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Writer's pictureDavid Benedicktus

Sin Tax on medical cannabis patients leaves patients suffering and forces them into the black market



In Washington state we pay $31.48 in taxes on every gallon of liquor we buy – that’s the highest in the country. The nationwide average? $7.63.


The tax on our liquor is so high because Washington doesn’t have an income tax, so we rely more heavily on “sin” taxes that tax things like alcohol, cigarettes, and since 2012 both recreational and medical cannabis to bring in revenue.


On November 6, 2012, Washington State voters passed Initiative 502 (I-502). And established a 37 percent cannabis excise tax and a 6.5% sales tax.


According to the Washington Cannabis Alliance the 37% excise or “sin” tax is an issue:


“Not only is it fundamentally wrong but it creates several additional consequences such as forcing patients to use cheaper products since they cannot afford the higher quality and more costly items or, worse, it forces them to seek their medicine on the illicit market.”


Medical cannabis patients who are registered do get a reduction of the 6.5% sales tax.


However, to get a reduction of 6.5 % retail sales tax you must incur the cost of obtaining a medical card each year, which is not covered by insurance, and is $100-$150, and needs to be renewed each year. This is to document you have a qualifying condition to be a medical patient. A person must be a registered medical cannabis patient to avoid paying the sales tax.


According to the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) which approves, regulates, and enforces cannabis licenses WA is expected to collect more than $1 billion in marijuana sales taxes and fees over the course of its next two-year budget cycle. Most of the tax collected goes toward public health programming.

See here for information on where the cannabis excise tax is spent.


Based on the current excise tax sales tax structure, a $30 eighth of an ounce of Lemon Haze would cost $41.10 for the medicinal customer and $43.05 for the recreational customer. A difference of $1.95 in sales tax.


While the excise tax would be an additional $11.10 on top of the retail price.


In addition to the sales tax break, medical authorization allows those entered in the state’s voluntary patient database to possess: 48 ounces of marijuana-infused product in solid form; 3 ounces of usable marijuana; 216 ounces of marijuana-infused product in liquid form; or 21 grams of marijuana concentrates. That is if you can afford it.


It is time to revise the medical cannabis laws in WA state to make it more accessible to suffering patients.


According to Sanja Gupta:


“We are in an age of wisdom, but also an age of foolishness.


” We have made great strides with medical marijuana, but we’ve also repeated some of the same mistakes that led cannabis to be vilified and misunderstood in the first place. Hype and echo chambers are never a friend to science or clear-eyed thinking.”


“Denying people this substance represents a moral issue just as much as a medical one.”

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