Voters could reshape state’s pot market Trevor Hughes
California voters this fall will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in a move primed to reshape the nation’s largest — albeit largely illegal — cannabis marketplace.
Four states and the District of Columbia have already legalized recreational cannabis use, but advocates say California’s sheer size and position as a cultural trendsetter means any decision by its voters could accelerate legalization elsewhere. The state’s current loosely regulated medical system is worth about $2.7 billion, and experts say that will easily double within a few years if the voters allows adults to consume pot for fun.
“The entire industry is going to be reshaped and re-created … and I think it’s going to have reverberations across the country,” said Leslie Bocskor of the cannabis investment and advising firm Electrum Partners. “As this transitions into being a regulated market with taxes and fees, everything changes. And what’s going to happen is California is going to be reinvented into a well-regulated, profitable industry that will generate a lot of tax revenue and get all of that money out of the black market.”
The ballot initiative creates a system for taxing and regulating cannabis, requires contaminant testing and establishes new rules for keeping pot out of the hands of kids. Many longtime legalization advocates in California, including former Facebook president Sean Parker, are backing the effort. The California Secretary of State announced Wednesday that the initiative gathered enough sig-