The pot is greener in Los Angeles

But 4 Bay Area counties rank among next 6 in marijuana tax hauls

Four of California’s top seven cannabis tax revenue producers were Bay Area counties, trailing only Los Angeles in money collected during the first three months of the year.

Alameda County, which collected $3.29 million in marijuana sales taxes edged out San Francisco, which brought in $3.27 million, as the Bay Area’s top producer, according to figures released Friday by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Santa Clara, with $2.5 million, and Sonoma, with $1.1 million, were next. Los Angeles County brought in the most revenue in the state, collecting $7.4 million in marijuana taxes, administration officials said.

In all, California collected $60.9 million in excise, cultivation and sales taxes related to legal marijuana for the first three months of 2018. The statewide numbers include $32 million from excise taxes, $1.6 million in cultivation taxes and $27.3 million in state sales taxes.

The numbers released by Gov. Jerry Brown’s office are nearly double the revenue amount given by the State Legislative Analyst’s Office earlier this week, which included only excise and cultivation taxes. But the tax haul is still paltry enough to worry those hoping for big money from the newly legal market.

On Friday, Brown proposed spending $14 million to create four investigative teams and one interdiction team to combat illegal activities, tax evasion and crime.

The money would come from tax revenue and licensing fees over two years.

His January budget propos-

al predicted that $175 million would pour in over the first six months from the new excise and cultivation taxes implemented when the adult-use cannabis market went into effect in January. That translates to $87.5 million in January, February and March.

Cannabis industry officials blame the lackluster figures on the reluctance of retailers and growers to go through the legal and financial red tape of entering the legal market, a situation that has allowed the black market to thrive.

Only a few hundred of the estimated 12,500 retail operators in the state last year have become licensed so far, according to industry officials.

“What’s true is California has been in murky water for quite a while over what is legal and what is illegal,” Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt said.

The money from the taxes, the first installments of which were due April 30, is supposed to pay for marijuana research and regulation as well as programs to prevent drug abuse, protect the environment

and test for pesticides. The hope was that the revenue would fund law enforcement efforts, which would, in turn, deter illegal operations and generate additional taxes.

That hasn’t happened, at least not yet.

Rabbitt said there are 5,000 marijuana plantations in Sonoma County, but only about 140 of them have applied for permits. Of those, only a half dozen are currently licensed, and all of them are forced to deal in only cash, which is a lure for bad actors.