B.C. government projects $75M in pot tax revenue. That’s lowballing it, says pot activist

Pot taxes are expected to bring in $75 million in revenue for 2019, the B.C. government announced in Tuesday’s budget.

But one activist said the government could earn much more than that.

Dana Larsen said the government may be working to legalize and tax raw bud, but that’s just one part of the pot industry.

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“The people who prefer to smoke hash, or extracts, or dabs, or edibles, or any of those things are by necessity still hopping to the black market and that’s at least half the products we sell,” Larsen said, adding that’s a big chunk of tax revenue.

“Bringing those kinds of consumers over, which ultimately are the ones using most of the cannabis in the country, that’s going to be harder than getting the occasional user to come into the legal market,” he said.

“They are going to buy them made by a professional and until they finish changing the law, the only option to do that is through the black market.”

Recreational marijuana is expected to be legalized this summer.