WM Tech Blog

By WM Communications Team

WM Policy is the government relations, research, education and public engagement arm of Weedmaps. Collectively, the WM Policy staff has decades of legislative, regulatory and public policy experience, and an impressive record of achievement in local, state and national political campaigns. The outcomes from the Policy team are far reaching and impactful to both federal and local policy development, as they work to create effective and creative public awareness efforts to forge safe, fair and accessible cannabis policy across the country and around the world.

Here, we take a look at some of the resources available from the WM Policy website where consumers and legislators can get up-to-date information on what the team is working on. 

Industry Overview
The WM Policy team shares insights on four key areas of the cannabis industry: 

• National Overview: a state-by-state look at cannabis laws 
   
• Cannabis License Types: an outline of the most common types of cannabis licenses currently available
   
• Economic Impact: looks at the legal spending in the U.S., as well as the employment opportunities, and tax revenue
   
• Public Opinion Polling on Cannabis: an overview of American support of cannabis use and legalization from 1969-2021

Policy Considerations
When it comes to cannabis, there’s no shortage of things to consider. Whether it’s understanding local laws pertaining to cannabis advertising and businesses, or state by state license types, the WM Policy team share their viewpoint on a number of these items including: 

• Decriminalization and Expungement: this is considered one of the most important components of cannabis legalization, and is seen by our WM Policy team as the key opportunity to repair many of the long-lasting impacts of the failed War on Drugs. 
   
• Taxation considerations include capping local tax rates, basing tax rates on final retail prices, and restricting all state and local cannabis taxes to the final point of sale. 
   
• Zoning recommendations include ensuring zoning districts allow for all cannabis license types to operate within a jurisdiction, and creating laws that are not so restrictive that they create a ban on legal cannabis operators. 

Higher Authority - WM Policy Blog
One of the newest WM Policy resources is the recently launched blog, Higher Authority. Here you can read op-eds directly from members of the WM Policy team on topics like:

• Cannabis + Women’s History Month
   
• A look into New Mexico’s Adult-Use Market
   
• Using the terms Cannabis vs. Marijuana 

These are just a few of the resources available from the WM Policy team. For more information, or to contact the policy team, complete this form.