Cannabis freedom saves consumers money, researchers find.

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Since adult-use cannabis passed in Missouri in 2022, the state recently divided $15 million in adult-use sales revenue to fund support services for military veterans and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as the Missouri Public Defenders budget. That amount is projected to increase to $19 million by the time the fiscal year ends on July 1.

Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) director Amy Moore recently said that she was pleased with the fund accumulation so far. “It is so rewarding to see the impact of this voter-approved program on organizations that provide vital services to Missourians. We look forward to watching this impact grow and are grateful to be a part of it.” Moore said.

The collection of medical and adult-use cannabis revenue in Missouri differs slightly once operational costs have been paid. The constitutional amendment that legalized medical cannabis five years ago goes directly to the MVC, whereas adult-use cannabis revenue must first pay out any fees relating to cannabis offense expungement, and the leftover amounts are divided up among the three beneficiaries.

These three groups include the Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC), Missouri State Public Defender, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The MVC is described as a health care and “other services” group that serves both veterans as well as their families, while the Public Defender is a legal option for low-income Missourians. The DHSS’s goal is “to operate a grant program for subrecipients to increase access to evidence-based, low-barrier drug addiction treatment prioritizing medically proven treatment and overdose prevention and reversal methods and public or private treatment options with an emphasis on reintegrating recipients into their local communities, to support overdose prevention education, and to support job placement, housing, and counseling for those with substance use disorders.” This includes maintenance of veterans’ homes and various cemeteries. 

The most recent transfer to these groups on May 17 included a total of $15,229,302 split three ways, with each beneficiary receiving $5,076,434.

In January 2024, Moore gave a presentation in front of the House Veterans Committee showing that the MVC will receive a total of $19 million from cannabis sales revenue by the time that the fiscal year ends on July 1. Furthermore, Moore estimated that next year that amount will increase to approximately $22 million. “The governor’s recommendation is quite a bit more than expected and that is tied to the unexpectedly robust sales, mostly on the adult-use side,” Moore said. 

At the time, Moore’s data showed that Missouri had collected $98,873,147 in medical cannabis revenue ($41,406,336 of which went to DCR operating expenses and $39,978,820 to veterans). The state had also collected a total of $57,743,824 in adult-use revenue so far (split between $8,152,210 for DCR operating expenses, in addition to the three sets of beneficiaries receiving $1,278,973).

The MVC has received a grand total of $39,978,820 in medical cannabis sales revenue funds since the transfer began in September 2020. During that first year, the MVC received $2,135,510, followed by $6,843,310 in September 2021, $5 million in May 2022, $13 million in September 2022, and finally $13 million in October 2023.

Rep. Dave Griffith, who is also the veterans chair committee, commented on the success of legalization so far. “The amount of sales that they’ve had with commercial marijuana has been just record-breaking and exceeded all expectations and projections,” Griffith said. “Because of that, there’s going to be even more money into that pool than what they projected right after [Amendment 3] passed.” Griffith also commented that his goal is to increase the amount of funds given to the MVC to $50 million annually, citing the need for more money to better serve veterans services. “Many of them, they’re so overburdened with their caseloads that it’s hard to get in with them,” said Griffith. “If we can increase the number we have, we can start trying to cut down on that wait time many veterans have.”

During the most recent round of funds transferred, Moore released a statement in October 2023 about the positive growth coming from the adult-use cannabis market. “It is incredible that Missouri voters passed the adult use amendment less than one year ago, and we are now starting to see the financial impact the program’s success will have on multiple organizations and the Missourians they serve,” Moore said.

At the time, MVC executive director Paul Kirchoff also provided a statement about the benefits of the program. “These funds will help MVC continue to support the existing infrastructure of our seven Veterans Homes,” said Kirchoff.

While legal cannabis continues to serve Missouri, the topic of psilocybin continues to evolve. In March, the Missouri House Veterans Committee recently passed a psilocybin legalization bill (Senate Bill 768) which if passed would allow veterans to use psilocybin therapy. 

In April, the Missouri House of Representatives approved a budget bill that sets aside $10 million in psilocybin research grants, which would come from the state opioid settlement funds. The research studies would study how psilocybin affects people with opioid abuse disorder.

