Recently a company called Medical Marijuana, Inc. announced that it is the first public company to enter the legalized, medical marijuana business. While it does not trade on a major exchange, the stock does trade over-the-counter under the ticker CVIV. Bruce Perlowin is serving as the company’s new Chairman and CEO. He has been referred to as the “King of Pot” in various articles and was recently interviewed on CNBC’s most popular feature called “Marijuana, Inc.”
Is this a good sign that the archaic and costly criminalization of marijuana is slowly going by the wayside? Let’s hope so!
The following is taken from the press release issued by Medical Marijuana, Inc. on April 3:
Taxability of Medical Marijuana Transactions
In February 2007, the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) issued a Special Notice confirming its policy of taxing medical marijuana transactions, as well as its requirement that businesses engaging in such transactions hold a Seller’s Permit. According to the Notice, having a Seller’s Permit does not allow individuals to make unlawful sales, but instead merely provides a way to remit any sales and use taxes due. BOE further clarified its policy in a June 2007 Special Notice that addressed several frequently asked questions concerning taxation of medical marijuana transactions.
About the Company
Medical Marijuana, Inc. (currently undergoing a 1=10 forward split and symbol change to reflect its new name in the stock market) is positioned to take advantage of opportunities as they appear in the emerging legal medical marijuana industry through an enhanced payment gateway introducing verifiable levels of enhanced security. A trend is in place that clearly indicates medical marijuana is quickly becoming a legal enterprise in need of various solutions in numerous areas.
Solutions
Plastic debit cards or medical revenue cards are supplied to the Medical Marijuana Dispensary (or Collective/Co-op as they are legally designated in California). The customers of the dispensary are issued the closed loop “Stored Value Card” (SVC). This “Stored Value Card” (SVC) is loaded for the customer by tendering cash to the Dispensary clerk. The Dispensary clerk will load up the new card for the customer using the “Point of Sale” (POS) System which will also recognize the dispensary location, as well as tax rates for the appropriate government agencies.
Advantages
Having a secure platform for the full service engagement of all financial services directly accessed through on integrated system, allows for a much more secure and confident transaction between customer, vendor and supplier.
The ease of access to certifiably secure transactions lessens the risk of loss at each level of the transaction. Users are empowered, operators are empowered and Government Agencies are more confident in assuring their collection of taxes and fees while secure in the function of financial interactions.
Operators have the benefit of establishing deeper and more meaningful relationships with their customer base. As such, the operators’ ability to enhance their revenue generating capabilities is much greater with the full access to the suite of financial services provided by our vast networked platform. This enables full creative expansion within any sector to a retail operator of which these facilities may choose to engage.
Tom–you finaly got into something thats smoking!!!