California Greedin': Massive Taxes Ensure a Robust Black Market Forever

The State of California has had twenty years to figure out a legal structure for a clean, clear market for legal cannabis. Twenty years to ponder the opportunity to replace the black market with a clean one. To create jobs and careers and science and medicines and fun, like adults have with other regulated substances.

Twenty years to work out all the kinks.

Twenty, as in two decades, as in Rip Van Winkle's slumber.

A mighty long time to figure it out.

But somewhere along the line between the 1996 approval of medicinal cannabis and the 2016 approval of recreational cannabis, The State of California lost its way. It got a little greed woodie over the possibility of all-those-cannabis-taxes... AND THE WAY THINGS STAND RIGHT NOW, CANNABIS WILL BE TAXED AT A RATE OF 45%.

Now it's not like the people who have bought cannabis for all those years are going to instantly lose their dealer's number on January 1.

In fact, we believe those phones will be ringing off the hook for the foreseeable future.

What a shame.