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For some reason the state of Nevada underestimated the demand that would be generated by recreationally legal weed. Alcohol distributors appear to be at fault rather than it being an issue of cultivator supply. There are hundreds of growers with crops ready to go but due to an agreement with the state's alcohol distributors, for the first 18 months of legalization only they are allowed to transport weed from cultivation centers to stores. Since the law went into effect on July 1st the state has only received about half a dozen applications for a transport license.
Nevada officials have declared a state of emergency over marijuana: There's not enough of it.
Since recreational pot became legal two weeks ago, retail dispensaries have struggled to keep their shelves stocked and say they will soon run out if nothing is done to fix a broken supply chain.
"We didn't know the demand would be this intense," Al Fasano, cofounder of Las Vegas ReLeaf, said Tuesday. "All of a sudden you have like a thousand people at the door....We have to tell people we're limited in our products."
In declaring a state of emergency late last week, the state Department of Taxation warned that "this nascent industry could grind to a halt."
As bad as that would be for marijuana consumers and the pot shops, the state has another concern: tax revenue. A 10% tax on sales of recreational pot — along with a 15% tax on growers — is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars a year for schools and the state's general fund reserves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Thursday July 13 2017, @08:54PM (3 children)
Now I don't know about the rest of Nevada, but in the 1960's and 70's when I grew up in Las Vegas, the school system didn't seem poor to me. Every single classroom had audio visual equipment. Phonograph. Film and/or Filmstrip projector. Tape recorder. Sometimes these items would be shared between two classrooms. But EVERY and I mean EVERY classroom always had a television set. This was true as I moved from grade to grade. Every few years when we would move, it was true at the new school, just like the old school.
I just assumed it was this way everywhere. Why would a kid think otherwise?
In 1975 I moved to a midwest state. Suddenly I realized there was only one of each piece of equipment for the whole school!
And I discovered other things that I had not even knew existed: pot holes in roads! dirt and gravel roads! snow. tornadoes.
Maybe things have changed in the decades since. Or maybe Las Vegas was atypical of Nevada. But I don't remember the schools seeming hard up for money.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday July 13 2017, @09:02PM
It could be a different type of problem. In Oregon if the state runs too large of a surplus it is forced by law to return it to the citizens.
I wonder how some people would feel about that. If you still feel weed should be outlawed, you effectively would be receiving drug money. Typically, money does change attitudes.
(Score: 2) by Lagg on Friday July 14 2017, @12:41AM (1 child)
Funny, it blew my mind when I first went to a Vegas/real school (lived there for a while as a kid). I can tell you for how many kids were in that school at one time alone they had sufficient funding. The one-projector situation was the norm for where I went otherwise.
I feel like if anything it's the parasitic nature of politicians doing what it do again. Manipulating budgets so that they get more while cost of living increases, thus making it so new budgets need to be added or increased to bring things to baseline. Also my experience and someone's note about budget surplus tell me there is overspending going on if losing the weed tax would make things complicated.
I do know in Arizona at least, they ended up with a $200 million surplus or so for schools a few years ago. Somehow the resulting budget in the next fiscal year (am I saying this right?) was less as a result. Which I still struggle to grasp the cause/effect of.
Those nebobs. I hate them. I do hate them.
http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 14 2017, @01:27AM
It could be straightforward: in the first year, more money was budgeted than was needed. In the second year, the budget was reduced so it would be closer to the expected need. Instead of being reserved for schools, money could be used for other purposes.