Cut Regulation to Reduce Marijuana Corruption

Chris EdwardsMona Zhang has a good piece on marijuana and political corruptionat Politico. She writes:In the past decade, 15 states have legalized a regulated marijuana market for adults over 21, and another 17 have legalized medical marijuana. But in their rush to limit the numbers of licensed vendors and give local municipalities control of where to locate dispensaries, they created something else: A market for local corruption.Zhang describes how the mayor of Fall River, Massachusetts, allegedly tried to extort $600,000 from cannabis companies in exchange for granting them sales licenses. She discusses numerous other cases in a “rash of cannabis‐​related corruption across the nation, from Massachusetts to California to Arkansas and beyond.”The problem is not marijuana, but rather that politicians are overregulating and micromanaging the market. Zhang notes:Almost all the states that legalized pot either require the approval of local officials — as in Massachusetts — or impose a statewide limit on the number of licenses, chosen by a politically appointed oversight board, or both. These practices effectively put million ‐​dollar decisions in the hands of relatively small‐​time political figures — the mayors and councilors of small towns and cities, along with the friends and supporters of politicians who appoint them to boards … They have also created a culture in which would ‐​be cannabis entrepreneurs feel obliged t...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs