For John Lees, the hour-and-a-half commute to and from work as an assistant manager at the Treasure Valley Cannabis Company is tough, but logistically inevitable.
Like nearly half of the other employees, Rees, 39, lives in Idaho, along Interstate 84, past vast alfalfa and onion fields, to Oregon, where cannabis is legal. Head to the marijuana store just across the state line.
“It’s really two different worlds,” Rees said. “I’ve had a lot of whiplash from this problem just driving up and down the highway.”
Every day, hundreds of customers and employees like Reese make the pilgrimage from Idaho to Ontario, Oregon. Ontario, a small city on the Snake River, has 11 pharmacies, or about 1 per 1,000 residents. They can compare the scents of different types of marijuana and gather staff insights on THC levels in edibles.
The cannabis boom boosts local economic prosperity and contributes tax revenues that pay for new police deployments, emergency response vehicles, and improvements to parks and sidewalks.
Missing out on this action is becoming increasingly frustrating for some politicians and longtime residents of Idaho, whose population and cost of living have surged in recent years.
Because the sale and possession of marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, many states, and in this case neighboring states, have debated whether and how to decriminalize, regulate, and tax cannabis. arrived at a very different approach. Since 2012, 23 states have legalized recreational use, and more than 30 states allow medical marijuana use.
Eleven, mostly conservative states have enacted very restrictive medical marijuana laws. Idaho has not legalized the sale of cannabis, except for cannabis-derived medicines approved for limited medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The ban is helping more progressive neighbors.
“Our cannabis market is mostly for Idaho residents,” said Ontario Mayor Debbie Folden. “This is an economic boom that the city has never seen before.”
Mason Tobert, partner at VS Strategies, a national cannabis policy and publicity firm in Denver, says the patchwork of laws varies from state to state and often county to county, sparking similar commuter booms in other parts of the country. said there is. .
Texans travel to Colorado to stock up on their favorite breeds and edibles, while Indiana residents trek to Michigan, he said. “Demand will be met either by the illegal market or by the legal market in other states,” Tver said.
Idaho officials have not forgotten this proposition and the larger economic equation.
Last year, the state’s population approached 2 million, but the increase was largely driven by people migrating from California and generally seeking a lower cost of living. Only Florida grew faster.
At the same time, according to one study, property taxes have increased by 20% since 2018. report From the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, a bipartisan organization. And despite a growing population creating new demands for health care, education, and transportation, citing legislation to cut income taxes by about $500 million over three years, the currently surplus state budget The group said it was expected to be tight.
Some longtime residents of the state are tired of seeing their marijuana tax dollars go elsewhere as new residents drive up the price of marijuana.
Legalizing and taxing cannabis sales could bring in revenue and help offset budgetary concerns, said Joe Evans, organizer of Kind Idaho, an organization that promotes the legalization of medical cannabis. said.
“That money shouldn’t be leaving Idaho,” Evans said, referring to the home of Joe Albertson, who founded Albertson’s, a local grocery store chain, and built a multibillion-dollar foundation. One mentions the entrepreneurial spirit of the region. dollar state business.
But for Evans, who has served in the army in Iraq and Afghanistan and knows fellow veterans who use cannabis as a pain reliever, legalization is about more than money. He said it was long ago when states legalized substances that could relieve some medical conditions.
Patients who use cannabis, especially older adults and Idahoans with chronic illnesses, don’t need to drive more than an hour to Oregon, he said.
“This is about patient advocacy,” Evans said, hoping states would consider steps to legalize medical marijuana next year.
It wouldn’t be the first attempt.
Efforts to legalize medical cannabis were not put on the ballot in 2012, 2014 and 2016. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted voter measure supporters to halt signature-gathering efforts, leading to a bipartisan campaign the following year. A group of state legislators introduced a medical marijuana bill, but it failed to pass the committee.
As those efforts faltered, more and more Idaho customers flocked to Oregon, where voters legalized medical cannabis in 1998 and recreational cannabis in 2014.
Few areas in Ontario have benefited as much as Malheer County, home of Ontario.
The city voted in favor of legalizing local recreational marijuana sales in 2018 and is the only area in the county with a dispensary. Still, Malheer County recorded about $104 million in total cannabis sales last year, beating each of the state’s 35 counties outside of Multnomah County, which includes Portland.
In 2020, the first full year Ontario allowed cannabis sales, the city generated $1.8 million in tax revenue as a result. The following year, his earnings increased by 65%.
Originally from Ontario, the area is a conservative part of a progressive state, and a movement called “Greater Idaho” wants the area to separate from Oregon and become part of Idaho. Mayor Folden calls himself a conservative Republican.
That didn’t stop the city from emerging as the cannabis capital. According to the mayor, tax revenue is the lifeblood of the city. But Folden said the city is stockpiling because he expects Idaho to move forward with some legalization within five years.
“We know this won’t last forever, so we’re being cautious,” Ms Forden said. “We know that economic winds can change, as they often say.”
in autumn, Idaho Statesman pollA Boise newspaper revealed that 68 percent of residents support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. For recreational use, 48% supported legalization and 41% opposed.
Second-term Idaho Governor Brad Little is adamantly opposed to legalizing marijuana. “Marijuana legalization has many unintended consequences,” said Little, a Republican, in his emailed statement.
But some local politicians in Idaho are beginning to consider the economics of the issue.
Boise City Councilman Patrick Valgento said there is a growing need for alternative tax revenues.
“If you legalize marijuana, you can get cash in many ways,” said Valgento. “Look around the country. We should be more positive as a nation.”
Adam Watkins, a software engineer and member of the Budgent family, has lived in the city’s West End for the past decade. The value of his home has doubled since 2018, when he paid $3,200 in property taxes. Now he’s paying off his nearly $4,200.
“When it comes to medical cannabis, looking at other states that legalized cannabis decades ago, I can’t help but wonder why they’re so backward on this issue.” Philosophical and financial reasons. said Watkins, who supports legalization from
“It’s a drug with proven health effects, and we’re just letting other states solve the problem,” he added. “We’re clearly a problem, but we’re blindly turning around as if it wasn’t a problem.”
Back in Ontario on a recent afternoon, red, white and blue license plates with the phrase “Scenic Idaho” lined the Treasure Valley Cannabis parking lot. (Federal law prohibits transportation of marijuana between states.)
Mr. Lees manages 45 employees four days a week. She used to work five days, but she signed a deal with owner Jeremy Archie to work four days to reduce her commute.
Reese and Archie walked the floor that day, praising the company and the state, looking at vape pens, different types of cannabis, sweatshirts, and more.
They greeted customers and shared stories of patients using their products to fight health problems such as cancer and relieve pain. On one wall hung a poster board declaring that he would offer a 25 percent discount for at least three customers sharing a ride.
Archie said it was a small thank you to his customers in Idaho.
“This business has been very successful because of the Idaho market,” he said.
