A proposed first-in-the-nation government program would require medical marijuana dispensaries in the District to put aside 2 percent of their profits in order to subsidize pot purchases for poor patients.
Under the regulatory proposal, dispensaries would give at least a 20 percent discount on marijuana to low-income people at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
Clinics often offer lower prices to poor patients, and states that allow medical marijuana often encourage discounts for low-income patients. But Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said no state has inserted this type of provision into regulations.
“This rule is totally unprecedented in the medical marijuana community,” he said.
Medical marijuana sales began in the District at the Capital City Care clinic last month. Prices for marijuana range from $380 to $440 per ounce, according to the clinic’s website.
The sliding scale program is intended to improve access for the poor, who potentially comprise a large percentage of medical marijuana consumers. Often, marijuana patients do not hold full-time jobs because of the nature of the illnesses that qualify them to use pot medically, analysts say. Medical marijuana cards issued to patients indicate whether they are low-income and eligible for discounts on the drug.