Originally this also included the research of ibogaine for treating the disorder but was changed to focus on psilocybin instead. According to Rep. Cody Smith who introduced that budget bill, the switch from ibogaine to psilocybin was due to a discussion he had with the Department of Mental Health the week prior. “They had concerns about the ibogaine research they had read, and there are concerns about the dangers involved in that research,” said Smith. “However, they are interested in the psilocybin piece. And we’ve seen many other states use their opioid settlement funds to that end.”

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Green isn’t just the color of cannabis, but cash, too. And thanks to your valiant efforts of consumption, the industry is looking to help out the economy. Info from the newly released MJBiz Factbook reveals that the economic impact of regulated marijuana sales in the U.S. could exceed a whopping $112.4 billion in 2024. That’s a 12% growth compared to last year. 

Overall, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts a slowdown in economic growth for 2024 due to higher unemployment levels and reduced inflation. As a result, the Federal Reserve is likely to lower interest rates starting in mid-2024. After this, economic growth is expected to rebound in 2025 (mark the year in your calendars hopefully you’ll have extra money for weed) and then level off in the following years. So, while 2024 isn’t likely going to be one of the best economic years on record, that’s not the cannabis industry’s fault. Without it, we’d be $112.4 billion poorer as a nation. And as new cannabis markets emerge, the industry is projected to contribute over $200 billion in additional spending to the U.S. economy by 2030.

While there were sales dips in established western markets (licensed retailers in California reported taxable sales exceeding $5.1 billion in 2023), marking a 4.7% decline from the previous year, according to the latest year-end data from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, you may have read about the California mass extinction), the cannabis industry continues to see growth through the expansion of new recreational and medical marijuana facilities in states like Maryland, Missouri, and New York. 

While it’s exciting to see that the cannabis industry is going to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the economy, keep in mind that MJBiz’s date doesn’t account for potential U.S. government actions like federal rescheduling or legalization, each of which could boost revenue and economic impact. While Biden has said he’d reschedule cannabis and expunge more cannabis convictions, he hasn’t turned out to be the great liberal hero who legalizes marijuana for all. Donald Trump has been all over the place when it comes to cannabis. Thirty years ago, he said drugs should be legal, but he has backpedaled in modern years to appeal to his conservative voter base. Twenty-five years later, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he said that he thinks marijuana legalization is “bad” and that he feels “strongly about that.”

To come to the figure of $112.4 billion of economic impact, MJBizDaily applied some epic math by looking at comparable industries. Then, they used a standard multiplier to estimate projected sales for recreational and medical marijuana. The economic multiplier illustrates the broader economic impact of the cannabis industry. It suggests that for every dollar spent by consumers and patients at adult-use stores and medical marijuana dispensaries, an additional $2.50 is circulated into the economy. This money primarily benefits the local economies that sell the cannabis in the first place. 

Keep in mind that the economic impact of the marijuana industry is different from supply-chain revenue, which is commonly utilized to gauge an industry’s ‘total size.’ According to the MJBiz Factbook, total U.S. sales for adult-use and medical cannabis are projected to hit $32.1 billion in 2024 and rise to $58 billion by 2030. 

The term “economic impact” describes the effect of an industry (or an event) on the economy of the corresponding region or country. This includes economic growth, employment, wages, and overall economic activity changes. The economic impact includes direct impacts, such as the immediate benefits from business spending and salaries; indirect impacts, such as additional economic activity from local suppliers fulfilling new demands; and induced impacts, which happen from employees spending their paychecks locally. Knowing the economic impact helps stakeholders understand the economic value of different industries and make corresponding decisions. 

The projections represent the best estimates available for the ever-evolving marijuana industry, which is different from others as it operates under a complicated and ever-changing set of state regulations yet is still illegal federally (until, of course, we elect someone down to make some real progress). The cannabis industry is vast and includes agricultural, manufacturing, and retail sectors, as well as businesses that don’t sell weed but help the cause, like lighting suppliers and cannabis-friendly accounting firms. The number even includes 420-friendly events and hospitality businesses, which can really improve our economy, per the data, and make you feel good about taking part in your local cannabis community. 

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In a recent campaign stop in California, President Joe Biden said that people in other countries are paying 40-60% less than what Americans are paying for prescription drugs. A fact-checker recently approved his claim, affirming that Americans are indeed paying double for prescription drugs compared to prices in other countries.

