Despite disappointing first-quarter cannabis tax revenue numbers, Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised state budget proposal actually increases the amount of money California is expected to make from the first six months of legal marijuana and allocates $133 million to regulate the massive industry.
In his January draft budget, Brown predicted California would take in $175 million in cannabis cultivation and retail taxes by June 30. In his May budget revision released Friday morning, Brown upgraded that anticipated tax revenue to $185 million.
The new budget does slightly reduce the marijuana tax earnings expected in 2018-19 fiscal year, dropping the estimate from $643 million to a revised $630 million.
California Finance Director Michael Cohen said during a press conference Friday in Sacramento that there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding cannabis revenue projections.
John W. Bartok Jr.
Medical marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis has struck a $2.5-billion (C$3.2bn) deal to buy rival MedReleaf, a move that will give the Canadian group a larger production footprint as it plots its expansion at a time when more governments around the globe are legalizing recreational pot use.
Eric Sandy
Today, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democratic from California and a potential 2020 presidential contender. joined the 
