Montanans voted to legalize recreational marijuana earlier this month, but there are still hurdles to overcome before people without medical marijuana cards can head to the pot shop.
I-190, one of the two initiatives that legalized recreational marijuana in the state, may still be changed by the Montana Legislature during the upcoming 2021 session, and a lawsuit has been filed in Helena District Court to challenge the constitutionality of the initiative.
But as it stands, marijuana is set to become legal in Montana on Jan. 1. Even though weed becomes legal to possess, use and grow for personal use on Jan. 1, it will be a while until recreational shops will open. The Montana Department of Revenue will begin accepting applications from existing medical dispensaries to open recreational dispensaries by Oct. 1, 2021, and those existing dispensaries will have 12 months to apply for licensing before it opens up to the general public.
That means that the first recreational dispensaries open in the state will likely be operated by medical dispensaries that are already around and part of Montana’s medical marijuana program. According to New Approach Montana, the group behind the initiative, those shops will probably begin opening in the spring of 2022.
It’s expected to be a boon for the state. A study from the Bureau of Business and Economic Research report predicted that the 20% tax on recreational marijuana will bring in over $200 million in tax revenue between 2022 and 2026. The tax on medical marijuana is now 4%.
And while that all looks good on paper, the reality is more complicated.
Small, local dispensary owners have concerns about the cost of licensing and ramping up production enough to serve a recreational market. They’re also concerned that the Montana Legislature could substantially change the rules during the upcoming session to let in big corporations and out-of-state money.
“We’re hoping the medical market stays alive, because you’re going to find a lot more craft flower and a lot better prices, better quality,” said Mitchell Johnson, who owns Big Sky Buds, formerly Montana Cannaclub, with his brother Alec Johnson. “The production is the main thing. If we can’t continue to provide for our medical patients, if we don’t see that happening, then we’ll probably stay away from the recreational.”
Mitchell and Alec opened the dispensary in May 2017 and serve about 150 customers per month, carving their niche in Bozeman’s saturated medical market by offering delivery services, which made them especially popular during COVID-19.
“Our biggest issue is we’re not sure we have the quality to supply (recreational),” Alec said. “We would love to be a part of it, but the medical market is definitely the number one priority still.”
The initiative doesn’t lay out specific fees for licensing. Instead, it says that those fees — which will be collected by the Montana Department of Revenue — and associated rules can’t be “unduly burdensome.”
But how that will be interpreted by Montana’s legislators is unclear. If licensing fees are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, as they have been in some other states, “it just pushes out little guys like us,” Mitchell said.
Parts of I-190 are written with the intention of protecting existing medical…
Credit:Source link