Washington House panel hears bill to tax medical marijuana sales
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A House committee held a public hearing Monday on a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, an effort to undermine any black market when sale of state-taxed recreational marijuana starts at the end of this year.
The measure would hit dispensaries with a tax equal to 25 percent of their sales of cannabis and cannabis-infused products.
The bill sponsors have said they're trying to avoid a dual market - one taxed, one not - as the state moves toward creating a regulated system for the fledgling marijuana industry created by Initiative 502.
In November, voters approved the initiative that allows adults over age 21 to have up to an ounce of pot. The state is due to start issuing licenses to marijuana growers, processors and retail stores, with the marijuana taxed 25 percent at each stage.
The state Liquor Control Board is in the process of developing rules for the new industry, possibly including such measures as digital tracking of inventory to prevent diversion to the black market. Sales are set to begin late this year.
The bill is one of several marijuana-related measures pending in Olympia. One would allow anyone with a misdemeanor pot conviction to have their record cleared and another would protect medical marijuana patients from arrest.
Medical patients could still grow their own 15 plants or designate someone else to grow for them, and true community gardens of up to 45 plants and 10 patients would still be allowed.
Prescription medications aren't taxed in Washington, and those in the medical marijuana community have argued that because medical marijuana requires a doctor's authorization, it should fall into that category.
Do not prescription drugs need to be FDA approved?
I am in Oregon but this is just Stupid! I am disabled and on Medicaid, by my switching to Medical Marijuana I am saving Medicaid over $1000/ month on Rx meds. I have to pay for my medicine now myself because our Government would rather have me addicted to Rx Morphine or Die than have something that actually works. Now they want to make 25% more expensive for me, go screw yourselves!
@swede760Â Just out of curiosity, what could possibly be wrong with you that your going to die if not addicted to Morphine? They have rehab for that you know. Your post makes little sense.
@Janusfree @swede760 Obviously you have never had to endure extreme chronic pain. First I would die if I stayed on Morphine, I have been off for well over a year. Opioids shut down your body over long term use, the Pharma Companies would rather see you addicted to thier drugs and slowly die than see you have a life. I should have said and not or.
@swede760
There is a huge PHARMA infrastructure that is dependent for profits upon perpetuating the social need for controlled substances. Like the TOBACCO industry the profits of big PHARMA are dependent upon creating new addicted users and controlling their access to their "products".
The cost of Morphine is very low but the control exercised by the government makes balloons the cost and profits for big PHARMA and creates lots of little jobs in between. It is cheeper to buy heroin on the street than to purchase a shot of morphine with a prescription and insurance and an entire other industry, the prison industrial complex, has grown up around the lower cost suppliers of uncontrolled drugs.Â
This will be the model of controlling MJ also. Legalization isn't really legalization of MJ it is just a new model of regulation and control because it is obvious that simple prohibition isn't working. Once corporations find a way to merchandize and profit from MJ then they will spend huge lobby dollars to increase controls and penalties so that they can cut alternative supplies and raise their profits. Â
Â
  "" """"Medical patients could still grow their own 15 plants or designate someone else to grow for them, and true community gardens of up to 45 plants and 10 patients would still be allowed.""""""""
This provision looks like it could easily be abused....
from what little I've read, it appears the black market will remain strong  for the majority of pot smokers in WA
didn't "Q" ( a fictional Star Trek char with impressible amounts of powers) once state that government began to legal lize drugs then to aid the soldiers in a war the allowed the soldiers to take recreational Drugs?
I hope "Q" is way off on this..funny how Sci-Fi- in many cases have become Sci_Fact. technologically speaking.
Most potheads already grow their own. Â That will not change. Â Why buy something and pay taxes on it when you can grow it for next to nothing and pay zero taxes on it. Â Â This has been going on for many years and it isn't going to change because the voters say it will. Â The Mexican drug cartels don't care about pot. Â They know that sooner or later a majority of potheads will want something stronger and they will have to buy it from the cartels. Â Of course, you won't hear any potheads admitting this. Â They don't want to chance seeing the new law overturned, which it can be if the voters decide it is isn't working as promised. Â This is entirely possible if the promised revenue isn't there.Â
@Shadow "Most potheads already grow their own." : No they don't
"The Mexican drug cartels don't care about pot." : Yes they do, most big California farms are associated with Mexican Cartels.
"They know that sooner or later a majority of potheads will want something stronger and they will have to buy it from the cartels." : Pot is not a gateway drug, that was misinformation from who knows how long ago.
"Of course, you won't hear any potheads admitting this." : No one will admit to it because your arguments are gibberish.Â
Analyzing drug law ramifications is not your forte. Â
@Shadow uh huh, little ninny mother knows best, huh. Since I am a veteran and use it to NOT have to take other prescription meds, I concede that your argument is ignoramus. In fact, if you look at facts, most states that have medical use, have reduced use across the board on all other drugs, cigs, booze, meth, herion etc. So what's your point again, but to grandstand against "potheads". Idiot. Â
25% at each stage? Hello black market!
