This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation rolling back an increase to the state excise tax imposed on the legal marijuana industry, which has struggled to compete with the black market given the state’s onerous tax and regulatory schemes.

Since Californians voted to legalize marijuana in 2016 through Proposition 64, the state has made it difficult for legal operators to step up and stay in business.

“For many years, cannabis industry representatives have argued that combined state and local taxes on cannabis has placed it at a competitive disadvantage to the unregulated illicit market,” explained an analysis from the Senate Rules Committee. “The representatives added that the cultivation tax specifically pushes cannabis farmers into the unregulated market.”

So it wasn’t

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