Alabama Marijuana: Is there money in it?

Is there money to be made LEGALLY in Alabama from marijuana?

The short answer is, “YES.” There is significant money to be made in Legalizing, Taxing, and Regulating Cannabis in Alabama for Adult Recreational (ARU), and Medical Use (MMJ).

Figures are now coming in from Massachusetts showing sales volumes, and taxes after that state legalized, taxed, and regulated marijuana for Adult Recreational Use, and Medical Use, and the figures are amazing.

Simply put, the Cost:Benefit ratio of keeping cannabis illegal is prohibitive to society at every level, federal, state, and local. There is NO reasonable, rational reason to continue cannabis prohibition. It costs more fiscally and socially to maintain than there is benefit derived from it being illegal. Taxpayers are no longer willing to foot the bill to so stridently harm their fellow citizens for responsible use of a substance that research shows is significantly less harmful than either alcohol, or tobacco, and which even the DEA has acknowledged has not killed anyone, nor has ever been a cause of addiction.

Today’s most recent story in the Boston Globe by Felicia Gans about that state’s success after Legalizing, Taxing, and Regulating cannabis for ARU & MMJ is headlined “Nearly $24 million spent on recreational marijuana sales in first two months.”

Customers crowd into Theory Wellness in Great Barrington on January 11, 2019, the opening day of its recreational marijuana sales.

“Customers spent nearly $24 million on recreational marijuana products in the first two months of sales, according to data from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission.

“From Nov. 20 — when the state’s first two recreational stores opened in Leicester and Northampton — to Jan. 20, customers spent $23,819,602. There are now eight recreational stores open across the state, and a ninth store in Hudson has its “commence operations” notice from the state but has not announced an opening date.

“Revenue was about $3.4 million last week, a record weekly total, according to data from the commission. This past weekend also hit a record for its largest single-day revenue figures (though the weekend also saw one of the lowest revenue days so far).

“The nearly $24 million gross sale total does not include taxes — 17 percent for the state (a 6.25 percent sales tax and a 10.75 percent marijuana excise tax) and 3 percent for the municipality.

“So far, the state has received about $4 million in tax revenue.”

Leicester, MA, 11/20/2018 – A customer holds a menu at the opening of Cultivate, one of the state’s first two pot shops. November 20, 2018 was the first day the store could sell recreational marijuana to adults 21 and older.

Estimates show that by Legalizing, Taxing, and Regulating cannabis, “it’s conceivable that the State of Alabama could reasonably expect to generate AT LEAST between $79,530,000 to $200,951,100 annually if they Legalized, Taxed, and Regulated the sale of marijuana for Adult Recreational Use and Medical Use.

“The average of those two figures is: $140,240,550.”

Again, the initial figures coming in from Massachusetts are in line with Alabama’s estimates.

It’s time to LEGALIZE, TAX, and REGULATE cannabis in Alabama for Adult Recreational, and Medical Use.

See also: https://www.mass.gov/orgs/cannabis-control-commission