It’s a sickness. Leftists everywhere are trying to legalize, regulate and tax every vice. In WA state, they taxed legal pot at the wholesale level. But by year 2 there was such a glut of supply that the wholesale prices fell by 2/3 to $7 a gram, which put them far short of the revenue expectations.
California attempted to fix that by a labyrinthine regulatory and permitting scheme where every plant is tagged and tracked from seedling to bud to retail counter - where it is taxed at the retail side. They have the opposite problem with the same results. Tax revenues came in about 35% of what they expected and there is a threat to the supply over permitting hiccups. Plus, the stuff doesn’t last very long.
Prohibition of weed lasted so long that there was a perfectly functioning black market. Even when there was ‘medical mj’ people with the card (which was easy to get) could buy in bulk from bulk - they sold it like peanuts and the amount was weighed in the clinic/store. Now, many of the stores only sell pre-packaged, radio tagged, bar coded, and expensive vacuum sealed at the factory weed. A lot more expensive, and cumbersome, making it better to just stick with a black market supplier. Revenue shortfall ensues. No “boon” for the state, or for the retailers.
It’s madness to try to regulate it so aggressively. Should just be decrminalized for adults, and severe penalties if you give/sell to children. Government doesn’t need their fingers in it.
Look around, everything that was once the purview of the mob is now the purview of the government. Speakeasies during Prohibition turned into licensed bars and package stores. Loan sharking is now payday loans, licensed by the state. Drugs, licensed and taxed by the state. Gambling/”the numbers” is now licensed mainly to Native Americans and state lotteries. Prostitution is next.
People gonna people. What would you expect in a representative system of government?
If the leftists did not demagogue the issue, they would favor increasing the tax on machine guns from $200 to $2000 just to have the extra revenue.