The Sun is Shining
but my elected officials threw shade on the cannabis industry
Summer has arrived! Sunshine in the Northern Hemisphere is at full wattage and my cannabis plants are reveling in the bright warm energy of Earth's yellow star. I love this stage in the plant's journey through life. It's all green potential and enthusiastic growth. I wish I could say the same for the commercial cannabis sphere in my home state of California. This vital sector of our economy should be growing like our plants are. Instead, it is hurting under a new burden. And many of our elected officials did nothing to help lift that burden.
Earlier this year I participated in the CANORML day of action to inform our state politicians about the impending increase of excise tax for all cannabis goods in our state and urge them to resist this change. The excise tax rate was set to go from 15% to 19% on July 1, 2025. This was a bad financial decision for our state, offering particular harm to our many licensed, law abiding cannabis growers and producers of quality cannabis products. Assemblymember Matt Haney introduced AB 564 which, if passed, would have set the cannabis excise tax at 15% through June 2031. This was a small measure to keep the already heavy burden of taxation stable, allowing for more financial success and potential for growth in our struggling cannabis industry. This was sunshine on a young plant. This was going to be a win-win for all people in our state. Sadly, it didn't get enough support.
Instead of choosing growth, some of our less thoughtful elected officials chose to strangle our nascent industry with a large tax increase. That's like casting shade on a young cannabis plant. Who would do that? No good gardener would ever willfully deny a plant what it needs to thrive. Likewise, no good elected official would ever willfully deny a portion of our state's collective life what it needs to thrive. And yet that's just what they did.
Cannabis plants are extravagantly abundant. Give a seedling healthy soil, some water and abundant sun and they will reward you with gorgeous flower, ready to offer healing and relief to us. I urge our elected officials to learn from this plant. Give a young cannabis industry what it needs to grow and it will be abundant. Shade this industry and it'll wither.
Gardeners, let's remember who voted for or against the cannabis industry the next time we exercise our power in the booth. I will be voting for growth and I hope you will too.