Marijuana

Commentary

Regulating the cannabis market is preferable to prohibition

Because marijuana use may pose potential hazards to both the individual consumer and to public safety that advocacy groups such as mine, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, believe that lawmakers should regulate it accordingly.

By Guest Commentary • April 17, 2019

Commentary

Mental illness implications of cannabis use must not be ignored

Backers of cannabis legalization–and their supporters in the media–have successfully cast marijuana legalization as a racial and social justice issue, although almost no one is in prison for cannabis possession. And they have vastly oversold the potential medical benefits of the drug, while understating its risks.

By Guest Commentary • April 14, 2019

Commentary

Cannabis companies are forced to deal in cash. Here’s how that could change

Cannabis businesses make tens of thousands of dollars each week. They can’t put it in a bank account, so where do they turn? One business owner I’ve talked with stores over $1 million in a tractor trailer with 24 hour surveillance. Senate Bill 51 will help change this by allowing cannabis businesses to open bank accounts.

By Guest Commentary • April 3, 2019

Newsletters

Legal weed, an opioid tax and judicial ethics

Steyer gets a GOP name check. High anxiety over Newsom's weed license backlog. A tax even a CA Republican could love. High-speed make-nice. A judicial slap.

By Dan Morain • February 28, 2019

Newsletters

Privacy, taxes, lobbyists and alcohol

By Dan Morain • February 26, 2019

Newsletters

PG&E files for bankruptcy, wildfire costs vs. the shutdown and a sin tax break

PG&E closes in on bankruptcy, fire data hints at tougher utility regulation and losses in November's fires alone cost more than the U.S. govermmen shutdown.

By Dan Morain • January 29, 2019

Newsletters

Fixing the strike, keeping PG&E’s lights on and selling weed

By Dan Morain • January 15, 2019

Newsletters

A drug price reveal, a dirty trick and a handy Brown-Newsom translator

A California law reveals a big drug price hike, legal weed a year later, a dirty trick may have cost the GOP an Assembly seat and a Brown-Newsom translator.

By Dan Morain • January 3, 2019

Economy

Could California succeed where Wall Street fails? Five things to know about a state-run bank

There's a surge of California interest in the idea of a state-run bank to support the weed market and fund student loans and affordable housing. But would it work?

By Ben Christopher and Felicia Mello • December 27, 2018

Politics

As the revolving door turns, a Capitol fixer is poised to ascend with Gavin Newsom—and legal weed

Jason Kinney has made a lucrative and powerful career in Sacramento by moving from government to campaigns to industry lobbyist to, now, advisor to Gavin Newsom's transition team. The question is whether he is working for an incoming administration that he will soon seek to influence, as he leaves the lobbying firm, Capitol Strategies.

By Laurel Rosenhall • December 12, 2018