US
Cigarette wholesalers that track, deliver, and tax all the cigarettes sold in Massachusetts are seeking a similar monopoly on recreational marijuana when sales begin in 2018, asking state officials to require marijuana producers to sell all their pot products through them.
The tobacco wholesalers argue they have experience safeguarding a sensitive product through the supply chain, using sophisticated tracking technology that makes it difficult for bootleggers to pass off untaxed, smuggled cigarettes and easy for inspectors to verify a pack has come through legitimate channels. By doing the same for the marijuana industry, they believe they can keep the black market at bay.
Paul Caron, former state representative and executive director of tobacco trade group, the Northeast Association of Wholesale Distributors, said, “My members are willing to collect all the taxes on behalf of the state and stamp any marijuana product being distributed for sale. Rather than reinvent the wheel, let’s use the most successful, proven encrypted tax stamp program we have: the one assigned to cigarettes.”
In other US states where cannabis has been legalized, dispensaries typically buy directly from producers or grow their own supply. Cannabis companies in those states are required to use tracking systems specifically made for legal marijuana, and Massachusetts is expected to designate a logistics vendor to implement a similar system here.