A taxing proposal

So is this Facebook dude’s new marijuana initiative gaining traction or what?

—Jah Q. Public

It is picking up steam. However you feel about the initiative itself, it would seem that the people pushing it through are savvy operators.

For those of you not up to speed, here is a quick recap: Sean Parker, Facebook billionaire, has decided to sponsor an initiative to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis sales in California. The Adult Use of Marijuana Act has been building alliances and picking up supporters (Gavin Newsom is a fan, as are a bunch of folks at Reform CA, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project, The Drug Policy Alliance, Tim Blake from the Emerald Cup—I could go on but you get the drift). Parker has the money and he has the support of many of the big names, but I still have some misgivings.

If this law passes, adults over the age of 21 will be able to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and up to 4 grams of concentrates. They can also grow up to six plants. That is great. However, cities and counties can still ban personal-use outdoor growing and even ban cannabis businesses altogether. This is still a huge problem for me. Why should the people of Fresno, where medical cannabis is banned, have to do without while everyone else gets to have fun? It seems unfair. But that is a small quibble compared to this one: If this initiative passes, anyone possessing over 1 ounce of flower bud or 8 grams concentrate is subject to a $500 fine and up to six months in jail. No one should ever got to jail for possessing marijuana. Ever. I cannot stress that enough. Ever, ever, ever. What if one of your scales is broken and you grabbed an ounce-and-a-half from one of your six plants? Would you have to go to jail? That’s just stupid. The whole point of legalizing marijuana is so people don’t go to jail. Also, this bill allows cities to add more taxes on top of the taxes that the state will already get. I guess that’s cool, but making marijuana prohibitively expensive will do nothing to eradicate the black market. The AUMA tax is 15 percent. Add on a 10 percent tax from the city and maybe another 5 percent for the county, and now your $40 bag of adult-use goodness just cost you 52 bucks. The $45-an-eighth, no-tax black market marijuana would become the frugal option for the budget-minded stoner. And don’t think more growers will equal lower prices. The costs involved to comply with these new regulations will most definitely be passed to the consumer.

This law isn’t all bad, though. There are definitely some cool things, like allowing for on-site usage in private venues, but I think we should try to get a few more user-friendly and social-justice minded changes made before we go all in.