Federal legalization of adult-use cannabis is still out there as potential, but ultimately, there are no guarantees that come with such a move. Further, even with legalization, the state-to-state variations in regulations for everything from cultivation standards to packaging and transportation will make marketing country-wide a difficult proposition for most cannabis businesses. The businesses that will grow and thrive will be ones that embrace trends and opportunities that are on the horizon for 2022 and beyond. Large scale companies are dealing with the issue of state-to-state differences in regulations by building branded verticals in each state: from growing to packaging, as well as building stores, in order to avoid the issue altogether. It’s an expensive proposition that is out of reach for the smaller entrepreneur, but it creates an almost regulation-proof setup for these organizations. One interesting trend that would never have been as clear if the pandemic had not occurred is that cannabis is being generally viewed as a recession-proof industry. The pandemic has put the same types of constraints on consumer activity as a recession does and the results are clear: people are still interested, perhaps more so, in cannabis-related products and will choose to continue using them, even in times of restraint. This economic resilience has also encouraged the growth of investment opportunities in the cannabis industry. ETFs (exchange-traded funds) that cover the industry are growing in number, as more cannabis-related businesses grow in size and go public.

Serge Chistov, Cannabis Industry Journal, 01/10/2022 09:33:00

Open article: https://cannabisindustryjournal.com/column/where-the-cannabis-industry-is-headed-in-2022/

Michigan has collected about $271 million in legal, adult-use marijuana tax revenue since 2019, according to a new report from the Marijuana Policy Project that analyzed tax revenue in states with adult-use cannabis since 2014. In March 2021, the Michigan Treasury described what adult-use cannabis taxes collected in fiscal year 2020 will fund: “[a]side from the nearly $10 million in disbursements to municipalities and counties, around $11.6 million will be sent to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education and another $11.6 million to the Michigan Transportation Fund, upon appropriation. The remaining $12.5 million amount will be used toward start-up and administrative costs.” Eighteen states have laws that legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older. A 2020 voter-approved adult-use legalization law in South Dakota was overturned by the state’s Supreme Court in November 2021. Eight of the laws were approved in 2020 or 2021, and in seven of those states, sales and tax collections have either not yet begun (or began within the last week). These figures don’t include medical cannabis tax revenue, application and licensing fees paid by cannabis businesses, additional income taxes generated by workers in the cannabis industry, or corporate taxes paid to the federal government.

Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news, 01/07/2022 08:50:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2022/01/michigan-reaps-271m-total-marijuana-revenue/