Crop For Cash

Topic: Taxing Medical Marijuana
Struggling Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash by Michael Cooper
New York Times, February 11, 2012
3 pages

The declining economy has caused many states to resort to drastic measures in order to balance their budgets. Struggling cites like Oakland have gone to such extents as shutting off a third of streetlights just to save some money. However, they still have to find other sources to raise their revenues. Recently, these cities have turned to increasing medical marijuana taxes. From raising taxes several times last year, Oakland already made $1.4 million and plan on doubling the dispensaries it licenses from 4 to 8. Other cities like Colorado Springs and Denver have collected from $700,000 to $3.4 million from the medical marijuana industry. Though this cash crop is a small source, it is growing and slowly catching onto more cities.