The Big Business of Cannabis

This week, a new policy from Manhattan’s District Attorney Cyrus Vance went into effect. His office will no longer prosecute people for using marijuana (unless it's deemed public safety threat) or for possessing small amounts.

"I believe it is more proportionate to the offense to have someone given a ticket to go pay a summons than to be arrested or to have a criminal record," he told WNYC News' Richard Hake.

Vance is not alone. Across the country, politicians and prosecutors in more and more states — including New York and New Jersey — have been pushing for legalization of marijuana. In the nine states where it’s already legal for recreational use, it’s becoming a big business. Despite the drug remaining illegal at the federal level, one estimate puts sales of legalized recreational and medicinal marijuana at just under $9 billion in 2017. Locked out of the traditional financial system, the industry faces many hurdles. How is this industry operating, and who is set to profit from further legalization?

This week on Money Talking, Charlie Herman talks the ins and outs of the cannabis business with Julie Weed, who writes about marijuana for Forbes and the New York Times, and Alyson Martin, co-founder of Cannabis Wire and a reporting adjunct at Columbia Journalism School.

Legal marijuana is already bringing in huge revenues, but hurdles exist as it's still illegal at the federal level. How the industry operates and who’s cashing in.