Operating a business committing federal felonies is not my idea of a sane or safe undertaking.
One wrong statement to piss off the wrong people, and they can put you, your entire staff, and your entire bank account on ice for hundreds of years.
Marijuana is effectively legal in California - sad we don't have Amsterdam style bars but that's not the main thing. Supply meets demand, easily and production is local. Sure, it's not a great business but that's not the main thing.
Doing something routinely and openly that is an unenforced federal felony is to voluntarily surrender your constitutional rights under the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and probably others. (Breaking the law openly like this means they can instantly jail you for speech, for protesting, for being inconvenient, for carrying, and obtain a search warrant at any time.)
It is not "effectively legal", any more than driving 9mph over the limit is. It's just not enforced: it's still a huge felony.
I like that I can go to a cannabis dispensary if I want to (even though it’s not my thing). But I remember the outrage I felt learning about federal agents destroying a place some years back. They didn’t just arrest people; they deliberately trashed everything they could.
That said, you gotta start somewhere. People have to take risks to effect change and progress. The civil rights movement wouldn’t have led to change if people weren’t willing to put themselves at risk of being arrested.
1. https://cannabusinessplans.com/california-cannabis-market/
You're just talking about the part that is the white people with state licenses, insurance, and mailing addresses.
Entrepreneurs make up another segment, 5-10x larger than that one.
Having cultivation and consumption not harassed by law enforcement is primary. Eliminating the war on drugs overall would be a huge win (and I certainly wouldn't take it as a given).
I know many investors that are "no way, no how, absolutely not" on anything that remains a federal felony, such as the entirety of the cannabis industry.