MMJ: Overpricing Isn't NORML

Last week, you mentioned a new tax on medical marijuana. Can you give me some more details? - John Q. Publique

I can indeed. Senate Bill 987 would set a 15-percent excise tax on marijuana, imposed on the purchaser at the retail level. This is in addition to the taxes that many cities and counties already place on the purchase of medicinal marijuana, making the effective rate 25 percent in some jurisdictions. Cannabis advocacy groups Americans for Safe Access and California NORML oppose this bill.

Aside from the fact the medicinal marijuana is a medicine, and California doesn’t tax medicines (can you imagine paying taxes for penicillin or OxyContin?), this tax is a horrible idea. A top-shelf eighth of marijuana costs about $60 pre-tax. If this tax passes, it would cost $75. The friendly neighborhood weed dealer sells good-quality bud at about $40-$50. It doesn’t take a degree in economics to do this math. The secondary point of regulating the cannabis industry (the first should always be to keep people that use cannabis from going to jail) is to discourage the black market. If retail cannabis prices aren’t competitive, no one will buy your overpriced weed, and nothing will change.

Oregon and Washington are facing a similar problem. Lawmakers in those two states have been working to kill their state’s medical marijuana programs. Their argument is something like: Since adult use of cannabis is legal, all the people that need cannabis for medicinal purposes have all disappeared or something. This is ridiculous. There are hundreds of thousands of people in California that use marijuana to treat symptoms from cancer, AIDS, MS, epilepsy, chronic pain and all kinds of other things. Many of these people are not financially well-off. Using the sick and the poor to make extra money is not cool. This bill has just been introduced and there is time to kill it before it reaches the floor.

I am hella excited to put some plants into the ground. Do I really have to wait until spring? - Earl E. Byrd

Nope. You can throw some decent-sized clones into your space right now. They will start to flower immediately, so you won’t get a monster yield, but you will have fun playing in the garden. Now is the time to start getting your dirt ready if you plan to start your plants by 4/20.