Homeless in Arizona

I suspect that the DEA will use those sales tax licenses to hunt down and arrest people who grow or sell marijuana in Arizona.

When me, Alex and Dave wrote the initial Safer Arizona initiative we didn't require a government license to do anything.

Marijuana criminal defense attorney Tom Dean added the requirement that people who sell marijuana or grow more that 48 marijuana plants get a sales tax license from the Arizona Department of Revenue.

And of course I was kicked off of the Safer Arizona board of directors for complaining that Tom Dean was turning the Safer Arizona initiative into a mini-version of the horrible Prop 205.

Safer Arizona says that those licenses will be secret, but I suspect the Feds will get them either illegally thru leaks, or use a subpoena to get them.

And that will be a major problem for the marijuana community.

Of course if I'm right, Tom Dean will get a lot of people to defend against Federal charges from that requirement and will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Tom Dean also added numerous other things I think are garbage. Such as making it illegal to grow marijuana that is visible from the public.

Tom Dean also lets city and county government pass zoning laws that can severely limit the number of marijuana businesses. Safer Arizona says that won't happen, but I think it will.

Source

Justice Department to crack down on legal marijuana with rollback of Obama policy

Kevin Johnson and Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

Published 8:23 a.m. MT Jan. 4, 2018 | Updated 10:00 a.m. MT Jan. 4, 2018

WASHINGTON – As part of a crackdown on legal marijuana, the Justice Department is set to roll back an Obama administration policy to not challenge state laws that allow people to use pot for medical and recreational uses an official familiar with matter said Thursday.

The move represents a dramatic shift in marijuana enforcement policy. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly ahead of a formal announcement, said details of the new policy to reverse a 2013 Obama administration directive of non-interference would be outlined later Thursday.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has long signaled his disagreement with the previous administration's stance on pot, which did not challenge state laws, as long as marijuana sales did not conflict with federal law enforcement policies.

The Obama policy, which represented a major breakthrough by advocates for the decriminalization of marijuana use, did not change marijuana's classification as an illegal drug. But it effectively discouraged the pursuit of non-violent marijuana users who have no links to criminal gangs or cartel operations.

The expected move injected fresh uncertainty into an industry that has flourished largely because federal prosecutors have maintained their hands-off approach.

Sessions’ decision to revoke the previous administration policy should be a warning sign to institutional investors, said Kevin Sabet, director of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former federal drug-control expert who served in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

“It signals the end of safe harbor for major pot investors,” Sabet said. “This throws up everything in the air one thought they knew about the federal government‘s position on marijuana, which up to this date was more of a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ policy.”

The announcement comes the same week California launched recreational marijuana sales for adults. Every state that’s approved recreational pot sales – Alaska, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Colorado, Maine and Massachusetts – has done so though voter approval at the ballot box, showing strong public approval for legal pot.

Local legislators have also become legalization advocates as marijuana sales generate new tax revenues. California’s newly legal market alone could be worth as much as $5.1 billion this year, according to cannabis financial analysis firm GreenWave Advisors. And Colorado lawmakers have been pouring tens of millions worth of marijuana taxes into university scholarships, drug-treatment programs and school construction.

"This move represents a broken campaign promise by the president,” said Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. “He clearly and repeatedly pledged that he would respect state marijuana laws if elected. With polls showing that marijuana legalization is way more popular than the president is, this will likely turn out to be a huge political disaster for the administration. Either way, it's not going to stop even more states from modernizing their cannabis laws."