“If I put you on Air Force One with me, and you have a prescription—no matter what it’s for, minor or major—and I flew you to Toronto or flew to London or flew you to Brazil or flew you anywhere in the world, I can get you that prescription filled for somewhere between 40 to 60% less than it costs here,” Biden said at a Feb. 22 campaign reception in Los Altos, California, where he was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris.

WLRN, which can be found on 91.3 FM in Florida, partnered with PolitiFact to fact-check politicians and the claims that they make while on the campaign trail. Biden’s comments last month were ranked “mostly true” by fact-checkers, reports WUWF, and NPR member station.

Biden then cited provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug prices, including capping insulin at $35 per month for Medicare enrollees. Lawmakers also put a limit on older Americans’ out-of-pocket prescription costs to $2,000 per year starting in 2025. 

The law also authorizes Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug makers for 10 prescription drugs, and the list is expected to grow.

There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that overall, U.S. prescription drug prices are significantly higher, sometimes two to four times, compared with prices in other industrialized nations. Generic drugs, however, are an anomaly and are typically cheaper in the U.S. compared with other countries. 

A recent study by Rand found that across all drugs, U.S. prices were 2.78 times higher than prices in 33 other countries, based on 2022 data. The divide was largest for brand-name drugs, with U.S. prices averaging 4.22 times higher than those in the other nations. After adjusting for manufacturer-funded rebates, U.S. prices for brand-name drugs remained more than three times higher than prices in other countries. 

“The analysis used manufacturer gross prices for drugs because net prices—the amounts ultimately retained by manufacturers after negotiated rebates and other discounts are applied—are not systematically available,” a press release about the report said.

A series of other studies show that in the U.S., people are paying more than any other peer countries for brand-name drugs, and it’s not offset enough by generic drug prices.

Drug patents and exclusivity are other factors keeping U.S. drug prices higher than in other countries.

Other Politicians Agree Prescription Drug Costs Are Too High

Last February, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued a report slamming the U.S. prices of drugs and executive pay of three major drug manufacturers—Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb—just before a hearing.

The CEOs of all three drug manufacturers had to appear before a hearing to be grilled by Sanders, prepared by staff associated with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee). The New York Times reports that they testified on their behalf Feb. 8, telling their side of the story.

Americans pay the most for life-saving drugs compared to other countries, the senator’s report summarized—by far. In some cases, Americans are paying nearly 10 times the price as what Germans pay. Sanders’ detailed report outlines how the three companies are spending more on executive pay and stock buybacks than drug research and development (R&D).

“The United States pays, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” the report reads, written by staff and headed by Sanders as Chair. “At a time when one out of four Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe, ten large pharmaceutical companies made over $112 billion in profits in 2022 while paying their chief executives exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to make their wealthy stockholders even richer.”

Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) voted last July to advance a bipartisan bill she personally helped develop to reduce the rocketing cost of prescription drugs and the way pharmacy managers benefit from rising drug prices. 

The Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability (MEPA) Act, which passed the Finance Committee July 26 on a bipartisan basis, reduces the cost incentive for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to prioritize more expensive drugs because they receive higher payouts for higher priced drugs.

The MEPA Act would scale back incentives to jack up prescription drug prices at pharmacies. The legislation shows that lawmakers understand change is needed regarding sky-high drug prices.

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Bank of Guam announced in a press release on Wednesday that the launch of “Cannabis Banking” will give it a “platform [to allow] cannabis clients the ability to share data from their day-to-day business activities, such as sales, inventory and required licensing documentation.” 

According to The Guam Daily Post, “Cannabis Banking” will make the institution the first in the region “to serve ‘all tiers’ of cannabis-related businesses, or CRBs.”

“It has always been the mission of our founder to serve the underserved and to provide access to safe and secure banking services to our communities. This now includes our cannabis-related businesses. As your partner in growth, we are committed to extending our expertise as trusted financial advisers to this new industry and to allow our local cannabis-related businesses who follow the process and play by the rules, a fair chance to succeed,” Bank of Guam President and CEO Joaquin L.G. Cook said in the press release, as quoted by the Guam Daily Post.

