“In just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives—in the form of excessive criminal sentences—to helping save lives.”
By Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat from New Jersey, is proposing to increase the special cannabis tax to $15 per ounce. The new money will be used to fund violence-intervention programs and social services.
“In just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives—in the form of excessive criminal sentences—to helping save lives,” Murphy said in his budget address Tuesday.
Murphy’s plan is two months old, and comes just after the Cannabis Regulatory Commission of California raised the tax on ounces from $1.24 up to $2.50 in December.
Cannabis cultivators pay the tax known as social equity excise fees. This money is used to fund social equity and invest in the communities affected by the prohibition of marijuana. A portion goes to youth-oriented programs.
The cannabis agency reports that the state’s tax revenue will reach $6 million by August 2024. According to the cannabis legalization laws in the state, the money collected must be distributed by the Legislature.
As part of his budget plan, Murphy also wants the tax to apply to intoxicating hemp products—a legal product that contains chemicals like delta-8 and delta-10, which can give intoxicating effects similar to THC in weed.
Murphy Administration officials have said they do not require the approval of the Cannabis agency to increase social equity excise fees.
Murphy’s plan would generate $70 millions in new revenue.
Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a proponent of legal marijuana in Union, has said that he does not support raising taxes at this time. Scutari pointed out that buying weed from an illegal dispensary is cheaper than purchasing it legally (New Jersey’s cannabis prices are among the highest in the country). Scutari said that he wanted more people to visit dispensaries. Increasing cannabis taxes wasn’t going to help him achieve his goal.
He said: “I do not want our taxes to go up for this product, because it can’t already compete with gray-market, black-market products.” This would be a difficult task right now.
New Jersey Monitor was the first to publish this story.
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