Episode 16: CA’s Top Pot Regulator, Lori Ajax, Stands Up for Legal Deliveries

The Hash

We’re 18 months into legal weed sales in California and sales are popping! More than 600 licensed stores, 150 delivery services, and 1,500 farms are in operation; the state made $600M in tax revenue last year, and is on the way to raking in a cool billion dollars a year in taxes. And we’ve just got started. But things are also turbulent. The market is shuddering. Heavy, heavy regulations and taxes bear down on cannabis for the first time. It’s causing anguish among suppliers. Nowadays, the farm license paperwork alone runs 44 pages, with fees that top out at $44,000 per year. So we sat down with California’s number one regulator, Lori Ajax, chief of the Bureau of Cannabis Control to chat about what consumers and industry can expect this year. Ajax, and BCC spokesperson, Alex Traverso, dished to me on-stage at the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco this January. Listen along for the latest on Golden State cannabis testing, child-proofing, legal delivery, and new stores. - David Downs