Jacob Bell
New Member
A series of federal raids on medical marijuana growers in Southern Oregon is forcing up to 175 medical marijuana patients to pay $150 each to the state in order to continue their doctor-recommended treatment. The total earnings for the state of Oregon from these patients could reach as much as $26,500.
The windfall comes due to an administrative rule change (see: Oregon Medical Marijuana Patients Revolt Over Outrageous Fee Increases) that doubled the annual fee to $200 that patients must pay to register with the state medical marijuana program. New fees of $100 for a replacement card and $50 to register a new grow site were also added, and it is these new fees, raised to put other state budgets in the black, that have patient advocates seeing red.
"The feds come in here in the raids and take all the plants and medicine, but they also take all the patient's medical documentation and cards," explains Lori Duckworth, executive director of Southern Oregon NORML on the cannabis affairs program "A Different View". "So now all these patients have to pay $100 to get a replacement card and $50 to register a new grow site."
While this could mean a net revenue of $26,500 for Oregon, "A Different View" host and medical marijuana clinic owner Iva Cunningham of Alternative Medical Choices, Inc. says that the $150 cost to many patients will be too high to renew. "You've got sick and disabled people who just paid two-to-three-hundred dollars for their doctor's visits, another one-to-two-hundred getting their recommendation, and two-hundred to register with the state for a card that's four months late. Now we expect them to pay another one-fifty when they followed all the rules, jumped through all the hoops, and obeyed state law just because the feds don't like it? Lots of patients will say 'enough, screw it, I'm spending that money on the black market.'"
The fee raise is a win-win situation for opponents of medical marijuana at the state and federal levels, adds Jennifer Alexander, the campaign manager of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, which seeks to legalize and regulate non-medical use of marijuana. "[The State of Oregon] raised the fees because law enforcement screams that there are 'too many patients' and 'too much abuse' of the program. They think raising the fees will reduce the number of patients; they've even figured it into the revenue projections." Now with federal raids, the state either gets more fee money with no increase in patient registrations or a decrease in patient registrations, which gives the state financial and political incentive to cooperate with the feds.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: examiner.com
Author: Russ Belville
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Clarity Digital Group LLC
Website: Federal raids help Oregon raise $26,500 in medical marijuana fees
The windfall comes due to an administrative rule change (see: Oregon Medical Marijuana Patients Revolt Over Outrageous Fee Increases) that doubled the annual fee to $200 that patients must pay to register with the state medical marijuana program. New fees of $100 for a replacement card and $50 to register a new grow site were also added, and it is these new fees, raised to put other state budgets in the black, that have patient advocates seeing red.
"The feds come in here in the raids and take all the plants and medicine, but they also take all the patient's medical documentation and cards," explains Lori Duckworth, executive director of Southern Oregon NORML on the cannabis affairs program "A Different View". "So now all these patients have to pay $100 to get a replacement card and $50 to register a new grow site."
While this could mean a net revenue of $26,500 for Oregon, "A Different View" host and medical marijuana clinic owner Iva Cunningham of Alternative Medical Choices, Inc. says that the $150 cost to many patients will be too high to renew. "You've got sick and disabled people who just paid two-to-three-hundred dollars for their doctor's visits, another one-to-two-hundred getting their recommendation, and two-hundred to register with the state for a card that's four months late. Now we expect them to pay another one-fifty when they followed all the rules, jumped through all the hoops, and obeyed state law just because the feds don't like it? Lots of patients will say 'enough, screw it, I'm spending that money on the black market.'"
The fee raise is a win-win situation for opponents of medical marijuana at the state and federal levels, adds Jennifer Alexander, the campaign manager of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, which seeks to legalize and regulate non-medical use of marijuana. "[The State of Oregon] raised the fees because law enforcement screams that there are 'too many patients' and 'too much abuse' of the program. They think raising the fees will reduce the number of patients; they've even figured it into the revenue projections." Now with federal raids, the state either gets more fee money with no increase in patient registrations or a decrease in patient registrations, which gives the state financial and political incentive to cooperate with the feds.
News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: examiner.com
Author: Russ Belville
Contact: Contact Us
Copyright: Clarity Digital Group LLC
Website: Federal raids help Oregon raise $26,500 in medical marijuana fees
