Pubdate: Sat, 17 May 2014
Source: Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2014 GateHouse Media Inc.
Contact:  http://www.enterprisenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3231

STATE SHOULD TAX MEDICAL MARIJUANA

While Massachusetts sales tax doesn't apply to prescription
medications, medical marijuana is neither a medicine nor is it a
prescription.

We understand that the knee-jerk reaction from many quarters to Milton
state Sen. Brian Joyce's efforts to tax medical marijuana will be to
slam the effort as just another money grab from the tax and spend
liberals on Beacon Hill.

Some might think it's unconscionable to tax - to the tune of $6.5
million in the first year - what they believe to be a type of
medicine. Others might say it's a way to drive up the costs of medical
marijuana to the point where it becomes unaffordable and drive
dispensaries out of business.

It's none of these things.

While Massachusetts' sales tax doesn't apply to prescription
medications, medical marijuana is neither a medicine nor a
prescription. It can't be bought at a pharmacy, and the state and
health insurance won't cover it. Marijuana has not been approved by
the Food and Drug Administration to treat any medical condition, and
those who will be authorized under state law to use it - to smoke,
vape or eat it in a brownie - will be given registration cards, not
prescriptions. Possession and distribution of marijuana is still a
federal offense. It's classified as a Schedule 1 drug, and federal law
supersedes state law. So it's not about creating a tax but maintaining
consistency.

Joyce's office says that of the 22 states that have legalized medical
marijuana, 20 tax it. Joyce's spokesman, Jack Cardinal, said that
Illinois doesn't and Vermont is undecided.

Most important, the state needs the revenue.

Joyce, who chairs the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital
Expenditures and State Assets, and more important to this topic, is
vice chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing,
understands why the sales tax is necessary: his proposal would direct
all revenue to fund drug treatment and addiction services.

Joyce believes marijuana is a gateway drug, that those who use it are
at higher risk of trying and becoming addicted to stronger drugs, such
as opioids. He's not alone. Many medical professionals, addiction
counselors and law enforcement officials - in other words, those on
the front lines of the drug epidemic - agree with that assertion.

What's certain is that the Senate's recent passage of "An Act to
Increase Opportunities for Long-Term Substance Abuse Recovery" will
need to be funded. It would strengthen the Prescription Monitoring
Program and, hopefully, facilitate the opening of many more in-state
drug treatment facilities. We need them. Too many people are dying
from the addiction epidemic.

"We have a crisis in Massachusetts," said Joyce. "In March, we had 125
children born with opiate addictions."

Opponents of Joyce's proposed amendment to the Senate budget, which
will likely be voted on next week, say adding the sales tax to the
cost of the now 20 and soon 35 or more pot shops' products will price
out consumers. Not likely. It's the same percentage of sales tax
consumers pay for all other applicable goods: 6.25 percent.

If that proves too much, perhaps some of the dispensary nonprofits can
earn down their projected millions in revenues. Joyce is right to
institute the tax now rather than battle to retroactively apply it. We
urge the Legislature to support his amendment.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D