We stand behind our outrageous tagline, The World’s Best Resource for Marijuana News, Entertainment and Culture. That said, when a Pulitzer-Prize-Winning newspaper that broke the Watergate and Pentagon Paper stories want to try and “scoop” us and break down the details, we let ’em!
Thanks to reporters Denise Lu, Ted Mellnik and Niraj Chokshi for this update.
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The Tax Revenue From Legalize Weed Is Pouring Into Colorado
(Denver Post) Colorado recorded its biggest recreational marijuana tax haul yet in April, topping more than $3.5 million in sales and excise taxes, according to numbers released Monday.
In all, the state’s recreational marijuana stores sold more than $22 million worth of product in April, likely boosted by the 4/20 marijuana holiday that brought hundreds of cannabis tourists to town. Overall, though, medical marijuana sales continued to outpace recreational sales, with lower-taxed medical-marijuana stores doing more than $31 million in sales during the month.
So far this year, Colorado has brought in nearly $11 million in sales and excise taxes on recreational marijuana. The total take of recreation and medical marijuana taxes and fees is nearly $18 million.
The new numbers were released on the same day that marijuana activists announced plans to sue the state over recreational pot taxes. According to a copy of the lawsuit sent to the media, the activists argue that the taxes are unconstitutionally high.
Shoppers at recreational marijuana stores pay 12.9 percent in general and special state sales taxes, as well as a 15 percent excise tax that is applied at the wholesale level.
The lawsuit argues those rates violate the constitutional provision voters approved in 2012, which specified that recreational marijuana should be taxed “in a manner similar to alcohol.” The activists say alcohol taxes are much lower.
Attorney Rob Corry, who is representing the activists, said he filed the lawsuit Monday.
More marijuana dispensaries continue to open. As of June 3, more than 200 marijuana dispensaries were licensed, according to the state Department of Revenue. That’s about half of the more than 500 total shops statewide that are eligible to obtain a retail marijuana sales license.
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The HIGHest-End Marijuana Store in the World
Though cannabis is constantly in the news, very few people have actually been inside a legal recreational store. We went to Green-Theory, a high-end marijuana shop a few miles from the Microsoft campus. Here’s what legalization – and the future of weed – looks like!
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BET YA DIDN’T KNOW IT WASN’T LEGAL IN JAMAICA, MON!
Jamaica’s government on Thursday announced a major rethinking of its marijuana laws, including plans to partially decriminalize small amounts of pot and to allow possession for religious, scientific and medical purposes.
Justice Minister Mark Golding said the Cabinet is backing a proposal to make possession of no more than 2 ounces (57 grams) of marijuana, or “ganja” as it’s known locally, a petty offense that would result in a fine but not a criminal arrest.
“I wish to stress that the proposed changes to the law are not intended to promote or give a stamp of approval to the use of ganja for recreational purposes,” Golding said. “The objective is to provide a more enlightened approach to dealing with possession of small quantities.”
Golding also announced that marijuana will be decriminalized for religious purposes — a major victory for Jamaica’s homegrown Rastafari spiritual movement. Many Rastafarians smoke marijuana as a sacrament which they say brings them closer to the divine but they have always faced the possibility of prosecution for doing so.
Government plans call for decriminalization for medicinal and scientific purposes as Jamaica hopes to cash in on the burgeoning cannabis industry. “It is not only wrong but also foolhardy to continue with a law that makes it illegal to possess ganja and its derivatives for medicinal purposes,” Golding said.
Legislation will also be drafted to provide a path for people to get criminal records expunged if they have been convicted under the current law for smoking small amounts of marijuana.
Debate has raged for decades around loosening marijuana laws in Jamaica, an island that is nearly as famous for its weed as it is for its scenic beaches and unique culture. The drug has been pervasive but outlawed for a century on the island where about 300 young men receive criminal records each week for possessing a little marijuana.
Previous efforts in Jamaica to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana have been scuttled because officials feared they would violate international treaties and bring sanctions from Washington.
But as the pot decriminalization movement gains unprecedented traction across the globe, particularly in U.S. states, there’s been a growing push to lift restrictions on a cash-strapped island where political leaders have been emboldened by changes in the U.S.
“I think it highly unlikely this will get a negative reaction from the Obama administration,” said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group based in New York.
Ruling party lawmaker Raymond Pryce, who introduced a motion to relax drug laws in the House last year, said he’s confident that the administration of Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller “will continue to take all appropriate and necessary steps to completely achieve a legitimate ganja sector fully reflective of the religious, cultural and medicinal opportunities which can now be pursued.”
Golding stressed that the current law prohibiting pot remains in effect until legislation to amend that law has been authorized by lawmakers. With Simpson-Miller’s party having a 2-to-1 majority in Parliament and many opposition legislators supporting relaxing the drug laws, the measures are almost certain to be authorized.
(THANKS TO REPORTER DAVID MCFADDEN AND ABC NEWS FOR THIS REPORT)
