New Laws Provide Boost In Medical And Recreational Marijuana Industry

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The medical marijuana industry has skyrocketed in the last 10 years due to the spontaneous legalization of the herb by different states. It has been shown that in Colorado, there was a total sale of legal weed amounting to $1.3 billion coming from a $996 million reported in 2015, totaling a greater than 30 percent increase. On the other hand, recreational marijuana sales were accounted for $875 million with medical marijuana coming in almost half of what was sold in 2016 on the sale of recreational marijuana, resulting in Colorado inheriting almost $200 million in tax and licenses.

According to AOL, California expected to gain about $1 billion in extra tax revenue annually once the state legalizes the sale of recreational marijuana licenses in dispensaries, with medical marijuana ultimately being disregarded. This immense figure of money is now a great lure for new business and most especially, investors and the government has already used the opportunity to spike up tax revenue using new laws.

In the newly-created laws, three classes of growers will be distinguished: people who can grow up to 500 cannabis plants, up to 1,000 cannabis plants or up to 1,500 cannabis plants. Five classes of licenses will also be implemented as such: growers, testing facilities, transporters, the seed-to-sale tracking and dispensaries. Different states and communities may now decide whether they will allow dispensaries to operate, sell medical marijuana and can charge a yearly fee of up to $5,000 for every dispensary, Detroit Free Press reported.

While in the Detroit News, it has been reported that a national marijuana advocacy group called "The Marijuana Policy Project" has coordinated successful legalization efforts in many states. The group helped finance legalization campaigns in Colorado and Alaska and has raised money for other proposals. Many plans for recreational cannabis being legalized as medical marijuana have been in progress and many communities hope for these to be done as soon as possible.