Per the outlet, Bank of Guam will begin this month to “offer deposit and lending services to CRBs in Guam and Saipan legally licensed to engage.” Those CRBs are “organizations or businesses that grow, process, dispense, administer or derive income from selling marijuana products,” according to the Daily Post, which offered the following breakdown of the qualifying businesses:

“(Tier 1) Direct Cannabis-Related Businesses: Businesses licensed to touch the plant directly. Types of direct CRBs include adult use/medical use, retail, processing, cultivation, dispensaries, seed producers, testing, delivery and consumption lounges. (Tier 2) Indirect Cannabis-Related Businesses: Includes industry-specific professional services. Types of indirect CRBs include operations support such as attorneys and accountants, landlords, hydroponic suppliers, packaging suppliers, delivery device suppliers, security firms, cannabis consultants, marijuana testing facilities, employment/payroll providers and cannabis software providers. (Tier 3) Hemp-Related Businesses: Businesses licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture or state regulatory agency to grow, test, or otherwise prepare hemp. (Tier 3) Cannabidiol Businesses: Businesses engaged in the production or sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids intended for human or animal consumption, as regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.”

Guam legalized recreational cannabis in 2019 with the “Guam Cannabis Industries Act,” which, per NORML, “legalizes the personal possession of marijuana by adults, and establishes regulations governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale.” 

NORML continued: “The law permits those age 21 or older to legally possess and transfer up to one ounce of marijuana flower and/or eight grams of concentrated cannabis. The measure, which took immediate effect, also permits adults to privately cultivate up to six cannabis plants (no more than three mature) in an ‘enclosed, locked space.’ Public consumption of cannabis will remain a violation of law. The Act creates a new regulatory board to draft rules governing the plant’s commercial production and retail sale. The board has a one-year timeline to adopt rules necessary to permit for the operation of licensed cannabis establishments.”

Guam’s regulated cannabis market has been slow to take shape, however. In 2022, it was reported that no one had applied for a cannabis retail license yet. 

According to the Guam Daily Post, the “cannabis industry has yet to take off on Guam as there have been various roadblocks, including permitting issues that have affected at least one potential cultivator.”

The outlet said that Guam is still awaiting clearance on a crucial testing laboratory. 

“A testing laboratory is integral to developing a commercial cannabis industry on Guam. No cannabis or cannabis products can be sold without being tested for potency and safety. Essentially, without a testing laboratory, there can be no industry on the island under the current regulations,” the outlet explained.

In 2021, Guam’s governor, Lou Leon Guerrero, said that the territory had reached an agreement with a U.S.-based company called Metrc to oversee the cannabis regulatory systems. Guerrero’s office said at the time that Metrc’s “system combines advanced software, radio-frequency identification (RFID), a dedicated customer support team, and a secure database to track cannabis from growth, harvest and processing, to testing, transport, and sale,” and that the company “holds exclusive government contracts in various areas of the United States, including Alaska, California, and Washington, D.C.”

“Over the last decade, we have seen substantial evidence that cannabis has medicinal benefits. With the final review by our Cannabis Control Board on the rules and regulations for the industry, we can more efficiently control recreational use and ensure safe and regulated products,” Guerrero said at the time. “The cannabis industry will benefit our community by funding expanded public services in health and public safety, and providing alternative treatment and rehabilitation for people who need it.” 

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Local news outlet WPRI reported last week that the state’s Office of Cannabis Regulation says that recreational marijuana sales “have steadily increased almost monthly over the past year, and the estimated sales for Fiscal Year 2024 is $76 million.”

“That sales estimate, if met, would translate into more than $15 million in state and local revenue: $7.6 million from the state’s 10% cannabis tax, $5.3 million from the 7% sales tax and $2.3 million from the 3% local tax,” the station reported, noting that the Office of Cannabis Regulation “estimates that, in October alone, more than $7 million worth of recreational cannabis products were sold statewide.”

Rhode Island lawmakers last year passed a bill that legalized recreational cannabis for adults aged 21 and older, making it the 19th state in the U.S. to do so.

The bill, which legalized possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for adults and also permitted possession by adults of up to 10 ounces is permitted in a private home, was approved by members of the state General Assembly in May of 2022. The measure also established the framework for legal, regulated recreational cannabis sales in Rhode Island.

“This is a truly momentous day for Rhode Island. I’m deeply grateful to Senator Miller for his years of hard work and leadership on this issue, and I’m incredibly proud to have been part of reaching this point,”  Rhode Island state Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey, a Democrat, said after the legislation passed. “Ending cannabis prohibition helps us right past wrongs while creating new opportunities for all Rhode Islanders. This is the right move, at the right time, for our state.”

