More weed news is coming out of the local area. Portland Commissioners have approved $1.33 million in Cannabis tax revenue for grants to locally licensed cannabis businesses and employees that have been impacted by emergencies. The city’s Cannabis Emergency Relief Fund will provide one-time grants of up to $25,000 for small sized licensed cannabis businesses within Portland city limits, and up to $5,000 to cannabis industry workers economically impacted from COVID-19, vandalism, robberies, wildfire, and the residual effects of illness, trauma, and grief suffered from such impacts.
200 cannabis retail establishments have been burglarized since March of last year. Portland has becomes the first government jurisdiction in the country to allocate cannabis tax revenue to help marijuana businesses and workers as they to endure negative impacts from multiple robberies, COVID-19 and other issues. Cannabis businesses are required to pay taxes on their total sales, and this includes money that has been stolen,” said Oregon Cannabis Association Interim Executive Director Meghan Walstatter. “We are grateful for Portland City Council’s support as the cannabis industry works to recover from multiple crisis.”
Additionally, financial help is geared to help marijuana businesses remain open and continue to grow their revenue, and ultimately the city’s cannabis tax revenue which goes back toward community and business grants programs.
Civic Life Commissioner-in-Charge Jo Ann Hardesty stated, “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses have dealt with many difficulties as they fight to survive, and our local cannabis industry has had to deal with unique challenges,” “These include being ineligible for federal relief dollars and operating under federal laws that often force shops to operate in a cash only environment making them frequent targets of burglaries. This gap has compelled the City to action and I’m proud of the work by the Office of Community & Civic Life to create a safety net for our cannabis industry and workers through the Cannabis Emergency Relief Fund.”