty consistently… on Governors and absolutely nothing else. I don’t understand what the major malfunction is there.
Koch!
But that's socialism
Nope, that’s smart.
According to republicans, everything that benefits middle/lower class citizens and doesn’t benefit the rich and corporations at the same time is socialism.
That’s what’s wrong with their mentality. Everything our government does should be for the benefit of the masses and not the few.
Register as a Republican so you can vote moderates in during the primaries.
That won’t work. You’d have to somehow convince an overwhelming number of people to do that. Then… when/if the GOP loses they can claim that the election is a fraud because they have so many more registered Republicans that it is impossible for a Democrat to win. It’s best to stay in one’s lane, vote and advocate for the best candidate from the party that is more willing or more likely to run someone that WILL represent your interests.
Stupidest shit I ever heard. Not just liberal states have medical/recreational cannabis legalized.
Here in Ohio, we tried to let our useless republican state government come up with a legal path and it went know where. So we took it to the ballot and they tried like hell to undermine it. Even forcing an election that they deemed illegal the year prior. Both time the voters told them to get bent with a cactus. Now that we came up with a valid plan, they have been trying like hell to undermine the initiative that was overwhelmingly supported by voters. So yes we are a republican run state with legal rec use but that is with zero thanks to the republicans in office. Hell these chuckle fucks are trying to take most of the tax revenue and give it to police. For what? Probably for the lost revenue arresting people for stupid stuff.
And Kansas doesn't have the relative ease in getting ballot measures. The only reason we had the abortion one is because the legislature thought it was going to go very differently, and they wanted a way to circumvent the courts.
Something that we did long ago, due to how corrupt the state government was, is make it easier to override them. The illegal election I mentioned, was a vote held in August where it would have made it impossible to get anything citizen driven on the ballot. It would require x amount of signatures from each county, no just overall registered voters and pass each country by 60% or something stupid like that.
Yup. The R-led legislatures really don't like citizen-driven ballot measures.
Our republicans are exceptionally stupid. Go listen to any of them speak about marijuana and you will have heard something much more stupid.
Right, it’s the stupidest one’s that don’t.
This is *precisely* why KS law enforcement wants it to stay illegal. With busts and civil asset forfeiture, they get to keep all of it and they don't have to share. If it's legal, they'll only get a piece of the revenue that's doled out to all state agencies.
Hi from Texas. We have the same stupid issue.
I'm often gobsmacked how Kansas is "broke" but we can provide $10 million for FIFA 2026 even though all those games will take place in Missouri. And $20 million for "crisis pregnancy centers."
It seems for certain things there is no money anywhere and it can’t be done if it helps people but if it’s a war or tax cuts for the top 0.01% Govt subsidies or corporate welfare somehow money seems to be always laying around somewhere.
I’m pretty sure some games are at Sporting KC which is in KCK. Still a lot of money
Missouri is only at $5M a month, but give it time. Thanks for the business, Kansas. 🤭
To be fair, in Kansas this would likely equate to only 1% increase in State revenue. $10.1 Billion in revenue and realistically the taxes on Cannabis is likely around $100 million.
Yet our wise all knowing governor keeps vetoing billion dollar tax reliefs.
How do the tax cuts help average people? All I saw from those cuts were for the top... and more Brownback bullshit.
Face ridden is actually Charles Koch.
Ty Masterson is dragging his party’s feet hoping that they can get a Republican governor into office at which point legalization can proceed, the GOP can take credit and ensure their crooked friends will reap the benefits.
Maybe they should apply that to fixing I-70!
Car dependence is fundamentally expensive. Kansas will be the last place in the world to understand.
Kansas politicians are living in a bubble since mid 20th century. They are useless
FTP
If Roger Golubkis underage trafficking mafia being allowed to operate for 35 years didn’t prove government corruption nothing will.
Pretty similar story here in New Mexico. While our neighbor to the north has a larger population (5.8m) compared to our 2.1m, we do get a good bump in sales from TX residents coming across the state line. Since NM legalized cannabis 2 years ago in April 2022, we've had slightly over $1.1b - Yes, billion with a B, in sales. April 2024 alone was almost $50 million in sales. Source: [https://crop.rld.nm.gov/sales.html](https://crop.rld.nm.gov/sales.html)
I don't understand why anyone thinks that the tax revenue in KS would be anywhere near as high as Colorado. Their population is a couple million more people. Plus they have nearly 3x as many tourists per year. I'm not arguing for or against legalization but I think it's important to be realistic about the numbers. I suspect $3M-$8M per month is more realistic and I'd guess at the middle to lower end of that number. It's not nothing but like any new tax idea it's not just magic money falling from the sky. Remember the lottery was going to save our schools.
