ACTION ALERT!
AB 2312 (Ammiano) is important to medical cannabis patients in California, but 11th hour amendments in the Assembly increased the taxation on medicine and removed the original requirement for voter approval of a ban on patients’ cooperatives and collectives. Sign this petition to demand that the Author or the Senate remove these amendments or find another way to protect patients and providers.
AB 2312, a bill by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-SF), would establish a board to develop, implement, and enforce regulations for medical cannabis cultivation, provision, and other activity in California. This is the clarity for which the Attorney General, state courts, and local governments have asked. The bill may help to resolve ambivalence about medical cannabis, which can lead to local and federal law enforcement interference.
California needs AB 2312, but 11th-hour amendments in the Assembly make the bill very problematic for patients and providers. The Assembly Appropriations Committee amended the bill to allow for an additional 5% Transaction and Use Tax, on top of all other existing taxes, and removed language that required voter approval for local bans on patients’ cooperatives and collectives. These changes are unacceptable. We cannot force legal patients to pay unreasonable taxes on medicine, and we must not allow elected officials to ban safe access in their communities without the consent of the people.
