Resources and Information for the Medical Marijuana Movement
Today is election day in Los Angeles. Medical cannabis patients and advocates must turn out today and vote NO on Measure M, a voter initiative that will impose a 5% “sin tax” on medical cannabis. Today’s turnout will be low, so your vote matters more than ever. Find you polling place and take a few minutes to make a difference.
From John Hoeffel writing in the LA Times today:
But in Los Angeles, where voters decide Tuesday whether to create a pot tax, medical marijuana activists who once urged City Hall to tax and regulate them are hoping to defeat the proposal, angered by the council’s decision to limit the number of dispensaries to 100 and choose them by lottery.
“The city has done nothing for the patients, and I don’t see why the patients have to pay a sin tax. We’re not a topless bar,” said Yamileth Bolanos, a dispensary operator who leads a group of the city’s oldest collectives. “The city hasn’t even been able to enact an ordinance that creates safe access.”
Read the entire artcile online. Get out to vote NO on Measure M on Tuesday!
Update… Listen to the broadcast online.
I’ll be back on KPCC on Wednesday morning to talk again about Measure M, the voter initiative that could put a 5% “sin tax” on medical cannabis in Los Angeles. Tune into Air Talk at 10:40 AM on KPCC FM 89.3 to hear the segment. You can also listen online.
KCET’s SoCal Connected recently ran this follow up piece to their award-winning series on the expansion of medical cannabis collectives in Los Angeles. City Council Member Ed Reyes, Community Organizer Mike Larsen, and I are all finally on the same page about one thing – we are tired of this controvesry. Unfortunately, there may be no end in sight. Collective operators should take no comfort in that. Growing frustration may lead to more enforcement, more onerous restrictions, or an outright ban on collectives.
The deadline to register to vote for Los Angeles’ March 8 Primary Election is February 22. Medical cannabis patients and advocates should be sure they are registered and ready to vote. Turnout for a local Primary Election is usually very low, so a small number of voters can have a big impact on the outcome. Be sure to vote NO on Measure M, which will add an additional 5% tax on medical cannabis. Patients and advocates must turn out to defeat this “sin tax” on medicine. If they don’t, the total tax on patients’ medicine in the city will be 14.75%!
