When you live in multiple states throughout your lifetime, you’re privy to the effects of different laws, rules, and regulations in one versus another.
You might be charged higher taxes on energy, vehicle tags, land ownership, and gasoline just to name a few examples.
My home state was infamous for its strict business regulations which kept a lot of industries away and perpetuated labor issues and unemployment. There are environmental regulations that are important, but increased bureaucracy can only serve the people properly if it can do its job. When a company is being put off for six months to a year on whether or not they can secure a license, it could destroy their business plans altogether. If you want to get into the nascent legal marijuana industry in the United States, you’ll be dealing with a complex array of differing rules and regulations from one state’s legal marijuana market to another. For instance, some states have a medical marijuana market that allows for separate licenses for growers and retailers. It creates a diverse market where one dispensary could possibly carry products from multiple growers or extraction laboratories. My state is a lot different; here we have a vertically integrated medical marijuana industry. All companies must operate from seed to sale, growing the plants, processing them, and selling them in their own retail stores or through home delivery. Our marijuana products aren’t as good as a result and the market is dominated by just a handful of different companies compared to a state without vertical integration. It creates an environment where companies have to prioritize volume over quality if they want a chance to compete.