The bill was signed into law by Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, who later announced that legal cannabis sales would launch on December 1, 2022.

“This milestone is the result of a carefully executed process to ensure that our state’s entry into this emerging market was done in a safe, controlled and equitable manner,” McKee said last year after the sales date was announced. “It is also a win for our statewide economy and our strong, locally based cannabis supply chain, which consists of nearly 70 licensed cultivators, processors and manufacturers in addition to our licensed compassion centers. Finally, I thank the leadership of the General Assembly for passing this practical implementation framework in the Rhode Island Cannabis Act and I look forward to continuing our work together on this issue.”

The Rhodes Island Cannabis Act included “a call for applications for ‘hybrid retail licenses,’” according to the governor’s office. Those hybrid licenses “allow licensed compassion centers to sell both medical marijuana as well as safe, well-regulated and competitively priced marijuana products to Rhode Island adults over the age of 21, was issued in early October,” McKee’s office said last year.

Five cannabis dispensaries (described as “compassion centers” by the state) received approval from the state to open for business on December 1, 2022. There are currently seven licensed dispensaries in Rhode Island, although the state has allowed for 33 retail licenses to ultimately be awarded.

Matt Santacroce, interim deputy director of the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, said at the time that the state was “pleased with the quality and comprehensiveness of the applications we received from the state’s compassion centers, and we are proud to launch adult use sales in Rhode Island just six months after the Cannabis Act was signed into law, marking the Northeast’s fastest implementation period.” 

According to the Providence Journal, “$62.9 million worth of recreational retail marijuana has sold in Rhode Island since retail sales began last December,” although that figure “does not include sales for November, nor does it include medical marijuana sales, which are counted separately.”

Including medical marijuana sales, “total retail marijuana sales in Rhode Island top $95 million,” according to the Journal.

But as in other states that have taken the step to legalize adult-use cannabis, the change in law has also resulted in a dip in medical marijuana sales.

Erica Ferrelli, chief of strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation for the state cannabis office, told the Providence Journal that there has been a “drastic” decline in medical marijuana patients over the last year.

“Last December, 15,062 active patients bought marijuana from Rhode Island dispensaries. By October that number had fallen to 10,377,” the Journal reported.

Ferrelli told the newspaper that many patients “just find it easier to transition to the adult-use market” and pay a higher tax in order to avoid “the burden of finding a doctor, getting them to sign you into the program, which is still pretty difficult, pay for an appointment and get yourself there, which for some patients might be quite the hassle.”

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St. Louis city officials announced this week that a failure to meet a state deadline has resulted in a delay in the start of a new cannabis sales tax that will cost the city an estimated $500,000 in lost revenue. St. Louis voters approved the 3% cannabis sales tax in April following the statewide legalization of weed in the November 2022 election.

Under Missouri’s marijuana legalization statute, local governments are permitted to add a cannabis sales tax on top of the state’s 6% pot sales tax. Earlier this year, St. Louis city officials put a 3% cannabis tax measure on the ballot, saying that the money would be used to address historic inequalities in the city. Former city Alderman Brandon Bosley, the sponsor of the cannabis tax proposal, said at the time that he hoped the money would be used for programs to help keep at-risk young people out of trouble.

St. Louis voters approved the tax in an April election, giving the city the authority to collect the new cannabis tax. But before that could happen, the city was supposed to submit information including certified election results and a notification to the Missouri Department of Revenue that the tax would be levied. State law dictates that the new tax can be collected beginning on the first day of the second quarter after such notification is made.

If the notification had been made by the end of June, the city could have begun collecting the tax on October 1. Last week, an employee in the city finance department told the mayor’s office that the required notifications to enact the new weed tax had not been sent to the state.

“We’re grateful that they told us because we had no idea,” city spokesman Nick Dunne said in a statement to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Oversight Corrected Last Week

Dunne said that St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Casey Millburg, her policy director, worked swiftly to resolve the issue after it came to light. The required paperwork was filed with the state Department of Revenue on November 14 and the city received word that everything was in order the following day. City officials also secured a waiver from the state allowing the tax to be collected beginning in January, rather than in April as prescribed by law.

