MJBizMag February 2023 - 25

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
New Jersey
The Garden State boasts the lowest marijuana taxes in the country, according to a report from the
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
At 6.625%, New Jersey's tax rate is intentionally low to help legal businesses compete with the
unregulated market. Total taxes on a hypothetical ounce were $14.32.
But, like California, local governments in New Jersey can add a gross receipts tax on regulated
retailers, distributors and cultivators. That means the authors could have underestimated the total tax
on an ounce in New Jersey, where it's difficult to calculate where a local tax is being applied.
For the purposes of the calculation, the authors added a 2% gross receipts tax to three parts of the
supply chain: cultivation, distribution and retail.
" (The gross receipts tax) is the one that businesses really hate, " said Richard Auxier, one of the
study's authors. " You'd think New Jersey would learn from California. (State regulators) actually did
considerable work on how tax revenue would help fund programs for social equity and how taxes
need to be low to compete with illicit sellers, but they also went ahead with allowing the gross
receipts tax. "
New Mexico
Health officials added anxiety to the list of conditions that doctors can treat with medical marijuana,
a move that could boost sales in MMJ dispensaries.
The New Mexico Medical Cannabis Advisory Board approved anxiety as a qualifying condition after
pointing out that roughly 465,000 adults in the state suffer from the disorder.
The move encompasses all anxiety diagnoses, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety
disorder, medication-induced anxiety disorder, panic disorder and some phobias.
Medical cannabis patients in New Mexico are exempt from paying tax on a limited amount of
marijuana products.
The state's MMJ program also recently updated its online patient portal to allow for electronic
patient ID cards, likely expediting the process for patients, who can now apply for ID cards through
their medical providers.
New York
In an effort to distinguish between licensed and illicit cannabis operators in New York, Gov. Kathy
Hochul unveiled a verification placard for legal adult-use stores to post on their windows.
The verification includes a QR code that can be scanned by consumers and others.
A similar version will be available for licensees initially launching sales in New York's recreational
marijuana market through delivery operations.
A universal symbol on every product sold will also denote that state standards have been met,
including testing.
" It's critical for New York's cannabis consumers to understand the risks of buying untested, illicit
products and to have the tools to guide them to the safer, legal market that's poised to open, " Hochul
said in a news release.
Underground marijuana sales have flourished in New York for years, fueled by pop-up trucks and
vans, bicycle deliveries and illegal bodegas and consumption lounges.
In another move to combat illicit operators, New York City Mayor Eric Adams formed a joint task
force charged with eradicating unlicensed dispensaries in partnership with:
* New York City Sheriff's Office.
* New York City Police Department.
* NYC Consumer and Worker Protections.
* Office of Cannabis Management, the chief marijuana regulator in New York.
Adams said that, over a recent two-week period, the agencies inspected 53 storefronts and seized
more than 100,000 illegal marijuana products worth an estimated $4 million.
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