NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The cannabis industry is facing over-saturation and under-regulation; That’s according to those in the retail industry who want lawmakers to do more to combat black market activity in the industry—a problem exposed in a Larry Barker Investigation last month.
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Tuesday, at an Economic and Rural Development and Policy Committee meeting, those in the cannabis industry asked lawmakers to give regulators more authority. “There’s a thriving illicit market; they’re not paying tax revenue; they’re not getting their products tested; they’re not packaging them right; they’re selling to minors,” said Justin Dye, CEO of R. Greenleaf.
Retailers in the cannabis industry are calling for change in the way the state handles business. They are citing concerns about too many dispensaries popping up, a thriving black market, and not enough enforcement by the state. Dye told lawmakers his ideas for curbing these problems : “Competing with people who don’t have to play by the rules, who don’t pay taxes, who don’t have to go through testing, who are a danger to our kids, we gotta step up and do something about that.”