You could say that Gov. Gavin Newsom saved the California cannabis industry.<\/p>\n
Way back in March 2020, with the mysterious but deadly novel coronavirus spreading like an out-of-control and invisible late-fall wildfire, the governor declared<\/a> all cannabis dispensaries essential businesses. This meant they could keep their doors open during the strict California stay-at-home order while bars, restaurants, and most other retail shut down. As public-health professionals clutched at pearls<\/a>, the result was the biggest buying spree in marijuana legalization\u2019s history, a 57 percent increase from the prior year<\/a>.<\/p>\n You could also say that Gavin Newsom\u2014one of the first prominent politicians with a national profile to come out for weed, who endorsed legalizing cannabis way back in 2012\u2014is responsible for wrecking the state\u2019s marijuana industry we knew it.<\/p>\n Though the state\u2019s legalization ballot measure, 2016\u2019s Prop. 64, promised small growers a head start, rules released in late 2017<\/a> allowed Big Weed\u2019s immediate entry. More rules, passed by local governments, shut out most of the state to legal cannabis retail, gifting the traditional illicit market a prime opportunity.<\/p>\n True, that happened when Newsom was still lieutenant governor, with then-Gov. Jerry Brown still handling the reins of state. But since then, Newsom has done little to lower taxes<\/a> or ease regulatory burdens like steep permit fees.<\/p>\n For these reasons, there was plenty of angst, anger, and fear to propel as much as half of the California weed industry to either support the Sept. 14 recall effort, or at least chime in with their own critiques<\/a> of the governor ahead of the crucial vote.<\/p>\n A Sacramento-area cannabis lobbyist even went as far as to run as a replacement candidate (while somewhat incoherently also encouraging voters to keep the governor in place).<\/p>\n \u201cI think he completely dropped the ball and overlooked this massive gold mine sitting in his pocket,\u201d said Mark Ponticelli<\/a>, CEO and founder of The People\u2019s Remedy, a dispensary chain in Modesto, Calif., in the state\u2019s conservative Central Valley.<\/p>\n That said, when Ponticelli faced the choice of kicking the governor out and selecting a replacement\u2014most likely Larry Elder, the ultra-right, Trump-endorsed, anti-vaxxing talk radio host\u2014he found there was no choice at all.<\/p>\n \u201cReally,\u201d he said, \u201cthe choices were just the bad and the ugly. There was no real hope, it seemed like.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, the cannabis industry\u2019s complains were irrelevant. Despite some early scares, Newsom easily brushed aside<\/a> the recall effort by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. As a result, his political career is riding higher than ever.<\/p>\n He has tens of millions of dollars in campaign cash ready to brush aside whomever might try to run against him in 2022. He\u2019s a near-lock to be governor until Jan. 2027 (unless he tries to run for president first).<\/p>\n This means the cannabis industry in California will have to live with the governor\u2014and after their summer of harsh words and support for the recall, some awkward conversations when they ask for the tax relief and other help they say they desperately need might ensue.<\/p>\n Whether the cannabis industry\u2019s boiled-over frustrations with the governor will cause a problem isn\u2019t clear. Newsom\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reached Friday, officials from the Department of Cannabis Control said they were busy meeting with small cannabis business owners and were unavailable to discuss (though whom they were meeting with, they did not say).<\/p>\n But not everyone in weed wanted Newsom out. Ryan Bacchas<\/a> is a Los Angeles-based campaign consultant and lobbyist. A self-described \u201cfiscal conservative\u201d who leans Republican, Bacchas is also president of the California Cannabis Coalition, active in trying to influence statewide drug policy. He estimates \u201cabout half\u201d of the state industry wanted Newsom out\u2014and he counted himself firmly in the pro-Newsom camp.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody else was out of their damn minds,\u201d he said. \u201cI know a lot of folks were putting out false information about the governor and some of the things he\u2019s done as far as cannabis is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t have to declare the cannabis industry essential,\u201d Bacchas added. \u201cI understand some peoples\u2019 frustration\u2026 but if people aren\u2019t so happy with Gavin, we weren\u2019t going to get anything done with a Republican governor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI told people, the only sensible logic is, either we lose him, and we get someone new, or we keep him, and we keep going to work. And if he loses, all the progress is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who wanted him gone, it was for very frivolous reasons,\u201d he said, adding that some cannabis industry players\u2019 behavior during the recall \u201cmade a mockery out of the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n The real lasting impact of the Newsom recall\u2014and California cannabis\u2019s inability to affect the outcome one way or the other\u2014may be internal. The uncertainty of the recall revealed the schisms and splits within the cannabis movement and industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot said in the last year, about a lot of the racism, bigotry, and homophobia in the cannabis industry,\u201d Bacchas said.<\/p>\n And the recall, \u201cthat\u2019s who you saw, not just coming out, but making themselves known,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The post Gavin Newsom Gave the Cannabis Industry Its Mask-Off Moment<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
You could say that Gov. Gavin Newsom saved the California cannabis industry. Way back in March 2020, with the mysterious but deadly novel coronavirus spreading like an out-of-control and invisible late-fall wildfire, the governor declared all cannabis dispensaries essential businesses. This meant they could keep their doors open during theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[148,50,13218,886,81,1754],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50226,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50225\/revisions\/50226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Weed Power<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Fringe Candidate<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Lines Drawn, (Metaphorical) Masks Off<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Gavin Newsom Gave the Cannabis Industry Its Mask-Off Moment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"