The plan, backed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, calls for a new 24% wholesale tax on cannabis sales. Supporters say the measure would generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually to repair Michigan’s notoriously battered roads, a policy supporters have dubbed “pot for potholes.”
The House approved the bill earlier this month, and it now awaits a decisive vote in the state Senate.
But cannabis workers, shop owners, and consumers are sounding the alarm. They argue the tax could devastate an industry that only recently emerged from prohibition.
“I don’t think it’s our responsibility to pay for the roads,” said Tasha Brickley, a budtender at The Cake House in Lansing. “Marijuana was illegal to begin with, and now that it’s legal, they see it’s a billion-dollar industry and want to get their hands in it.”
Industry leaders worry about cascading consequences. Alejandro Vega, sales director at Peninsula Gardens, warned that piling a 24% tax on top of existing levies could “single-handedly destroy this industry.”
“You’re probably looking at a 25–50% retail increase,” Vega said. “That’s going directly to customers. We’ll all feel it.”
For medical users, the proposal feels like more than just an economic hit. Brickley, who uses cannabis for health reasons, fears higher prices will push people back to the illicit market.
“It’s going to end up back to the black market, and that’s what we don’t want,” she said.
Under the new structure, a $100 purchase would cost about $142 after taxes—compared to $116 under current rates.
House Republican Joe Aragona, who voted in favor of the measure, admitted it was a “hard vote” but argued the package includes enforcement measures to curb illegal sales.
Still, the backlash is growing. Cannabis workers and consumers are planning a day-long protest Tuesday outside the Michigan Senate Building in Lansing, hoping to stop the tax before it becomes law.
Read the whole article from Norml here.
