Legal Acceptance of Cannabis Could Encourage Lawmakers to Embrace Magic Mushrooms
by Bethan Rose
As states move toward adult-use legal recreational cannabis, the prices continue to fluctuate in new markets. It is, for obvious reasons generally significantly cheaper to purchase medical cannabis in these recreational states for several reasons. As of January 2020, eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use and possession of recreational cannabis, but only eight of these jurisdictions have markets where the substance can be legally bought and sold. Of the states with legal markets, Alaska is the only one that does not impose some form of sales tax on end-users.
Numerous retail sales taxes, excise taxes, state sales taxes, and even a cultivation privilege tax is being implemented in new recreational states like Illinois. While the numbers speak for themselves when researching tax collected among recreationally legal cannabis markets nationwide. The Illinois Department of Revenue projects that this industry will generate over $57 million in tax revenue and licensing fees in FY20. Illinois is home to the second-highest tax burden on cannabis recreational retail sales, according to a review of state and local statutes, with Washington being the highest.
Customers are seeing some of the highest tax rates in the nation on cannabis sales in Illinois, which just went legal at the beginning of the year. Some customers are even threatening to stay put in the underground market until recreational prices are more affordable. Dispensaries cleared more than $10 million in sales in the first week. At the same time, images of customers’ receipts were spreading across social media with bug-eyed responses from other legal states.
The current excise tax collected from the end purchaser on recreational cannabis in Illinois is clearly yet confusingly laid out on their state website as follows:
Their tax structure was designed to discourage higher-potency consumption. But at the same time, it may incentivize black market consumption for the riskiest products.
Besides going to Michigan or an illegal dealer, there is another tax-avoidance option for most Illinois consumers: going medical. What’s the real difference right? In the first two weeks of January 2020, Illinois saw a 34% increase in medical cannabis applications when compared to what the state saw in the first two weeks of December 2019.
Patients under the Illinois cannabis medical program can avoid up to 34.75% tax on the very same products adult-use consumers will be charged for. That means for every $100 that a medical patient will spend, an adult consumer can spend upwards of $134.75 for the exact same products. While creating a legal pathway for recreational adult cannabis users is a progressive move in the right direction, Illinois’ tax regulations are acting as a deterrent for affordable access. Because of this, both the undregulated market and the medical cannabis market will not only remain but most likely continue to grow.
Whatever your reasons for consuming cannabis during the day, it’s important to know how your cannabis will affect you to avoid becoming couch-locked when you should be working on something. Most of society needs to get things done throughout the day, meaning that the cannabis consumed should assist, not prevent, progress. How to Pick a…
New cannabis research found that a cannabis-based drug was able to kill pancreatic cancer cells. This cannabis-based drug, or rather miraculous medication, is a botanical combination of extracts from the Cyathus striatus fungus and cannabis. This powerful combo was even able to destroy all of the cancer cells without damaging any healthy cells, unlike conventional…
If you search the term “cannabis and heart health” on Google, you’ll notice that the results are flooded with pages upon pages of claims about the plant’s allegedly negative impacts on cardiovascular health. But just how true are these claims? Is the cannabis plant a true culprit for poor heart health? Well, according to a…
Choosing the proper pot for cultivating cannabis is important. Cannabis will grow in virtually any size pot or container. Cannabis plants can be grown to maturity in a Solo cup or pots ranging from 1 gallon up to 100 gallons. There are plastic pots, and there are fabric pots. So, how do you choose which…
Ever woken up with beads of sweat rolling down your forehead, the bed sheets tangled around you in a desperately protective clutch, and the imprint in your memory of a scary dream? If so, you can consider yourself among the 50%-85% of adults who battle the occasional nightmare during REM sleep. For many people, the severity…
A recent study suggests that secondhand cannabis smoke has “several hundred toxic chemicals, carcinogens and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), many at higher…
Researchers working at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson have refined a method of ketamine use in the treatment…
Austin decriminalized cannabis possession, Vancouver is now home to some not-so-legal magic mushroom shops, and a British woman shared her life-changing medical…