They are trying to close the dispensaries in Arizona. (Marijuana) It must really hurt. How do they fight against ALL THAT MONEY? LOLOLOL

Oh no way.   The only thing that this take over disguised as concern means is that the FDA is trying to control the whole operation.  Something like that. 

DEA, FDA, etc.   Like I said,   more money in enforcement and prisons.   $$$$$$

Well, Glis, I just think that the insane amount of money in profits that  marijuana in the economy provides,  triplicates  the profits of prisons  Just the overhead with the cost of prisons. The overhead will kill you. This is way more lucrative.

The cost of housing one prisoner for a year over the cost of running a grow house?   I'll pay for the growhouse and you can pay for the inmate.  Hope he doesn't need medical care.  This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at December 23, 2016 9:27 AM MST

For whom?    

I think you are thinking small.   The amount of money that is generated for big corporations and connected officials is insane.   You have the prisons themselves,  the vendors,  the guards,  the law enforcement agencies like the DEA,    the courts,   the contractors,  the weapons and security system companies, the release programs, the list goes on and on.   The people profiting from all these secondary aspects are making a ton of money and they don't want to give that up.

I call that the overhead.

You want to try reading this and come again, please?




It’s been a pretty promising start for the marijuana industry across the United States.

We’re almost halfway through 2016, and marijuana tax collections in Colorado and Washington have exceeded initial estimates.

For instance, Colorado's cannabis industry brought in more than $270 million in the first quarter of 2016 alone.

New analysis from the Tax Foundation found nationwide legalization of marijuana could generate up to $28 billion in tax revenues for federal, state, and local governments.

That includes $7 billion in federal revenue, $5.5 billion from business taxes, and $1.5 billion from income and payroll taxes, the report outlined.

Colorado's recreational marijuana industry has longtime been the poster child for pot profit. As Washington and Oregon chime in to flaunt tax revenue from marijuana sales, there’s a great chance that other states will start to follow suit.

Alaska and the District of Columbia, where marijuana has been fully legalized for recreational purposes, are also showing strong signs for a profitable year in its new, but fast growing cannabis industry.

Washington

Washington state is planning for exponential growth in tax revenue coming from its booming business.

According to Bloomberg, the state expects to pull in $154.6 million in taxes alone, which they expect to eventually exceed $1 billion after four years.

Last year alone, dispensaries in Washington sold an estimated $257 million worth of marijuana-related products.

Oregon

Oregon is also seeing positive effects since recreational legalization. The Beaver State has projected the market is worth nearly $300 million.

In January, Oregon began collecting a 25% tax from recreational marijuana sales. In one month alone, marijuana sales from the state's 309 dispensaries were projected to bring in roughly $14 million.

The newly implemented sales tax has assumedly made the state of Oregon extremely pleased, considering that over the month of February they reported a tax revenue of $3.48 million.

These cannabis sales aren’t just filling the pockets of the growers and government either, in some states they are helping a worthy cause.

For instance in Oregon, 40% of state tax revenue goes toward education, while another 20% is set to help with mental health and drug services. Additonally close to 2,200 jobs will be created in the industry during 2016.

District of Columbia

The numbers from the District of Columbia are a bit tougher to crunch as the legalization of recreational use there has been met with some criticism and a lot of obstacles.

Although private recreational use was fully legalized back in February 2015, hopeful retailers have been prevented from opening up shop due to blockage from the government, while the legal purchase of cannabis remains not permitted.

This has led to a massive amount of street sales, which are generally quite hard to keep track of.

Locally-based grow operations like Alternative Solutions, which is one of seven facilities in Washington DC authorized to grow marijuana, are starting to see life in this relatively small market, and in three harvests since November 2015, they’ve brought in a revenue of $700,000.

California

It also seems that new legal framework in California—such as the state’s newly signed Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA)—is helping their medical cannabis industry blossom as well. One California-based cannabis-focused agriculture company called Terra Tech saw a revenue growth of 103% in the first quarter of 2016 alone, bringing in a total revenue of $1.5 million so far this year.

The state of California, which is set to vote on a ballot to fully legalize recreational use in November, is truly the cream of the cannabis crop. Last year, medical dispensaries in California sold a whopping $2.7 billion worth of marijuana-related products, which accounted for almost half of the country’s legal sales.

At this point, for California, it seems that legalization of recreational use is not a matter of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’, as laws slowly become more lax and growers continue to build pot farms in the northern part of state.

Full legalization of recreational use in California would be the true game-changer for the industry. The Drug Policy Alliance estimates that, if California fully legalized and taxed marijuana, they would bring in an annual revenue of $1.4 billion dollars on its own.

National Market

The overall US market is set to expand quite handsomely this year, as a recent report by New Frontier and ArcView Market Research projected the country’s overall marijuana market to reach $7.1 billion by the end of 2016.

Looking further into the future, the Marijuana Business Daily estimtes that the US cannabis industry could be worth $44 billion annually by 2020.

As for the handful of cannabis-related stocks, such as the UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals or Insys Therapeutics, there seems to be an opportunity for profitable investment, as both stocks have shown a steady upward climb as of late.

But it’s important to note that the marijuana stock market can still be extremely volatile, especially as the federal government continues to push back against the efforts for full legalization.

As profitable as the marijuana industry has become across the United States, there are still hundreds of pounds and millions of dollars worth of pot being confiscated by the police on a daily basis around the country.

Last year alone, the DEA destroyed approximately $18 million worth a marijuana plants, which—surprise, surprise—costs federal taxpayers about $950,000.

All the while, states that have medicinally legalized marijuana, such as Michigan, have already seen dozens of dispensary raids to start off 2016.

So, although things are looking optimistic for the marijuana industry overall, it’s important to stay precarious about the continuing drug busts, dispensary raids, and the federal government’s refusal to acknowledge the fact that almost half of the states in the United States have either legalized medicinal or recreational use of marijuana.

This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at December 23, 2016 9:42 AM MST

That's what you're missing though.   The profit and the money is IN the overhead.   These debts rarely get fully paid and just keep changing hands to the next profiteer when the time comes.   Most of the corporations and people also have interest in these overheads and still profit from them.    The amount of money bilked from taxpayers and put in the hands of a few from the industrial prison complex is staggering.   You're looking at the business as one someone like you or I would,  small private business owners.    This is a whole different ball game than the one either one of us could ever even think of playing.

Why we have these drug laws is the same reason we still don't properly treat the mentally ill and instead leave them homeless until we can lock them up in prisons.    It's the money,   a small group makes a lot of money and is given lots of power having it this way and they will fight tooth and nail to keep the gravy train coming.