Because of the error, St. Louis is missing out on the cannabis sales taxes that could have been generated between October 1 and the end of the year. Dunne did not estimate how much revenue could have been collected from the tax during that time. But in May, city Budget Director Paul Payne told the Board of Aldermen that if statewide recreational sales are about $1 billion per year as estimated and the city receives the same share in taxes as it does with other consumer spending, the city’s annual weed tax revenue would be about $2.4 million per year, or an estimated $600,000 per quarter. If the city’s share of the regulated cannabis market is equal to its share of the dispensaries that have opened in Missouri so far, annual revenue would be roughly $2 million annually or approximately $500,000 per quarter.

“Clearly, this is an oversight that even we weren’t thrilled with,” Dunne said.

What’s not clear, however, is which city department is responsible for making the notification to the state to begin collecting the tax. Recently, such submissions have been completed by the mayor’s office. But Dunne noted that the city comptroller’s office and the Board of Elections have also taken care of such submissions in the past. After the oversight was revealed, Jones’ office issued a statement on the city’s failure.

“While state law does not specifically define who is responsible for submitting the required documents to the Department of Revenue, the bottom line is that St. Louis will be precluded from collecting the additional 3% sales tax on cannabis products,” the statement reads. “That is unacceptable.”

“We are looking at what we can do to more clearly define lines of responsibility,” Dunne told reporters.

The shortfall of at least $500,000 is not an enormous portion of the city’s billion-dollar yearly budget. But Alderwoman Cara Spencer, the chair of the Board of Aldermen’s budget committee, said the amount is not insignificant, noting that the amount could pay for a proposed freeze on property taxes for seniors for a year.

“It’s really disappointing,” Spencer said. “We need every dollar we can get.”

“Frustrated is an understatement,” she added. “We just came through a very tough budget cycle. We’re looking at some very stark figures here.”

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Following the introduction of Senate Bill 486, a cannabis legalization bill first introduced two months ago, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue released a fiscal report of the impact of legalization.

So far, SB 486 has received one Senate reading on Oct. 9, two additional cosponsors, and a fiscal estimate first published on Oct. 25.

Wisconsin has no data to build off of any existing cannabis industry but it used data from neighboring states of Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota to get a better idea of the effects and potential benefits of legalization. “All three states generate revenues through a variety of permits/licensing fees and excise taxes on retail sales (medical exempted), in addition Illinois imposes an excise tax on sales by growers to retailers,” the report stated. “Minnesota which legalized marijuana this year offers no historical data to estimate sales and tax revenues.”

The report stated that a 15% excise tax revenue in Wisconsin could generate up to $24.6 million in the first year, followed by $48.6 million in the second year, and $60.1 million in the third year. Additionally, a 10% excise tax on cannabis retailers could net up to $19.1 million in the first year, $47.3 million in the second year, and $64.9 million in the third year.

A 5% state general sales tax on cannabis would also show a collection of $9.5 million in the first year, $23.6 million in the second year, and finally $41.7 million in the third year.

Wisconsin also lumps together county tax estimates, along with a “stadium tax,” or baseball stadium tax for the counties of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington, and Waukesha. Together, this 9.6% state sales could collect up to $0.9 million in the first year, $2.3 million in the second year, and $3.1 million in the third year. Additionally, the report mentions Milwaukee-specific sales tax of 2.5%, for $0.2 million in the first year, $0.6 million for the second, and $0.8 million for the third.

Rough totals per year include $54.3 million for the first year, $122.8 for the second year, and $170.5 million for the third year.

The fees include administrative and staffing requirements, which would cost $4 million to implement, and an additional $4.5 million for expanding staff later on.

The legalization effort was launched by Sen. Leader Melissa Agard and Rep. Darrin B. Madison, Agard announced SB 486 in September. “I’ve said this time and time again, we know that the most dangerous thing about cannabis in Wisconsin is that it remains illegal.” Agard said in a press statement. “For the past decade, I have worked to undo Wisconsin’s antiquated and deeply unjust marijuana policies and put our state on a prosperous path forward.”

SB 486 would legalize possession of cannabis for residents over 21 years of age, and establish a regulatory foundation for cultivation, production, and sales.

