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DECEMBER 2021
www.GlobeMiamiTimes.com
A rendering of the interiors for the new location. Courtesy image.
Mohave Cannabis Co., Continued from page 1 “Having been raised in rural Arizona, it was critical to me that we had licenses that would serve the rural communities,” says Mohave general counsel Sara Presler, who filed the conditional use permit for the business with the City in August. “We could open anywhere in Gila County, but intentionally selected Globe, because we really want to serve this community and the surrounding communities.” Presler has been involved with the cannabis industry from the beginning, in 2010 when Arizona legalized medical marijuana, and has a long resume of service in the state, including two stints as mayor of Flagstaff. She and her business partners all grew up together in Mohave County and base their operations there, so she sees a relationship with Globe as a natural fit. Mohave Cannabis Co. operates in three states and grows its product in Bullhead City and Needles. Members of its ownership group have facilities in Mohave County, Yuma, and Safford, among other places, and the company has a team of professionals that scouts out potential opportunities throughout the state.
A billion-dollar industry The Arizona marijuana market is highly regulated and began with the legalization of medical marijuana in 2010. Prop 207, legalizing adult use of recreational cannabis, was approved by 60 percent of Arizona voters in November 2020, and recreational weed went on sale throughout the state at the end of January 2021. Marijuana revenues are expected to exceed $1 billion in 2021, and through September, the Arizona Department of Revenue reported more than $977 million from both the medical and recreational programs, with tax collections of more than $154 million through that time period. Medical marijuana is taxed at a 6 percent rate, while recreational is taxed at 16 percent. A Transaction Privilege Tax of about 6 percent also applies, in addition to local taxes that usually run around 2 percent. Prop 207 included specific guidelines for how the tax pie would be divided up in order to help fund schools and public safety, as well as restorative justice programs
to help repair the damage to communities from the decades-long “war on drugs.” Community colleges, including those in Gila County, get the biggest piece of the pie, receiving 33 percent overall. Of the 33 percent, 15 percent is divided equally between the community colleges in the district, and additional funds are given to provisional community college districts based on population. The next tranche, 31 percent, goes to public safety, including police and fire departments, fire districts, and first responders. Then 25 percent goes to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund. The final 10 percent goes to a justice reinvestment fund to help communities that have been ravished and disproportionately impacted by marijuana arrests and criminalization. The money helps provide public health services, counseling, and job training, as well as other services to help those communities. The City of Globe will charge a 2.3 percent tax rate on an estimated million dollars in annual economic activity for the location. There are currently about 130 facilities throughout the state selling cannabis, with more coming online in the next year. Most of those facilities sell medicinal marijuana. Most recreational sales are done through dual licenses that have allowed medical dispensaries to diversify into the recreational market. To fill a void in rural communities and ensure legal access throughout the state, last April the Arizona Department of Health Services allotted 13 new adult-use marijuana licenses for eight counties: Apache, Cochise, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Yuma. Gila County has two of those licenses. No matter who owns those licenses, they must remain in the county although they are not specifically tied to any one city. The additional licenses were a result of the passage of Prop 207 and meant to increase access and reduce black market activity. “We had a medical dispensary licensed in Globe for some time, but everybody moved their licenses to the Valley where there’s more money,” says Dana Burkhardt, Globe’s Zoning Administrator. “This new legislation requires [the license] to remain in the counties, and [the licensee] doesn’t have that opportunity to move on.”
MOHAVE CANNABIS CO., Continued on page 27
Image of one of many products which will be available through MCC. Marijuana revenues are expected to exceed $1 billion in 2021, and through September, the Arizona Department of Revenue reported more than $977 million from both the medical and recreational programs, with tax collections of more than $154 million through that time period. Photo by Christopher Mortensen
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