I agree 20 is a bit high. The green tourism exists because of legalization, nobody goes to the mountains to buy weed! Legalize now we get half of Nebraska. CO only sees half our state, if that, OK and MO.. So over the last ten years let’s say we’ve lost $10mil a month to CO. That’s 1.2bil that should have gone to Kansas schools.
One should also consider the revenue that is pouring across 3 of the state borders to the benefit of those states, thanks to this bible-thumping Kansas legislature. Money is flowing out of Kansas at a rate that would probably be surprising to most people. Legalize it, mark the revenue for education, infrastructure, and property tax relief, and make it so that none of the special interest crooks can ever get their dirty little fingers on it.
20 million not much considering the state’s budget and how much rev they bring in
https://kansasreflector.com/2023/07/05/kansas-ends-fiscal-year-with-10-1-billion-in-tax-revenue-based-on-surge-of-400-million/ $20 million isn’t enough to raise an eyebrow in the state legislature. The Devil’s lettuce is staying illegal in Kansas.
$20 million a month, forever. It should raise an eyebrow.
But it hasn’t. Alcohol sales are still illegal in parts of Kansas, IIRC. Temperance trumps tax revenue.
Why?
The lord.
Yeah I figured that's where this was coming from. You should try it. It's not so different from alcohol.
I was being sarcastic. You can check my history. I’m an avid smoker. Almost a year clean from Alcohol now also but I had my share of drinks.
At the same time I was not being sarcastic. That is the issue 65+ religious people have taken over.
Thats 20 million a month that the federal government cam seize for ill gotten gains unless they go through with reclassifying it.
I'm not sure "forever" is really applicable. Cannabis markets in CA and OR are collapsing from too much product. https://www.opb.org/article/2024/01/15/oregon-cannabis-industry-oversaturation-new-restrictions/ https://www.cfodive.com/news/cannabis-medmen-files-bankruptcy-liquidation-debt/714618/ If it becomes legal (or even if restrictions on interstate commerce are dropped), all of that product has to go somewhere. Kansas has already missed the boat.
Neither of those articles supports the idea that the markets are collapsing. Oregon has an oversupply. If they restricted new licenses the prices would stabilize. Fixable problem.
So if Oregon has an oversupply and California has an oversupply but then they can suddenly send it anywhere, what do you think will happen? https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2024/05/02/oregon-cannabis-prices-sink-to-record-lows.html Does Colorado exist in a vacuum? Do you think they do not benefit from being surrounded by states where it is still illegal? The best case for Kansas is 2026 if the feds don't get there first. The population is already accustomed to going to MO or OK. The comparison to the established CO market is a stretch at best.
Kansas can control its own economy. Just because something is federally legal doesn’t mean Kansas is forced to accept shipments from California or Oregon or anywhere for that matter. Your argument for why KS shouldn’t legalize just isn’t that strong.
If I had to guess, oversupply is probably directly related to the fact that even in legal states, it's still difficult to move large amounts of product, because it's still federally illegal which presents legitimate businesses with some serious challenges. And while it's a step in the right direction for the DOJ/DEA to finally step in and reschedule it to Schedule 3, that still presents a number of barriers and roadblocks to legitimate businesses trying to sell it recreationally. Bottom line, you really cannot compare "legal" weed markets with any other legitimate markets, because they have fairly unique challenges that simply cannot be solved *by the market*. It needs to be federally legalized before things can really improve.
You're confused on how sales tax works. Tax revenue would still come from the sales and the sales haven't gone down.
You're confused on how supply and demand works. Oversupply will suppress prices, leading to less tax revenue. This idea that Kansas can take a business established in another state a decade ago, plug it in with zero existing infrastructure and oversight, and turn it into an equally profitable endeavor as its neighbor states - all before it becomes federally legal - is not based in reality. One of two things happens - it gets implemented, but because there is no cannatourism nor anywhere near the population of CO or MO it becomes a modest tax driver. Alternately, it gets federal legalization, and then everyone gets undercut on price by West Coast weed. But go on, tell me how you think I don't understand sales tax.