Agard noted that people in Wisconsin are traveling to other local states to get access to cannabis products. “Right now, we are seeing our hard-earned money go across the border to Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota to the tune of tens of millions of dollars each year,” Agard said. “That is money we could be reinvesting to help support our friends and neighbors and make our state a place where people want to live, work, and play.”

Madison also said in a statement that it is the right of citizens to be able to purchase and consume cannabis safely without fear of criminalization. “According to the ACLU, Black people were 4.24 times more likely to be arrested than white people in Wisconsin during 2018,” Madison said. “Similar disparities exist in convictions, leading to immeasurable harm to black communities in Wisconsin. The bill we’ve introduced today lays a solid foundation for those that have been harshly convicted for non-violent possession charges and the ramifications of those convictions.” 

Earlier this year in March, a report showed that the state of Illinois has collected $36.1 million in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents crossing state lines to purchase cannabis legally. “It should upset every Wisconsinite that our hard earned tax dollars are going across the border to Illinois,” Agard stated. “This is revenue that could be going toward Wisconsin’s public schools, transportation infrastructure, and public safety. Instead, Illinois is reaping the benefits of Republican obstructionism and their prohibitionist stance on marijuana legalization.”

Later in August, Agard congratulated the state of Minnesota on the launch of legal cannabis sales, and called for the same to happen in Wisconsin soon as well. “Wisconsin is an island of prohibition. Now, approximately 700 miles of Wisconsin land borders a state with legal cannabis,” Agard said. “Choosing to ignore this issue, as my Republican colleagues continue to do, is not a winning position.”

Wisconsin is making progress, but it’s not likely that SB 486 will pass due to strong opposition from legislators. But those individuals’ opinions don’t match that of Wisconsinites, with 64% of registered voters supporting legalization, according to a November 2022 poll. In those results, 82% of Democrats said they supported legalization, along with 75% of independents, but only 43% of Republicans. In order for SB 486 to proceed, it must be approved by the legislature, which currently consists of a Republican majority.

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Four men are facing a slough of criminal charges after federal authorities said they robbed a series of trucks in the Philadelphia area, including one carrying a shipment of dimes from the United States Federal Reserve.

According to an article by the Associated Press, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently unsealed an indictment against four Philadelphia men who allegedly broke into and robbed several trucks in the Philadelphia area before stealing just over $234,000 worth of freshly-minted dimes on April 13 of this year.

The alleged thieves reportedly left dimes scattered all over the roadway from quickly trying to bag and transfer a portion of the cargo, which weighed more than six tons in total, from the truck to their getaway van according to the AP. Federal authorities said the four suspects they arrested for the theft of the dimes were also believed to have robbed several other trucks in the area around the same time. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that several other cargo loads containing shrimp, frozen crab legs, meat, beer and liquor were suspected to have been stolen by the following suspects:

25-year-old Rakiem Savage, 31-year-old Ronald Byrd, 30-year-old Haneef Palmer and 32-year-old Malik Palmer who all reside in the Philadelphia area have been charged with a laundry list of felony crimes related to these incidents, according to a recently unsealed federal indictment. Charges filed  included robbery, theft of government money, conspiracy and more.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said that the crimes all carried a similar mode of operation where the men would find trucks resting in parking lots or rest areas, forcibly remove drivers from their trucks and use bolt cutters to gain access to the cargo – which would then be removed and loaded onto a white box truck. The stolen goods were later put up for sale via various internet-based mediums.

Authorities alleged that Savage stole 60 cases of Jose Cuervo from a truck in March. Following that incident, authorities alleged that six refrigerators were stolen just two weeks before the dime theft by Savage and the Palmers. During this incident, the suspects reportedly pulled the driver from his vehicle and made him lie under their white box truck while they unloaded and reloaded the stolen refrigerators. Additionally, after the April 13 dime theft, messages were sent from Byrd to several others via the internet explaining that Byrd had stolen shrimp for sale, the market rate for which was not immediately clear.

Philadelphia police told the Inquirer they did not believe the accused thieves were aware of what was in the truck on April 13 when they stumbled upon just over $750,000 in dimes fresh from the Federal Reserve. Surveillance video showed six men in gray hoodies approach the truck, which police said had pulled over in a parking lot to rest while en route to Miami. The men broke open the truck’s cargo area with bolt cutters and began transferring the dimes to their box truck. Surveillance video also showed the men stealing recycling bins as they made their way out of the area, presumably to help unload the stolen coins.

