Legalization requires taxes and permitting---both of which are outside of “Trademark”

California’s transition to legal cannabis contains a mind-bending paradox: Ending prohibitions on marijuana will require newly aggressive law enforcement.

When Jan. 1 rolls around, California will not merely be permitting adults 21 and older to legally buy marijuana for recreational purposes. The state and its cities will be creating a new regime to regulate and tax cannabis.

The stakes are high: Successful cannabis legalization in America’s largest state could help end the devastating drug war in the United States. But if this transition turns messy, the Trump administration, which is devoted both to debasing California and promoting thoughtless “law-and-order” policies, could bogart everything, stepping up arrests and criminal penalties for drug violations.

There is reason to worry. Smoking weed is said to expand your mind, but I’m not sure if there’s enough marijuana in the state for anyone’s brain to comprehend the complexities of all the new rules, much less enforce them.

Legalization requires moving a shadowy $7 billion industry into a highly regulated structure, with extensive taxes and permitting. California governments that once took a live-and-let-live approach to cannabis now find themselves having to step up enforcement against cannabis businesses to make sure companies choose to move out of the black market.