D.C. Mayor wants to increase medical cannabis taxes

Mayor Muriel Bowser is asking the D.C. Council to raise taxes on medical cannabis by 70%. 

The Council is scheduled to vote on this outrageous proposal on Tuesday, June 9. 

Currently, the District’s tax rate on medical cannabis is 6%. If the council concurs, the new tax rate will be 10%. The current tax rate is already higher than Virginia’s (5.3%), Maryland’s (no tax), and Delaware’s (no tax). 

Raising prices hurts patients and threatens the stability of the industry, which has recently expanded. A tax increase of this magnitude will drive some patients away to the unregulated market, where products may be tainted with mold, pesticides, and heavy metals. The patients most likely to make that switch are those on fixed incomes who simply cannot absorb a sudden price increase.

If you live in D.C., ask your councilmembers to say NO to increased medical cannabis tax!

Federal budget cuts created the revenue gap — not medical patients. Taxing sick people to balance the books is not a solution. It is a policy that risks closing dispensaries and cutting off patients from their medicine.