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We wanted to share with you a study performed by Professor Fred Cartensen, Director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), and commissioned by MPP with the goal of better understanding the potential economic effects of cannabis legalization in Connecticut. The estimates are conservative and provide insight into the financial possibilities that lie ahead once Connecticut begins to regulate and tax cannabis like other states in the region and throughout the country.

The study projects Connecticut could generate:

• $692 to $740 million in total direct state tax revenue over five years of sales;
• $35 to $53 million in direct state cannabis tax revenue in the first year of sales;
• $223 to $287 million in direct state cannabis tax revenue in year five of sales;
• $71 million in municipal tax revenue over five years of sales;
• $21 million in municipal tax revenue in year five of sales;
• 10,244 to 17,462 new or preserved jobs by year five of legal sales; and
• 5,344 to 5,686 new or preserved jobs in year one of sales alone.

In summary, legalizing and regulating cannabis would lessen the economic pain wrought by COVID-19 by creating and preserving thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions in new tax revenue. A related article ran in today’s Hartford Courant, and we expect a flurry of additional coverage, including Prof. Cartensen being a guest on NBC’s Face the State this Sunday.

We hope that you’ll have an opportunity to review the study’s findings, spread the word, and consider writing your legislators urging them to support legislation to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults in the 2021 session.

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The legislature is planning to resume its work soon — email your elected officials now and urge them to make passage of S. 54 a top priority!

Vermont’s economy has been crippled in recent months by COVID-19. It is unfortunate that adult-use cannabis businesses were not already operating before the pandemic arrived, because they could have provided an important source of jobs and tax revenue during the crisis. Fortunately, the legislature will have an opportunity to finish its work and pass a final version of S. 54, the bill to legalize and regulate sales, when it resumes work in late August.

To help inform policymakers as they prepare to contemplate final revisions to S. 54, we asked our allies at the cannabis-focused law firm Vicente Sederberg, LLP to analyze the demand for adult-use cannabis in Vermont and project the expected revenues associated with S. 54. Their detailed report, which was published today, illustrates how regulating cannabis markets can help Vermont recover from the economic recession.

The report, which is based on the most accurate and current data available, suggests that previous revenue estimates by the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) are probably much lower than what would be produced if S. 54 becomes law. Additionally, the report examines what would happen if the legislature amends S. 54 to allow for early-start sales, and it projects that Vermont could generate over $175 million in cannabis taxes through 2025 if it chooses to do so.

Please contact your state legislators and urge them to advocate for passage of S. 54!

The bill, which has already passed the House (90-54) and the Senate (23-5), awaits action from a conference committee that has been formed to work out a final version of the bill. You can read a summary of S. 54 here.

Again, please contact your elected officials and urge them to make this bill a top priority. After you do so, please share this message with your family and friends!

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Starting today — August 1, 2020 — Minnesotans with chronic pain qualify for medical cannabis!

Qualifying patients whose healthcare providers are willing to certify them for the medical cannabis program can enroll through the Department of Health.

Until today, pain only qualified if it was “intractable,” meaning its “cause cannot be removed” and “the full range of [appropriate] pain management modalities … has been used without adequate result or with intolerable side effects.” Expanding the program to include “chronic pain” allows tens of thousands of additional pain patients to qualify and avoids steering them to more dangerous treatments.

Our allies at Sensible Minnesota petitioned the Department of Health to add chronic pain last year, and it recommended doing so. However, new conditions aren’t added to the program until the following summer to give the legislature a chance to reject them.

While the addition of “chronic pain” is welcome news, voters want the legislature to go further. According to Civiqs research, 67% of Minnesotans support allowing adults to use cannabis. Legalizing and regulating cannabis can grow the economy at a time when jobs and revenue are desperately needed. And, it is an essential piece of the needed policing and racial justice overhaul. Cannabis legalization removes the number one pretext for unnecessary civilian-police interactions — the supposed smell of cannabis.

Let your lawmakers know it’s past time to legalize marijuana. And stay tuned for a voter guide — so you can help elect a more supportive legislature.

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Ask your lawmakers to support legalizing and regulating marijuana for adults.

I have some encouraging news to share with you. Last week, a majority of Senate Democrats authored a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf arguing that adult-use marijuana legalization should be immediately pursued to make up revenue losses from the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter, which was signed by 18 Senate Democrats in total, argues that legalizing adult-use cannabis can protect Pennsylvanians from harmful tax hikes and spending cuts by raising new revenue to continue providing vital services. During the current 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Independent Fiscal Office estimated the General Fund would lose $3.9 billion due to COVID-19, including $2.1 billion that would be shifted to the next fiscal year. It also projected a $1.8 billion permanent revenue loss from a contraction of economic activity.

A 2018 Auditor General report found Pennsylvania could generate $581 million annually by regulating and taxing adult-use marijuana. The senators argue that legalizing adult-use cannabis would also serve as a revenue saving tool in agencies such as the Department of Corrections.

The letter builds on a rapidly developing conversation in the Keystone State in support of legalization, including a listening tour by Lt. Gov. Fetterman and a poll that showed support for the issue among Republican voters. Earlier this year, Rep. Jake Wheatley introduced House Bill 2050, which improves on prior proposals to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana in the state. You can check out a summary of the bill here.

As the momentum continues to build for legalized, regulated sales of cannabis to adults in Pennsylvania, please take a few minutes to email your state lawmakers to add your voice to the growing number of Keystone residents who support marijuana legalization. With just four months until Election Day, stay tuned for voter guides and other opportunities to get engaged as the election approaches.

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In yet another illustration of how the marijuana debate has gone completely mainstream, the freshly-crowned winner of the Miss USA pageant, Alyssa Campanella, stated that she supported the use of marijuana for medical purposes. As the California representative at the pageant, the judges thought it appropriate to ask the young lady about her opinions on marijuana. She had this to say:

"Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today's economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically," she said during the pageant.

"I'm not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war," she said. "I mean, it's abused today, unfortunately, so that's the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it's OK."

Well, it’s great that a Miss USA contestant feels comfortable supporting people finding relief from this proven, if unaccountably still controversial, medicine. It seems to me, however, that her position regarding ending marijuana prohibition altogether was a little less assertive. I’m willing to wager that she felt she had to say she was against taxing and regulating marijuana for all adults to please the judges, even if it was just “a little bit against it.”

What is even more significant is that this question has become so prominent in the public arena that it is being asked at such a traditionally tame event as the Miss USA contest.

[caption id="attachment_4213" align="aligncenter" width="423" caption="AP Photo/Julie Jacobson"][/caption]

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