The AP article said that after the April 13 dime theft, thousands of dollars in conversions of dimes to cash were recorded in Coinstar machines in Maryland. Equally large deposits of dimes were also made to at least four Philadelphia bank branches, according to a federal indictment obtained by the Associated Press. However, the value exchanged at the coin machines was only a small percentage of the value of the total haul of dimes, meaning the vast majority of the dimes remained unaccounted for at the time this article was written.

“If for some reason you have a lot of dimes at home,” Philadelphia police spokesperson Miguel Torres told the New York Times in April, “this is probably not the time to cash them in.”

If convicted of all the charges they have been indicted on, the four suspects could collectively face decades behind bars, according to the article by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Legal representatives for all four men did not immediately respond to requests for comment by either the Associated Press or the Philadelphia Inquirer. All four men were reportedly still in FBI custody but were scheduled to appear before a judge on Monday.

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Cannabis companies doing legal business in their state are one step closer to potentially opening accounts with federally-insured banks after the latest version of the SAFER Banking Act (formerly SAFE banking) cleared the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday 14-9.

The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act will now move to the Senate Floor for where it faces several more hurdles and potential amendments before a full vote can be made. If passed by the Senate it moves to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“Cannabis banking is just one part of the necessary conversation about marijuana policy. There is still much work to be done to acknowledge and mend the damage done by the war on drugs, work to make sure everyone – including our veterans – has access to the medicine they need and allow medical and scientific research on cannabis,” said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio in a press release.

SAFER Banking would provide much-needed legal protections for financial institutions to serve businesses in the currently cash-dependent cannabis trade. Cannabis is presently considered a Schedule 1 substance in the eyes of the federal government, which means any bank that wishes to be federally insured cannot do business with cannabis companies, regardless of the laws in that company’s home state. If the Senate passes the SAFER Banking Act, it will allow cannabis businesses to not only open bank accounts, but take out small business loans, accept debit cards as payment and provide easier pathways for their employees to get home loans etc. 

The latest language of the bill was submitted for consideration last week written and led by senators Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.; and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., as well as Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“This legislation will help make our communities and small businesses safer by giving legal cannabis businesses access to traditional financial institutions, including bank accounts and small business loans,” the senators said in a joint statement. “It also prevents federal bank regulators from ordering a bank or credit union to close an account based on reputational risk.”

If passed, SAFER Banking may provide a much needed lifeline for an industry forced to do business in cash which puts thousands of budtenders, delivery drivers, growers and other ancillary cannabis sector employees at risk of violent crime. It would also provide much-needed capital for businesses currently forced to operate using their own money or capital secured through private sources.

Seven previous versions of the bill were passed by the House of Representatives but have thus far been unable to progress to a full Senate vote until Wednesday’s developments, though the bill still faces heavy opposition from Senate Republicans and from the GOP-controlled House if passed by the Senate. Opponents of the bill said, among the usual laundry list of concerns about cannabis, that the language of the bill only further serviced the wealthy and did nothing for criminal justice reform. 

“This bill will make life safer for bankers, for businesses and financial institutions, some of whom have been profiting from the cannabis industry illegally for years, which is ironic given many of the regular folks who illegally sold or used cannabis are sitting in jail cells right now,” said Senator Raphael Warnock, D – GA.

The advancement of the SAFER Banking Act marks the latest in a series of movements at the federal level concerning cannabis, including a recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services that cannabis be rescheduled from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3. That decision has now been handed off to the DEA to weigh in on. A congressional report released last week said the DEA was “likely” to recommend the same, though an additional bill has also been introduced in the Senate, which if passed would require congressional approval before cannabis can be rescheduled. 

All this comes on the heels of a potential government shutdown sparked by a congressional standoff regarding a new spending bill that could further delay progress on all of these matters. Senator Schumer said he would work to bring the SAFER Banking Act to a floor vote as soon as possible where it requires 60 votes to move on to the House of Representatives.

“Regardless of how you feel about states’ efforts to legalize marijuana, this bipartisan bill is necessary – it will make it safer for legal cannabis businesses and service providers to operate in their communities and protect their workers,” said Sen. Brown. “Through bipartisan work we have been able to find language that addresses both Republicans’ and Democrats’ concerns.”

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