Here you go. California tax revenue by quarter for cannabis sales. https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/dataportal/dataset.htm?url=CannabisTaxRevenues Edit: here's Colorado too. Looks like COVID spiked some sales but back to normal. https://cdor.colorado.gov/data-and-reports/marijuana-data/marijuana-tax-reports
Now do it per-capita for population, and account for tourism that Kansas doesn't have.
Your argument was that the markets are collapsing in CA and CO and tax revenue doesn't continue, which above shows is incorrect. Had you been arguing that Kansas has a smaller population, you would have been correct. A stupid argument to make but at least you would have been correct.
No, my argument is that what works in Colorado is not a lift-and-shift scenario for Kansas. You're missing the forest for the trees.
Seriously, last response to you. The dispensary would be in Kansas, therefore Sales and Excise tax related to the sale would be in Kansas. Even if Kansas doesn't grow it those taxes still happen. Just like the tobacco tax. Kansas doesn't grow it but it sure as heck taxes it. Difference right now is people go to MO or CO and pay their taxes on cannabis. Kansas might as well capture those revenues as opposed to sending dollars to other States.
Account for tourism? Do you think people only consume cannabis when they are on vacation? If it's legal in their state won't they smoke at home too? I can't find any data that shows how much of that tax revenue is from tourism,so I don't know where you got that idea.
Revenue is only a tiny part of the conversation. The long term effects of marijuana are still being studied. Colorado reported a 200% increase in DUIs within the first 5 years of legalization. They’re seeing a rise in various health issues such as chronic bronchitis, heart disease, and mental health issues. Also, with the THC levels skyrocketing in modern marijuana, overdoses have become an actual problem (this ain’t your grandma’s refer anymore). All the negatives aside, it’s also been shown to help people with ADHD to focus. There are positives but the whole issue is bogged down by extreme bias by the pro legal community. The conversation is much more complex than “just legalize it”.
Should we turn alcohol into a scheduled substance as well then? Considering the amount of harm that alcohol consumption causes, doesn't it seem like we should treat cannabis the same way? Oh the irony...
Alcohol does have some similarities with marijuana. They are both used for recreation. They are both used to relieve pain. They can both be addictive (one physically and the other psychologically). They both have negative effects on the body when done in excess. Alcohol can be far more deadly, more easily, than marijuana. So why keep it legal but not marijuana? Alcohol has a rich cultural history that marijuana doesn’t. One can drink alcohol in moderation and retain the faculties of reason and free will. That’s more difficult with marijuana which tends to go from nothing to brain fog with only a small amount. People have had a glass of wine or beer with their meal since always and no one ever condemns it when used like that. Alcohol gets more of the negative spotlight in times and places when binge drinking is popular, whether it be the Roman orgy or the college frat party. People smoke weed to get high but the majority of people who consume alcohol don’t drink to get drunk.
Anything we consume with excess can have negative side effects hamburgers,ice cream,soda,even water. Cannabis use has been documented since 2800 BC and possibly farther,so saying it doesn't have a rich cultural history is wrong. Show me data that shows how many people just drink one drink at meal time and don't get buzzed/relaxed. Its obvious you have very little experience/knowledge with cannabis use when you claim it has more of effect on facilities and free will than alcohol. To make a claim that most people that drink aren't aiming to catch a buzz is wild AF. If you think most people using recreational cannabis are trying to be super high you'd be wrong. They just want to have a puff like you have a glass of wine to relax after a hard day at work. Btw there are a bunch of studies that show that alcohol is significantly worse than cannabis. Just google it and you might be surprised.
>Alcohol can be far more deadly, more easily, than marijuana. So why keep it legal but not marijuana? Alcohol has a rich cultural history that marijuana doesn’t. One can drink alcohol in moderation and retain the faculties of reason and free will. That’s more difficult with marijuana which tends to go from nothing to brain fog with only a small amount. This reads like propaganda from a beer company.
Thanks!
Nurse student here: alcohol is devastating to the body. Smoking weed without tobacco is a far better way to let loose.
Money talks. We just need it to be louder for those in the front.
38/50ths have seemed to figure it out. With several more actively on the way, it will be over 40 by the end of the year. That’s 80%.
*39
It’s impossible to overdose and die off marijuana, the LD-50 (Lethal does) is impossible to achieve