People suggesting that there will still be a huge pot black market are being ridiculous Once corporations get their hands on the ability to grow massive amounts of quality pot, it will be done cheaply, not in the mountains by a bunch of Mexicans This is going to produce incredible revenue and pot will stay at an affordable price. I'm all for legal marijuana and taxed marijuana. Looks like we're doing it right.Â
@fulcrum Ironically, many of my friends who feel the same way are organic food lovers telling me not to eat canola oil 'cause it'll 'splode my brains. Corporations will grow a monoculture of either the strongest stuff allowable by law, or the cheapest. It'll be like the Budweiser equivalent of weed, which is great if you're an alcoholic I guess. My hunch is people will continue to grow their own and share it with their friends, and if they get busted, it'll be like distilling your own absinthe. Nobody Will Actually Give a Damn.
@Playanekes @fulcrum I for see 2 types, the cheapy stuff and the more expensive stuff.. Personally, I don't care one way or the other...al though it would be inter sting to see the effects of this drug on all those with Schizophrenia and major psychological defects..might mellow them out lol and instead of them going out killing, they would be placid.
@lee986321 @Playanekes @fulcrum Top shelf weed. I like it
You'd have to be stoned or stupid to not have seen this coming. You wanted Obama, you got him. Which means you also wanted Obamacare. Which guarantees not only higher taxes on everything already taxed, but additional taxes on anything (any thing) even remotely associated with the medical field. Get used to it.Â
@last boyscout I will believe that when I see Big Pharma Taxed at the same percentage!
Wow! I can't believe you are actually right. I voted for Obama. I wanted (and still want) Obamare (oops. I meant Romneycare) I want higher income taxes on wealthy people. I want tax loopholes closed. And a lot of the point of legalizing marijuana was to generate revenue. It was also to control illegal street sales and gangs, but revenue was a big driver of this bill. You seem shocked. I am shocked that you are shocked. Even you.
@last boyscout Time to change the record. Are you going to replay this over and over for the next 4 years?
@I812Â @last boyscout and if so, what are you going to do about it? last boyscout has some valid points. to bad none of us know the pork that goes in to all this. and Pork isn't lean meat either, it is filled with fat, fat leads to cholesterol, Our nation is dying of Heart failure because of all the damn Pork in the stuff being passed. This Country is about to have a "Heart Attack".
@lee986321Â
 Well, pot isn't the culprit of a nation dying of heart failure. The problem I see with obamacare is know we have the ability to shove even more pills down our throats, excersise less [because we now have healthcare] and generally eat crappier too[because we now have healthcare]. If you want to see in action, America dying, watch the SuperBowl and all its hyperbole.Â
Looks like Washington didn't learn anything from their foray into privatized liquor sales. While the increased taxes on those products drove many small stores out of business and profits went to large corporations like Costco, not to mention Oregon border stores, they're going to do the same thing with pot. Pot is not a back alley type of drug, most people buy their weed from a friend/acquaintance who they enjoy catching up with every now and then and otherwise may not have the opportunity. So if the legal stores aren't selling for less, and are probably further away, what is the draw for the consumer?
@PhillyBuster The initial goal was to take the money out of the black market. If it's selling on the streets for $150-300 an ounce, then achieving that goal would mean MJ would have to retail at $50-100/oz or cheaper to really put a hurt in the wallets of the black market.
For $50 dollars I can buy a bag of soil, fertilizer, clone and container and grow one plant in my backyard and yield 10 plus ounces. It doesn't require any special care. Keeping the pests off is the only concern and outdoors it isn't a problem. If it retails at a high price because of the taxes, it'll only encourage these rogue gardens. I'm glad I quit smoking the stuff...;-)
We'll see what the state sets the price at...anything over $200/oz will only show that they weren't serious about achieving said goal... as long as Driving Under the Influence laws made the books.
@str1ngb3nd3r An article I read had it priced at 350/oz. That will only encourage the black market.
@PhillyBusterÂ
Washington didn't write that bill, Costco did. Â And most people in Washington don't live anywhere near the Oregon border.
"A wise man knows much but says little, a fool knows little but says much."
Hmm. Your posts are much longer than those put up by "Diogenes."
@PhillyBusterÂ
"An idiot reflexively posts quotes rather than thinking."
"A House committee held a public hearing Monday on a measure to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, an effort to undermine any black market when sale of state-taxed recreational marijuana starts at the end of this year."
Are these folks really that stupid? Taxes and regulation actually develop the black market. Look at what it is doing for cigarettes in NYC.
@RalphCramdenÂ
Actually, prohibition creates underground markets. Â Most people aren't so math-challenged that they can't figure saving 8% is worth doing jail time.
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@hankhandsome My switching to Medical Marijuana, that I have to pay for, from Rx Meds has saved Medicaid over $1000/ month. Because I am using something that actually works I am nearly where I can work again. Mj has allowed me to do my own Pysical Rehab and I have lost over 130lbs and regained a lot of mobility. I can think clearly and do not have to be on it 24/7 like the Rx Drugs. Of course our Pharmacutical Company sponsored Government does not want you to know it actually works.
@hankhandsomeÂ
"Welfare trash." Â Nice. Â Stay classy.
The approach being taken by WA legislators will do nothing to get rid of the black market. The 25% tax they propose will deter people from buying it legally, especially with the estimated cost to the end user being about $100 more per ounce than buying it illegally. Stupid politicians.