2018: The Year of Legalization

January 2018 has been the most eventful month for the legalization of marijuana to date.

California kicked off the new year by opening the world’s largest legal market for recreational
marijuana.

In 1996 California natives voted and approved of the medical cannabis program, proposition
215, making medical marijuana legal in the state of California. Exactly two decades later the
citizens of California voted and approved the ​Adult Use of Marijuana Act​, proposition 64,
legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

Marijuana Dispensary Owner, Michael Bailey said, “I have been in this business for over a little
over a decade, so you could say I’m an expert in the marijuana industry at this point. Watching
the cannabis industry grow, from 1996 to what it is today in 2018 has been an incredible
experience.”

The support of marijuana in America is skyrocketing yearly. Business Insider even says that the
United States is “gradually becoming the land of the red, white, and green.”

In 2017, a Gallup poll revealed that 64% of Americans support the use and distribution of
medical and recreational marijuana.

Bailey said, “As a whole, the difference in states where marijuana is legal, and states where it is
not yet legal is the mindset of the citizens who live in each state. For example, if I asked a group
of Californians their opinion of the legalization of marijuana opposed to asking a group of
Virginians, the results would be much different. Legalized states see marijuana as a business.
Non legalized states typically see marijuana in a negative light.”

As of January 1, the state of California added dozens of approved cannabis licenses to their total
allowing more people to sell pot for recreational use.

Bailey said, “It’s alarming how many dispensary busts I have witnessed while being associated
with this type of work. More so than not, people will open dispensaries without proper licensing
or licensing at all for that matter. The state police will kick them out, and the majority of the time
business owners will set up shop again the next day as if nothing happened.”
According to Bailey, California’s new recreational marijuana industry is projected to generate
roughly $7 billion in 2018 –– and is predicted to generate $1 billion annually in local and state
tax revenue.
“Most dispensaries, including my own, have their own grow rooms in their shop. We grow
various types of marijuana from start to finish. In addition to marijuana, edibles, THC vape pens,
drinks, butter and even ice cream have been flying off the shelf.”

While ​several states such as California, Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada,
Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Washington, DC have been given the green light to sell
marijuana; the drug is still illegal under federal law.

Bailey said that since marijuana is not legal on the federal level it causes some people to be
“skeptical” at the idea of opening a dispensary.
“Because this is a cash business, and dispensary owners are unable to deposit their revenue into a
bank account it makes this a rather dangerous business.”

Until 2018, all legalized states were legalized by a voter-approved ballot. On January 22,
Vermont became the first and only state to legalize marijuana through its state legislature.

Bailey said, “Vermont and California have taken strides in order to legalize cannabis in their
states which is huge for the marijuana industry.”

The legalization of marijuana is one of the most drastic changes the United States has seen in the
drug industry in decades –– and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.