Is Montana set to repeal cannabis legalization?
Some lawmakers want to reverse the process despite legalizing recreational sales in January 2022.
Senate Bill 546 seeks to eliminate all retail stores and dispensaries in Montana while keeping simple possession legal. The bill also wants to raise the medical cannabis tax from 4% to 20%, an obscene figure.
SB 546 also wants to halve the number of legal household plants from two to one. The crop from that single household plant, by the way, cannot contain more than 10% THC. Right now, the state’s THC limit is 35%.
(Although there is no cap on potency for extract products).
Montana is often called the “Treasure State” because of its mineral resources. Its population only surpassed one million in 2012. Montana has no sales tax, its property taxes are significantly lower than other states, and its income tax has a top marginal rate of 6.9%.
For those who love the outdoors, solitude, and freer markets – Frank Zappa was right. We should all be moving to Montana.
Until SB 546 reared its ugly head.
Montana to Repeal Cannabis Legalization?
Is Montana set to repeal cannabis legalization? Fortunately, both Democrats and Republican state senators pushed back and tabled the bill.
Hopefully, that’s the last we hear of repealing cannabis legalization.
Senator Kieth Regier introduced the bill to kill the cannabis industry, citing public safety concerns.
But like Canadian legalization, Montana already has a heavily regulated industry. The state restricts advertising, mandates warning labels, and demands cultivators find ways to limit the odour.
Of course, nothing is good enough for the prohibitionists. You could regulate cannabis like nuclear waste, and it still wouldn’t satisfy the busybodies.
Like Kevin Sabet, president of the anti-cannabis Safe Approaches to Marijuana group. He told the Senate committee, “There is no need to have 90% potent marijuana products unless you’re trying to addict kids.”
“That’s simply the only reason to do it, Sabet said. But perhaps realizing the ridiculous of his statement, he added, “Or addict people in the workplace and cause crashes on the road.”
Yes, that’s the only reason to have potent cannabis. To inflict harm on others. That’s the reason Montana permits hard liquor sales, right? To get teens addicted and cause crashes on the road?
Cannabis Industry Safe for Now
Is Montana set to repeal cannabis legalization? Fortunately, Montana’s cannabis industry is safe for now. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.
“I’m really nervous about undoing the people’s will. That really concerns me,” Senator Willis Curdy said during the committee meeting.
Indeed, there is a moral aspect of re-criminalizing cannabis, but there is also an economic argument. For a year now, entrepreneurs have entered the cannabis industry, creating hundreds of jobs and providing the state with millions of dollars in tax revenue.
Re-criminalizing cannabis wouldn’t eliminate the industry. One of the main reasons behind legal cannabis is to displace criminal networks. Re-criminalizing moves cannabis back into the untaxed underground.
Perhaps that caused Republicans and Democrats to unite in opposition to SB 546. Fear of lost tax revenue. What else motivates politicians?