Colorado imposes taxes to stop illegal marijuana business

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on June 12, 2017.

In a first, Colorado, the first recreational marijuana market in the United States, has started imposing marijuana taxes to curb illegal operations of marijuana. The fund will be used by the police department to curb the growing illegal business.

Governor John Hickenlooper is also expected to sign a Bill to reduce the amount of cannabis grown in homes to 12 plants, irrespective of the number of family members living in a house. As per the current law, an adult over 21 years is allowed to grow six plants each in a house.

The law signed by the Governor assigns nearly $6 million a year as tax revenue as reimbursement to the police for investigating black marketing of the pot activity. The amount, however, has increased since recreational cannabis was legalized by the State five years ago.

The Governor has stated the move is set to curb the shipping of illegal cannabis out of State. The decision has been backed by the police department, which had often held legalization of marijuana by the State as a major reason for the growth of the industry.

The legal growers of pot had also blacked the Bill by stating that illegal marijuana operations had reduced the prices of legally-grown cannabis, thereby hampering the growth of the industry.

More than 22,000 pounds of cannabis had been seized following several raids conducted by the authorities last year. Most of the seized pot were intended for shipping outside the State.

Though, there is a facility in Oregon through which 20 per cent of the taxes collected through illegal pot business is set aside for local enforcement agencies and 15 per cent for the State police, but there was no facility to direct the amount to be used for cracking down illegal marijuana business.

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