Green Cross issues press release condemning Oakland marijuana tax

Minutes ago The Green Cross of San Francisco issued a press release condemning the Oakland Gang of Four's push to tax medical marijuana. The Green Cross is a fully licensed and permitted medical cannabis collective that has been operating in San Francisco since 2004.

The collective has recently been featured in articles nationwide as a symbol of how mainstream medical marijuana has become.

The press release states the tax measure is a bad model for the movement and bad for patients. "This is the first step towards pricing out patients and demeaning the medical movement."

They point out that in 2004 Oakland passed a marijuana lowest priority ordinance that lead to the opening of private, non-patient, adult-use cannabis clubs licensed by the City of Oakland. This marijuana lowest priority ordinance, Measure Z, also called for active lobbying for legalization.

While the Green Cross supports decriminalization, and approves and defends personal choice, they are adamant that cannabis is medicine.

The Green Cross points out that medical marijuana dispensaries are taxed at the state and local level through sales tax, payroll tax, and income tax. Adding a "sin tax" only punishes patients.

Punishing patients to gain social acceptance of a rushed unproven experiment involving general adult use is irresponsible and unfair. The medical community has worked hard to fight for the rights of patients and caretakers. Kevin Reed, President of the The Green Cross may have said it best, when he commented that “this frantic, ‘we need money, legalize now’ movement may totally derail what we have been tirelessly working for during the last thirteen years. Proponents of legalization run the risk that people may not like what they see, the legalization-for-all social experiment might fail, and bring the medical cannabis movement down with it.

The Green Cross notes that Tom Ammiano's AB 390, The Marijuana Control, Education, and Regulation Act, would leave California medical marijuana laws untouched, thereby protecting patients and caregivers.