Rhode Island Marijuana | RI Marijuana RI Marijuana News and Information
Lawmakers in Rhode Island are butting heads over marijuana legislation. The Governor is calling for a complete overhaul of the medical marijuana program while other lawmakers are pushing for an expansion of the program and legalized recreational marijuana.
Rhode Island has a registry of 3,000 approved growers/caregivers. State law prevents caregivers from making a profit, reports Providence Journal. They are only permitted to receive reimbursement for their actual costs. A hole in the legislation does not require monitoring of the amounts bought or sold from a caregiver, nor is it regulating what is in a product.
No one really knows what caregivers charge patients directly, but Seth Bock, a dispensary co-owner, believes that it is about the same as dispensaries. He also hindered that caregivers have it better from a financial point-of-view since their pricing does not have to include 11-percent in required taxes that must be attached to all dispensary purchase. The taxes are broken into a 7-percent sales tax and 4-percent compassion center surcharge. The dispensaries have to pay these taxes, so that is then passed onto the patient which can make the pricing a bit higher.
In 2015, medical marijuana sales accounted for $675,017 in sales tax revenue. An additional $385,724 was generated from compassion center surcharges.
Bock said, “This presents a noticeable and frankly unfair disparity for our patients.”
Governor Raimondo has included fixes to the medical marijuana program in her 2017 budget proposal.
The changes would include:
- Grower plant registration fees of $150 – 350 per plant to cover tracking devices/tags
- Cut the number of plants allowed for private growers by half
- Drop the compassion center surcharge to 3-percent
She has addressed the need for some kind of medical marijuana program reform with the following statement: “The lack of transparency and oversight in the caregiver market makes it difficult to enforce limits on how much marijuana is grown and dispensed….By charging for plant tags and reducing the compassion center surcharge, it will encourage greater price parity between the two supply sources.”
The way it is now, it is easy for caregivers to become approved. The Governor said, “It’s largely unregulated. You could go to the Health Department right now and apply to be a caregiver. If you don’t hear back after a certain number of days, you’re automatically granted your card.”
The next forum meeting that will discuss medical and recreational marijuana in Rhode Island is April 6th.
