Marijuana business is soon to become big business to rival big tobacco , and Willie Nelson’s weed company hopes to make a big dent in the market with Willie’s Reserve. But could the IRS attempt to gobble up most of that money?
In a related report by the Inquisitr , the effects of weed brownies put some teens in the hospital, and the high school salesman ended up in jail for selling pot brownies. Some try and claim that recreational marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol, but statistics deny legal weed critics.
By 2016, Colorado’s marijuana sales hopes to break the $1 billion mark, and that is just one state. If marijuana legalization continues to sweep the United States, it is possible Willie Nelson’s weed sales will be a large part of the projected $110 billion market, which will of course grow over time — like a weed.
“In the next calendar year that there will be movement,” said Willie’s Reserve spokesman Michael Bowman. “As you can imagine, it’s not a problem in states like Colorado, Washington, Alaska … There’s a pretty clear path on where retail can go.”
That’s right. Willie Nelson’s pot shops will literally be actual weed shops, and they plan on growing marijuana strains from many places.
“[T]here will be opportunities for other growers, who meet quality standards. Let’s just call it the anti-Walmart model. Personally, internally, that’s what we call it. A certain standard by which growers have to account for carbon and such, in a way that empowers small growers who are doing the right thing,” Bowman explained, according to the Daily Beast . “It will be like when you walk into a Whole Foods store. Whole Foods has their 365 brand, or you can buy Stony Brook, or you can buy Horizon … It’ll all fall under that umbrella of ‘here’s our core beliefs, and here’s our mission statement,’ and they will be a part of that, to be a part of us.”
Of course, Willie Nelson’s weed will have plenty of competition. Bob Marley’s weed brand called Marley Natural will be launched later in 2016. The federal government will also have to allow these marijuana business ventures to succeed. For example, Jordan Cornelius, a Denver accountant who works with Colorado marijuana shops, claims the federal government is using the IRS to extend the war on drugs.
“I believe that the feds extend the drug war through 280E,” said Cornelius. “If (the federal government) can’t put them out of business legally when voters are mandating these businesses to move forward, it’s very easy to put them out of business financially. A lot of times, instead of paying a tax rate that should be 30 to 40 [percent], they are paying rates between 80 or 90 percent. I even have a client right now that is paying more than 100 [percent] effective tax rate.”
Regardless, Willie Nelson’s pot business has a good chance of succeeding on just his name brand alone, but the questions remains if the government will make this money go up in smoke over the long term.