Politics
California GOP And Democratic Candidates Agree That Marijuana Law Needs An Overhaul
Republican and Democratic candidates running for California’s highest elected offices are in agreement that the state’s marijuana legalization law is in need of changes.
Fiona Ma, the Democratic Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor, said at a cannabis conference this week that the legal marijuana market is “a complete disaster.”
“California was the number one cannabis-producing state in terms of quality and being trusted by the farmers, similar to our wine industry,” she said at the IgniteIt event in Los Angeles. “And now it’s pretty much—it’s almost dead. The legal business is dead.”
A big part of the problem, she said, is that taxes are “definitely too high” for the legal industry to compete with unlicensed operators.
Ma, who currently serves as California’s treasurer, said she wants to “help spearhead trying to get something back on the ballot to change what is happening” in cannabis.
Rather than collect signatures for a voter initiative, which is an expensive endeavor, she is proposing that “we go through the Legislature, get two-thirds of the votes, get the governor to sign the bill, and then it would go on the ballot.”
“That’s the cheapest way, but I do need cooperation,” she said, adding that she wants to immediately begin convening a stakeholder working group to identify specific problems and solutions. “I can start convening right now.”
Earlier this year, Ma held a hearing about cannabis banking issues and called California’s marijuana legalization law a “complete failure,” saying it should be replaced with a new ballot initiative that prioritizes consumers and small businesses.
Meanwhile, Steve Hilton, the GOP nominee for California governor, is also highlighting issues with the state’s cannabis system.
During a visit to a cannabis business this week he asked what he could do to help the industry if he is elected. A person working there said they are “over-regulated and overtaxed, and so it’s extremely difficult to operate, especially as a small business.”
Hilton replied by citing a plan he has to create a new Office of Fun and Freedom.
“The point about that is that there’s so many ridiculous things in California that just you know, stupid killjoy bureaucratic rules that don’t serve any purpose make life less fun and less free for no good reason, and less affordable,” he said. “I’m really looking for specific things that we can do to make life more fun and more free.
“When voters approved Prop 64 in 2016, the point was safety and freedom—not to create ANOTHER overtaxed, over-regulated industry,” the GOP candidate said in a social media post. “When I’m governor, I’ll cut the red tape and give small dispensaries some much-needed relief.”
In a separate post with another video of the cannabis business owner discussing taxes, Hilton said the effective 38 percent rate it pays on its products is “RIDICULOUS.”
“ENOUGH with the fraud,” he said. “ENOUGH with crushing small business.”
Hilton also spoke at the IgniteIt cannabis event where Ma appeared, calling for greater law enforcement efforts against Chinese-linked illicit marijuana cultivation operations.
“It’s really bad, and they’re stealing water. They’re stealing electric,” he said. “And it’s really wrecking local communities.”
In June, Hilton told Marijuana Moment in an interview that taxes and regulations on cannabis are “too high.”
The Republican candidate said at the time that after studying the issue and spending “some time with the industry,” he came to understand that there is a “regulatory burden and a tax burden that is too high.”
“The original intent” of legalization was to “bring the industry, as it were, into the open—and you’ve actually seen the illegal industry growing even more since these policies” were implemented, Hilton told Marijuana Moment. “So we’ve got to make a change.”
He said he’s “actually in a conversation in great detail with the industry to look at the specific parts of the regulatory and tax burden that need to be changed in order to achieve the goals of legalization, which is a thriving industry that provides a product safely that people want to consume.”
Incumbent California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently signed a bill to revise packaging and labeling rules for marijuana-infused edibles and beverages.
Newsom separately signed a pair of bills revising various state marijuana laws related to product testing, tracking, consumer access to information and cannabinoid content.
In August, he signed legislation to more clearly define the types of marijuana packaging and labeling that is prohibited due to appealing to children.
Last month, the governor touted the fact that that legal marijuana sales have generated nearly $8.4 billion in tax revenue for the state since voters legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, saying that the money “helps fund programs that benefit Californians, including childcare and early childhood development, youth substance abuse prevention, medical research and environmental recovery.”
California’s top cannabis regulator spoke recently about how the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hasn’t been cooperative in answering questions about the implications of the Trump administration’s rescheduling move.
DCC Director Clint Kellum said that there have been “national-level efforts” to contact DEA in conjunction with cannabis regulators from other states, but they “just really haven’t seen any sort of interest on that front, unfortunately.”
