The Core

The California weed market is way overtaxed.

I think everyone who doesn't smoke pot but voted in favor (i.e. me), thought that by legalizing and growing at scale, you would undercut the black market and decriminalize the market. Better for communities, better for taxpayers, reduce prison load/cost, all that good stuff.

Then they went and put such onerous taxes on the legal pot, that it still isn't competitive with black market pot, which is asinine. There are proposals to rectify that, but what you're seeing on Weedmaps is just one more consequence.

From your article

In other words, illegal shops can sell pot at cheaper prices, sometimes 30 percent to 50 percent less.

That is absurd. Of course the black market problem persists.

All true. And I suspect there will be a black market in sugary drinks in places with onerous taxes on sugary drinks.

However, there are actually proposals pending (last I heard) in the legislature to roll back the weed taxes for a certain period (I think three years) to help get the legal market off the ground and get people to move into the legal market, like they have for alcohol and tobacco.

Once you establish "legal" as the default choice, then it's easier to police, but in the weed market, illegal is the default choice and they are not giving people any good reason to switch and several reasons not to.

Prohibition sparks all kinds of 'innovative' business plans. Check out how Walgreen got its marketshare.

>coordinated policies between the state and the federal

Right. IMO, the real problem is that the feds and the states are currently at odds on allowing weed in the marketplace, sin tax or otherwise. That'll change.  The ATF will play hardball. 

You just don't f### with the ATF.  (My ex-father-in-law was regional head.  <added> In a tobacco and moonshine state, back when they switched from ATTD to ATF.  They *HATED* getting firearms added to their department, btw.)

>hardball

They can play for awhile, but the generational shift in attitude towards pot is coming in like the tide and Federal laws will be changed.

Besides, ATF, DEA, FBI, the whole darn alphabet hasn't stopped the stuff from being smuggled in, I don't think they have enough cops, courts or prisons to deal with a younger generation that wants a domestic pot market.

>Federal laws will be changed.

Exactly. They will be changed to have the ATF enforce taxation --federal taxation, like the gasoline.  The state control boards like my state's Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) board (we even have state-run liquor stores) will work in conjunction with them.  It works out that the state nabs the small-to-midsize players and the feds get the big operations.

"Also, my experience with Millennials and Gen X is that they tend to have a strong Libertarian streak. There are whole huge swaths of things they think the government should keep their nose out of and that crosses the spectrum from liberal to conservative - that Libertarian streak seems to underlie it all."

YES and preBoomers also

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden Gains an Influential Ally in His Battle for Hemp
He may finally succeed in removing hemp from the list of federally controlled substances


http://www.wweek.com/news/2018/03/27/u-s-sen-ron-wyden-gains-an-influential-ally-in-his-battle-for-hemp/