Woody Harrelson and Bill Maher used a 4/20 podcast episode to criticize California's cannabis tax structure, speaking from The Woods, the West Hollywood dispensary and consumption lounge they jointly own.
On Maher's Club Random podcast, released Monday, Maher said: "California sucks as far as—look, all businesses, but certainly this one. They still treat it like it's poison."
Harrelson said: "They treat it like you're lucky that we allow you to do this, and so we're going to tax you 35 percent, which is way more—it's more than double anything." He noted that guns and beer face lower rates, and called the burden "ridiculous."
California levies a 15 percent state excise tax at the point of sale, on top of variable local excise taxes, standard state and local sales taxes, cultivation-level taxes, and licensing fees. Harrelson also referenced the federal 280E provision, which blocks cannabis companies from claiming the business expense deductions available to other industries. California lawmakers have decoupled the state tax code from that federal policy, letting operators write off business expenses on their state returns.
Maher raised the cannabis industry's banking access problems, noting that businesses were long forced to operate with large cash stockpiles and became targets for theft. The Woods was burglarized in what appeared to be part of a string of crimes targeting cannabis businesses in the region. Federal legislation to resolve the banking issue has remained stalled for years.
Harrelson previously pushed Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill legalizing marijuana cafes, which Newsom approved in 2024. Harrelson disclosed in 2017 that he used cannabis to get through a dinner with President Donald Trump. Maher said he did not get high before his own White House dinner with Trump last year, calling it a "missed opportunity."
