We’re 18 months into legal weed sales in California and sales are popping! We have more than 600 licensed stores, 150 delivery services, and 1,500 farms. The state made $600 million in tax revenue in 2018, on our way to a cool billion dollars a year in taxes, and we’ve just got started.
“It's how we interpret the statute —you can't prevent delivery on any public road.”
But things are also turbulent. The market is shuddering. Heavy, heavy regulations and taxes bear down on cannabis for the first time. It’s causing anguish among suppliers. Nowadays, the farm license paperwork alone runs 44 pages, with fees that top out at $44,000 per year.
So we sat down with California’s number one regulator, Lori Ajax, chief of the Bureau of Cannabis Control to chat about what consumers and industry can expect this year.
Ajax, and BCC spokesperson, Alex Traverso, dished to me on-stage at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco this January. Listen along for the latest on Golden State cannabis testing, child-proofing, legal delivery, and new stores.
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The Hash, Season 4, Episode 16: Lori Ajax, chief, California Bureau of Cannabis Control
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Leafly has four podcasts for different skill levels:
- The Hash is NPR’s “All Things Considered”—on cannabis. It’s top-shelf journalism tracking marijuana’s crossover into the mainstream; weekly on Tuesdays.
- Every Friday, The Roll-Up keeps you abreast of each week’s big cannabis news.
- What Are You Smoking? details cannabis product trends for true aficionados.
- And Canada’s legal rollout gets covered by The High Life.
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Each ten-minute Hash episode is co-hosted and produced by Leafly California editor David Downs, and Max Savage Levenson (Pitchfork, NPR). The reported, scripted podcast’s guests this season include rapper/mogul Berner, RuPaul’s Drag Race star Laganja Estranja, New York State Sen. Diane Savino, and more.
For advertising and editorial, contact david.downs@leafly.com.
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