(The Center Square) – California is making money off marijuana, but some organizations believe it is doing more harm than good.
New information from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration shows cannabis retailers sent $255.1 million in tax revenue to the state in the fourth quarter of 2025.
CDTFA Information Officer Steve Bunnell said that include both the cannabis excise tax and the overall sales tax.
“The sales tax goes into the general fund, which funds essential local services like transportation, public safety, health, libraries, schools, social services, natural resource management, all those kinds of programs,” Bunnell told The Center Square. “The cannabis excise tax supports programs for childcare and early childhood development, medical research, youth substance abuse prevention, environmental recovery and more.”
Recreational marijuana has been legal in California since January 2018. This was due to the 2016 passage of Proposition 64 or the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, with support from 57.13% of California voters.
While some individuals and organizations see the value in marijuana, Kevin A. Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana said tax revenue from marijuana is a broken promise.
“In fiscal 2024-2025, weed taxes in the Golden State brought in about .32% of the state’s overall budget,” Sabet told The Center Square. “What do Californians get in return? A thriving black market: About 60% of all weed consumed in the state comes from the illicit market.”
Sabet added that Californians also got worse public health outcomes, including “dramatic increases in marijuana-driven ER visits” and the involvement of THC, the compound that gives marijuana its high, in 43% of suicides in just San Diego County.
Sabet also reports broken promises from legalizers who “swore that a recreational market would end illegal sales and have no negative effects” on the public.
“It’s lose-lose-lose,” said Sabet.
In California, people 21 and older are allowed to possess and use up to an ounce of recreational marijuana. This includes someone in a private residence or at a business licensed for the consumption of on-site marijuana.
The Judicial Branch of California states on its website that Proposition 64 also “reduces criminal penalties for specified marijuana-related offenses for adults and juveniles.”
Medical marijuana has been legal in California since the 1990s, when voters approved Proposition 215.
