Detroit rolls out first retail licenses for recreational pot

[Lowell]

Better late than never, but think about how much tax revenue that the city could have made. IMO, cities that ban cannabis stores, and particularly if they allow liquor stores, are ignorantly missing out.

The city cleared a major hurdle Wednesday when a federal judge denied a request in a lawsuit against Detroit's ordinance that would have halted the city's licensing process.

“The recreational marijuana industry has tremendous potential to generate wealth in income for our city, as well as personal and generational wealth for those who participate,” said Detroit Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison.

Sixty licenses were available in the first round but only 33 applicants met the qualifications for a recreational dispensary, the city said. Several also applied for a license to open a microbusiness or consumption lounge, but none of those licenses were awarded in the first round

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[401don]

Pot companies haven't done well on the stock market and in Ontario stores are struggling to make a profit with some closing, mostly because the gov't grabs about 40% of revenue in taxes. The black market continues to thrive because costs are far lower. The Ontario gov't raked in about 500 million last year so there definitely is money for them as long as they don't bite the hand feeding them so hard.

What concerns me far more is the complete inundation of sports gambling advertising. It dominates the screen both during the action of games and commercial breaks. It's everywhere - on the playing surfaces, pre and post game shows, phones, etc. as well as making the commentators promote them constantly. Not sure how a teenager avoids the message that to enjoy sports they should be gambling during every game.