ELECTION 2020: Business case for legal cannabis not cut and dried

ELECTION 2020: Business case for legal cannabis not cut and dried
Brent Melville
Licencing fees, harm reduction and social equity levies, excise duty and GST could price operators out of consumers’ reach in what should be a ready-made $1.5 billion legalised cannabis market.Commercial modelling by think tank Business and Economic Research Ltd, prepared for the Ministry of Justice, shows the cost of legitimising the recreational cannabis industry could come in at about $10 per gram of processed cannabis by the time it makes it to point of sale.This would be one of the world’s highest costs, but that will still nee...

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