Senator Wiener’s Bill to Save Compassionate Care Programs that Provide Free Cannabis to People with Serious Illnesses Passes Senate

May 21, 2019

Sacramento –  Today, Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) bill to exempt compassionate care programs from paying state commercial cannabis taxes when they are providing free medical cannabis to financially disadvantaged people living with serious health conditions passed the State Senate with a 35-0 vote. It will now head to the Assembly for committee hearings in the coming weeks. This bill is modeled off of Senator Wiener’s SB 829, which was vetoed by Governor Brown last year. Due to an oversight in how Prop 64 was drafted, these not-for-profit donation programs that have been serving medical cannabis patients for decades are now being forced to pay taxes meant for businesses, which are forcing these charity programs to shut down.

“The cannabis legalization movement began in large part because of compassionate care programs were providing free medical cannabis to people in need,” said Senator Wiener. “We should be helping these foundational programs, which save lives, thrive instead of burdening them with taxes meant for businesses. We need to correct this oversight in Prop 64 and help people living with serious conditions like HIV and cancer obtain the medical cannabis they need. I am grateful to my colleagues for moving this legislation forward today.” 

Following the passage of Prop 215 in 1996, which legalized medical use of cannabis in California, not-for-profit compassionate care programs started providing free cannabis to financially disadvantaged individuals with medical cannabis prescriptions for illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other life-threatening conditions. Retailers donate the cannabis to these programs, which then provide the cannabis free to patients who are already struggling under significant medical expenses.

“The Sweetleaf Collective is excited that SB 34 has passed California’s Senate,” said Joe Airone, Founder and Director of the Sweetleaf Collective. “Low income terminally ill Californians are now one step closer to regaining access to free medical cannabis. When SB 34 becomes law, thousands of sick patients will see their health improve because compassionate cannabis programs will once again be able to operate.

With the enactment of Prop 64, which legalized adult use of cannabis in California, taxes were put in place for both adult use and medical use of cannabis. These taxes were designed to apply to all cannabis that enters the commercial market. Compassionate use cannabis does not enter the market because it is neither bought nor sold. However, due to an ambiguity in drafting of Prop 64, there is no way for cannabis designated for compassionate donations to avoid the cultivation, use, and any local tax. That means that retailers or compassionate care programs are forced to pay high taxes on a product that is donated, effectively crippling the compassionate care programs and leading to mass closures of these donation-based programs.

This bill exempts all donations of cannabis and cannabis products to patients holding a valid physician’s recommendation or a medical identification card from the use and cultivation taxes enacted by proposition 64. It will also allow compassionate care programs to facilitate donations from a licensed retailer, thereby allowing them to restart this service without facing the prohibitive costs. 

The full text of the bill can be found here.

 

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