California Grants $100 Million to Help Small Marijuana Businesses
In some of California’s municipalities, the process of issuing licenses to would-be marijuana entrepreneurs has come to a standstill because of the lack of resources. Last week, officials announced that they had appointed $100 million so that local jurisdictions across the state can hire more staff and pay other expenses to streamline the process.
The funds will go to 17 cities and counties which hopefully will clear the backlogs of license applications.
The Market Runs on Provisional Licenses So Far
As a temporary measure, the state has allowed up-and-coming marijuana businesses to operate on provisional licenses. Those were supposed to expire on January 1, but the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has extended the period. The extension will hopefully give local authorities more time to work on issuing complete permits.
It was in October last year that DCC announced that the state was accepting applications from those who wanted to transition into the legal cannabis market, and one municipality complained that it would take them four years to process all current applicants.
Environmental Considerations Are a Major Hindrance
A lack of manpower and innovative instruments to streamline the issuance of permits is made even worse by the fact that each case requires a serious environmental assessment.
In 2012, it was calculated that indoor grow-ops—most of them illegal—consumed 1 percent of all the electricity in the United States. And Californians suspect the new-fangled sector of misusing and depleting one of the state’s most precious resources—water.
Hopefully, the new funding to the tune of $100 million will provide enough resources to sort through the red tape and issue licenses to all eligible applicants.
