Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Medical pot business owners could see their compliance costs increase by $524 per pound under new rules drafted last week by state lawmakers, a cost it would pass on to consumers by raising prices as much as 10 percent.
The new regulations were rolled out to put new, stricter guidelines on the medical marijuana industry in the sate and will govern everything from how pure the products are that are being sold to how it is tracked from seed to sale.
"Friday afternoon, a trio of state agencies released 114 pages of draft rules for the medical cannabis industry. The rules cover every aspect of growing, processing, distributing and selling medical pot in the state, and kick off a 45-day comment period before they become law," the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
"Similar rules are pending for the much larger recreational marijuana market. The medical rules will take effect by the end of the year through 2018."
California legalized recreational marijuana use for adults in November, and now allows adults 21 or older to grow as many as six plants at home and possess an ounce of pot at a time. The new recreational law is expected to rake in $1 billion in taxes once marijuana-related businesses receive their licenses and begin operating in a state that has long had one of the world's largest black market for weed production and cultivation.
The details in the draft regulations are comprehensive. Dispensaries will no longer be allowed to give consumers free samples and they will have mandated operation hours between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Edible marijuana products won't be allowed to contain more than 10 milligrams of THC per serving or 100 milligrams per package.
There's also requirements for indoor pot farms, including that they get 42 percent of their electricity come from renewable sources.
"It's a very big deal. All of the nitty-gritty details about how people will operate and what things they'll need to do to get compliant or stay compliant – that all comes out in these rules," Nicole Howell Neubert, a cannabis industry attorney in San Francisco, told the paper.
California regulators are currently scrambling to put in place the infrastructure they need to oversee and monitor the state's now-legal marijuana economy, estimated to be worth more than $7 billion once it's fully in place.
The most immediate change for consumers would be that price jump, as medical marijuana operators raise prices to keep up with new regulations.
"Cannabis sells wholesale for from $800 to $2,500 per pound," the paper reports. "Overall, medical marijuana businesses could see compliance costs jump by $125,000 per year for a small business and $310,000 per year for an average business, regulators estimated in a financial-impact analysis."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/05/01/california-medical-marijuana-rules.html
Contact: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/about-us/contact
Photo Credit: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Website: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco
The new regulations were rolled out to put new, stricter guidelines on the medical marijuana industry in the sate and will govern everything from how pure the products are that are being sold to how it is tracked from seed to sale.
"Friday afternoon, a trio of state agencies released 114 pages of draft rules for the medical cannabis industry. The rules cover every aspect of growing, processing, distributing and selling medical pot in the state, and kick off a 45-day comment period before they become law," the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
"Similar rules are pending for the much larger recreational marijuana market. The medical rules will take effect by the end of the year through 2018."
California legalized recreational marijuana use for adults in November, and now allows adults 21 or older to grow as many as six plants at home and possess an ounce of pot at a time. The new recreational law is expected to rake in $1 billion in taxes once marijuana-related businesses receive their licenses and begin operating in a state that has long had one of the world's largest black market for weed production and cultivation.
The details in the draft regulations are comprehensive. Dispensaries will no longer be allowed to give consumers free samples and they will have mandated operation hours between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Edible marijuana products won't be allowed to contain more than 10 milligrams of THC per serving or 100 milligrams per package.
There's also requirements for indoor pot farms, including that they get 42 percent of their electricity come from renewable sources.
"It's a very big deal. All of the nitty-gritty details about how people will operate and what things they'll need to do to get compliant or stay compliant – that all comes out in these rules," Nicole Howell Neubert, a cannabis industry attorney in San Francisco, told the paper.
California regulators are currently scrambling to put in place the infrastructure they need to oversee and monitor the state's now-legal marijuana economy, estimated to be worth more than $7 billion once it's fully in place.
The most immediate change for consumers would be that price jump, as medical marijuana operators raise prices to keep up with new regulations.
"Cannabis sells wholesale for from $800 to $2,500 per pound," the paper reports. "Overall, medical marijuana businesses could see compliance costs jump by $125,000 per year for a small business and $310,000 per year for an average business, regulators estimated in a financial-impact analysis."
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/05/01/california-medical-marijuana-rules.html
Contact: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/about-us/contact
Photo Credit: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Website: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco
