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Medical marijuana advocates continue to protest the high fees participants in Oregon's program have had to pay for the past year, including a $200 annual charge for renewing a marijuana card. That's double the previous rate and, when combined with other program fees, is enough to drive some people out of the program entirely, as reported Monday by The Oregonian's Noelle Crombie.
Should Oregonians feel bad about this? A little, maybe.
Should lawmakers reduce fees to previous levels as soon as possible? No. In fact, you could argue that what has happened to the medical marijuana program is exactly what those who'd like to loosen the state's marijuana laws even further claim to want: The state's using pot to generate revenue.
If Oregon's medical marijuana program resembled in any way the vision offered by its proponents in 1998, when voters approved it, participation would be much more limited. Lawmakers would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to pump up fees.
Chief petitioner Richard Bayer argued in the Voters' Pamphlet at the time that Measure 67 was a "moderate proposal (that) exempts patients with serious illnesses from Oregon criminal law when using marijuana under doctor supervision." He also noted that he and many others "do not support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use."
A supporter from the pro-marijuana group Oregonians for Medical Rights, meanwhile, claimed that under Measure 67, "Not just anyone can use marijuana and claim a medical need."
We all know how that turned out. As of Oct. 1, there were nearly 57,000 card-holders in the state's medical marijuana program, of whom fewer than 4,000 combined suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS or glaucoma: three of the conditions most commonly cited by Measure 67's supporters. The most frequently cited qualifying medical condition -- and perhaps the most difficult to disprove -- is severe pain, claimed by 55,400 of those roughly 57,000 card-holders (people can cite more than one condition).
So much for moderate.
Oregon's medical marijuana program has brought about legalization in the breach. Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, who co-chairs the Joint Ways and Means Committee, said as much recently by noting that some of those who supported fee hikes reasoned that they "would perhaps dissuade people who didn't need the cards from going down that road."
They won't.
Dwarfed by the hordes of recreational card-holders are a comparatively small number of truly sick and suffering people, for whose benefit the program was sold to voters a decade and a half ago. Forcing them to pay significantly higher pot-related costs is a shame, though about 40 percent of card-holders have qualified for reduced fees.
In any case, truly sick people shouldn't blame lawmakers for the fee hikes. They should blame the people who designed such an easily abused program and, of course, the thousands of people who've abused it.
As for healthy card-holders who've used the program to secure a license to toke, we sure hope they're not complaining. After all, what's happening to them is a central argument for legalizing marijuana generally, at least according to supporters of Measure 80, which will appear on the November ballot.
By allowing the state to price and sell pot, a group of lawyers argues in the Voters' Pamphlet, "new taxes and revenue will create a significant income stream for the state."
Paul Stanford, Measure 80's chief petitioner, is even more emphatic: "Measure 80 will ... generate tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for our state, with nine out of every 10 dollars going to the general fund, which pays for schools and colleges in Oregon."
The Legislature, by the way, has used the money generated by higher marijuana card fees for school-based health centers and emergency medical services, among other things.
If you think about it as a way of taxing recreational pot use, not only do the fee hikes make sense (the state taxes cigarettes, right?) and match the goals of the state's legalization brigade, but they're also a real bargain. A medical marijuana card, at $200 per year, costs less than 55 cents per day. To use the standard tax-hike analogy, that's less than a cup of coffee.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: oregonlive.com
Author: The Oregonian Editorial Board
Contact: Contact OregonLive.com or The Oregonian
Website: Medical marijuana fees are not too high | OregonLive.com
Should Oregonians feel bad about this? A little, maybe.
Should lawmakers reduce fees to previous levels as soon as possible? No. In fact, you could argue that what has happened to the medical marijuana program is exactly what those who'd like to loosen the state's marijuana laws even further claim to want: The state's using pot to generate revenue.
If Oregon's medical marijuana program resembled in any way the vision offered by its proponents in 1998, when voters approved it, participation would be much more limited. Lawmakers would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to pump up fees.
Chief petitioner Richard Bayer argued in the Voters' Pamphlet at the time that Measure 67 was a "moderate proposal (that) exempts patients with serious illnesses from Oregon criminal law when using marijuana under doctor supervision." He also noted that he and many others "do not support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use."
A supporter from the pro-marijuana group Oregonians for Medical Rights, meanwhile, claimed that under Measure 67, "Not just anyone can use marijuana and claim a medical need."
We all know how that turned out. As of Oct. 1, there were nearly 57,000 card-holders in the state's medical marijuana program, of whom fewer than 4,000 combined suffer from cancer, HIV/AIDS or glaucoma: three of the conditions most commonly cited by Measure 67's supporters. The most frequently cited qualifying medical condition -- and perhaps the most difficult to disprove -- is severe pain, claimed by 55,400 of those roughly 57,000 card-holders (people can cite more than one condition).
So much for moderate.
Oregon's medical marijuana program has brought about legalization in the breach. Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, who co-chairs the Joint Ways and Means Committee, said as much recently by noting that some of those who supported fee hikes reasoned that they "would perhaps dissuade people who didn't need the cards from going down that road."
They won't.
Dwarfed by the hordes of recreational card-holders are a comparatively small number of truly sick and suffering people, for whose benefit the program was sold to voters a decade and a half ago. Forcing them to pay significantly higher pot-related costs is a shame, though about 40 percent of card-holders have qualified for reduced fees.
In any case, truly sick people shouldn't blame lawmakers for the fee hikes. They should blame the people who designed such an easily abused program and, of course, the thousands of people who've abused it.
As for healthy card-holders who've used the program to secure a license to toke, we sure hope they're not complaining. After all, what's happening to them is a central argument for legalizing marijuana generally, at least according to supporters of Measure 80, which will appear on the November ballot.
By allowing the state to price and sell pot, a group of lawyers argues in the Voters' Pamphlet, "new taxes and revenue will create a significant income stream for the state."
Paul Stanford, Measure 80's chief petitioner, is even more emphatic: "Measure 80 will ... generate tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for our state, with nine out of every 10 dollars going to the general fund, which pays for schools and colleges in Oregon."
The Legislature, by the way, has used the money generated by higher marijuana card fees for school-based health centers and emergency medical services, among other things.
If you think about it as a way of taxing recreational pot use, not only do the fee hikes make sense (the state taxes cigarettes, right?) and match the goals of the state's legalization brigade, but they're also a real bargain. A medical marijuana card, at $200 per year, costs less than 55 cents per day. To use the standard tax-hike analogy, that's less than a cup of coffee.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: oregonlive.com
Author: The Oregonian Editorial Board
Contact: Contact OregonLive.com or The Oregonian
Website: Medical marijuana fees are not too high | OregonLive.com
