Releasing the survey on the progress made in the short time that California’s Proposition 64 has been on the ballot, the Department of Finance surmised that 58% of people in California approved of the measure. Advocates for cannabis said the new revenue of $1.1 billion will go toward schools, research and public health.
They have a point when they say it will generate tax revenue — Colorado, which legalized cannabis in 2012, has collected more than $1 billion in marijuana tax revenue from 2014 to 2018. Unfortunately, the ballot measure also depends on local communities to follow suit.
If localities don’t decide to offer the industry a place to get its weed, according to a report in Fortune magazine, the top five companies that want to start a brick-and-mortar marijuana shop will have to bankroll expensive commercial spaces on an interim basis. Some of the biggest weed retailers in the business are looking to California to get their products in front of consumers who are still in the dark about the product’s properties.