Last month, the state of Michigan passed a 24% tax increase on the cannabis industry – an unprecedented measure that constituted the lawmakers in Lansing pissing in the faces of every cannabis entrepreneur, consumer and medical patient in the state.
This legislative gut punch cannot be understated. There is no other industry in which the legislature would have come together and decided to screw over. At a time of incredible division between the Republicans and Democrats, both parties were able to bend us over without even a squirt of lube in a showing of bipartisan unity.
While the legislators deserve to be trashed and they certainly will be feeling the consequences for their decision via mobile billboards in their communities, they are the symptoms of an industry that has been betrayed. It should have never gotten to the point where the government had the industry by the balls like they do right now.
It happened because there are many of my cohorts who made foolhardy decisions that we all have to pay the price for now. These are men who were destitute and could not put food on their families plates who became multi-millionaires because of the rise of the cannabis industry. They forgot their roots. They were not able to remain humble after achieving their success.
They wanted and demanded more. They wanted the government to come in and regulate the industry. They called for unlimited licenses and unlimited supply believing arrogantly that this would mean unlimited profit. Instead, the market became flooded and it became more difficult for not just small businesses in the industry but also the big corporate players.
The big corporate players thought they were untouchable. They thought they could swallow up the industry. But they have taken it on the chin as hard as anyone. Their investments have disappeared. They have lost many millions. The Frankenstein creature they created rebelled against them. Their dreams of being weed barons went up in smoke.
Throuhgout this turmoil, the market stayed good for cannabis consumers who got great prices for the product available at dispensaries. So the government, the devils always looking for any dime they can get away with robbing, finally came for their cut. They put in an industry-crippling 24% tax hike, Republicans and Democrats alike with only a handful of holdouts. Those well-intentioned activists who called for tax-and-regulate legalization of the cannabis industry got what they wanted, good and hard.
Some caregivers who were muscled out of the market during a previous wave of regulations are laughing at this state of affairs. I cannot say I blame them, as misery loves company, but what is going on right now is actually tragic. It is the next step toward the destruction of the cannabis industry that has grown into something that is sustaining the state during a time of economic turmoil.
When jobs have been outsourced, industries destroyed and hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers left to rot in slums, cannabis has been there as a lifeline for people. It has fed thousands of families, created untold prosperity and given an alternative for recreational users that is far safer than alcohol and an alternative for medicinal users that is far safer than opioids. It has been a blessing upon us all, as God intended when he made this plant.
As a result of the cannabis tax, thousands of jobs will be lost. Prohibition will be put back into place. Those who go back to the black market to avoid the crippling tax will be labeled as criminals. Municipalities will lose a source of revenue to fund police and fire services, resulting in new taxes on the people to fund those services. Most cannot comprehend the cascading negative ramifications from the cannabis tax hike.
It could have all been avoided. If the regulatory regime had not been written to cause an avalanche of greed and big money to invade the cannabis industry, we would not be here. If the greedy interests had not crowded out the caregivers system, we would not be here. If we had never opened the door for widespread government regulation in the first place, we would not be here. So many mistakes, and now we are reaping what we have sown.
Cannabis is well on its way to becoming like any other plant out there, any other industry that is run by corporatists and wrung dry by government bureaucrats. This is what the lobbyists and special interests in Lansing, led by Steve ‘Lil Dick’ Linder (the miniature fella who assaulted me last week at the Capitol), have pined for. Step by step, that is exactly where we are headed. There is no denying it at this point.
I invite the black market to rise up. I have largely-discounted grow equipment I am selling if anyone is interested. The only reason I do not sell caregiver cannabis directly in my dispensaries is because I am prohibited by law to do so. If the state had done what I recommended, which is allow caregiver cannabis to be sold in retail fronts and cap the number of dispensaries to prevent the flooding of the market, Michigan would be an innovator and trendsetter in the field of cannabis and set the standard for the rest of the nation.
Instead, Michigan will go down as just another state that had it all and let it slip away. And we have the greed and avarice of those big players in the industry to blame. America’s problem is not necessarily its government. The government is the reflection of the people. And our people have become so revoltingly wealthy that they have lost touch with ethics, faith, decency and regard for their common man.
Some of these people in the industry, Chaldeans specifically, who refer to themselves as Christians are anything but. They say they are Christians but then look at what they do to God’s great gift to us, cannabis. These are the sort of ilk who turned their backs on Jesus Christ in His day. They are Pharisees. We see their fruits in the cannabis industry, and they are rotten. Those of us of sound mind and conscience will work to erase them from this industry so it can thrive and flourish despite these many obstacles. Never surrender.
Sincerely,
George Brikho
