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Since 2012, when voters in Colorado passed Amendment 64 and legalized the first adult-use, recreational marijuana market in the U.S., the state has surpassed $10 billion in total sales. This not only represents a massive success and proof-of-concept for the future of the American cannabis industry, it also accounts for billions in tax revenues for the state of Colorado.
During the last six years, the Centennial State has collected over $1.6 billion - that’s just at the state level- in marijuana taxes and fee revenues. This untapped tax revenue stream was a pivotal selling point for Colorado voters in passing recreational cannabis legalization in 2012. So the question is: how has Colorado allocated these newfound tax dollars over the past six years?
To answer this we have to examine the Amendment 64. The text stated that Colorado would collect a 2.9 percent sales tax from both medical and recreational sales and a 15 percent excise tax when cannabis moves from grower to seller. The 2.9 percent sales tax on medical marijuana goes entirely into the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund. According to Amendment 64, the first $40 million or 90 percent (whichever was greater) was to go to a capital construction grant program, where schools, districts, and various education providers could apply for money to build new buildings or renovate existing facilities.
While marijuana tax dollars fund school maintenance and construction, they do not address Colorado’s per pupil funding ranking. Practically none of these tax dollars goes to school operating budgets, including teacher salaries, books, and school supplies. However, in 2018, more than $20 million went to grants for school health professionals, early literacy programs, and dropout and bullying prevention.
Interestingly, more than $2.2 million from this fund went to the state Department of Agriculture to fund the state’s industrial hemp regulatory and seed certification program. Recall that Amendment 64 legalized industrial hemp in Colorado two years before the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill did the same at the federal level.
While you might be inclined to point out that tax revenue generated by marijuana sales in Colorado accounts for only a fractional percentage of the state’s budget, we have to acknowledge this tax revenue stream did not exist ten years ago. As is still true for many states, millions of dollars in untaxed transactions took place in the black market. Colorado has pioneered a lawful, commercial, adult-use market generating billions of dollars in tax dollars for state. When you look at the hockey stick projections for what the U.S. cannabis industry will be worth in the next decade, and factor in that Colorado experienced record sales in 2020, you realize we’re just scratching the surface of future revenues. Between a growing market, the hope of federal cannabis policy reform, and the erosion of the stigma surrounding the plant, we’re still at the beginning of this industry in the United States. The future looks very, very bright.
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Over the past sixteen years, the Hoban name has become synonymous with the modernized commercial cannabis industry (e.g., hemp and marijuana). Bob Hoban is a cannabis industry leader, attorney, visionary, executive, fiduciary, counselor, and trusted advisor. Hoban’s cannabis industry contributions demonstrate that he has transcended the practice of law, as he regularly serves as a business consultant, industry expert, prognosticator, policy and markets advisor, and in a C-Suite capacity. His Forbes columns are known for identifying and documenting industry trends before they occur and for setting the tone for the modern-day cannabis industry marketplace. And his long-standing podcast, The Hoban Minute, is recognized by many as a virtual-MBA in the cannabis industry. All-in-all, Hoban’s media reaches nearly 200,000 people per month.
In 2022, he was named one of the Top 42 most influential people in the cannabis industry by Forbes Magazine. He is widely credited for creating the class of lawyers now known as ‘cannabis attorneys.’ And he has served as an interim C-Suite Executive in a variety of multi-state operators and multi-national cannabis industry operators over the years when his investment group clients acquired majority shares in those companies. Bob is an internationally renowned keynote speaker. And he has served (and continues to serve) on a number of cannabis industry Boards; most recently resigning from the Board of cannabis industry titan, Glass House Brands.
While he served as a highly recognized and successful litigator across the first fifteen years of his legal career, for the past decade he had transitioned into corporate counsel specializing in transactions, M&A, and securities law. His legal work stands for itself, as he has been a pioneer in assisting clients to establish the marijuana ‘dispensary system’ in multiple states through the multi-disciplinary (litigation, M&A, public policy, regulatory, tax, real estate, and international trade) coordination of his team (at the much-lauded Hoban Law Group – the first dedicated full-service cannabis international law firm in the world). Hoban then worked closely with his clients to create the ‘CBD industry’ through innovative vision and related legal strategy. And he is one of the first to recognize, document, participate in, and service the international cannabis industry -- in both law (M&A, transactions, finance, and trade) and policy (government drafting and advisory).
In July, 2021, after building the Hoban Law Group to international prominence, he sold it to 650-attorney international giant, Clark Hill Law, and proceeded to build the most recognized award-winning AmLaw-rated cannabis industry law group in the world. See https://finance.yahoo.com/news/international-giant-clark-hill-combines-161045320.html?guccounter=1 ; and seehttps://www.marijuanaventure.com/the-beginnings-of-big-cannabis-law/.
Bob is also a Director at Clark Hill Public Strategies, where he partners with corporations, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations to engage elected representatives and government agencies to achieve their goals. Because of his academic background (described below) and his deep cannabis industry experience, Bob has been asked to work with dozens of governments across the U.S., Asia, the E.U., and Latin America (over thirty different countries) on crafting their commercial cannabis public policy solutions -- legislation and regulations. And over the past eighteen years, he has served on a long list of national, state, and local task forces related to cannabis policy issues.
After his PhD coursework at the University of Colorado at Denver, Bob served as one of the nation’s first cannabis policy instructors at the University of Denver, where he regularly lectured regarding cannabis topics (government regulations, public policy, and research-based policy courses), and where he led a University-sanctioned research practicum concerning the efficacy of cannabis regulation; the first of its kind in the U.S. He then taught several international travel courses concerning the emergence of the global cannabis industry. He was recognized as a Fellow at the University of Vermont, and presently, he instructs regarding the cannabis industry at the UVM and serves as an Advisor to the University of Colorado LEEDS Program.
As a Member/Partner at Clark Hill, he continues to serve as outside General Counsel for the largest hemp and marijuana businesses in the world.