AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine was one of a handful of states that allowed some food stamp applicants to deduct medical marijuana expenses from their income for the purpose of determining benefits, but last week that practice was stopped by order of federal officials.
“They told us it is not an allowable deduction and we have stopped allowing it,” said Dale Denno, director of the Office of Family Independence, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps.
He said the deduction was limited to elderly or permanently disabled Mainers and not all of the people eligible for SNAP benefits. He said his agency does not know how many individuals are affected by the change but said he believed it was a small number.
Maine, New Mexico and Oregon have laws allowing the use of medical marijuana. Denno said Maine’s law requires a doctor to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
“Since the regulation talked about both prescription drugs and other medications approved by a licensed practitioner, it appeared to be encompassed in that broader definition,” he said. “They now clarify that a household may not use the SNAP medical deduction for the use of medical marijuana.”
Denno said the direction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds and administers the SNAP program, is clear to the three states that the deduction must end or the states face penalties.
“States that currently allow for the deduction of medical marijuana must cease this practice immediately,” wrote Lisbeth Silbermann of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.
Denno said the records of all SNAP recipients possibly affected by the clarification are being reviewed and the state will adjust benefits to reflect the change.
“This will take a while as we have to review each record,” said Mike Frye, state SNAP program director. He said while there probably are not many individuals affected by the change, identifying them and recomputing their benefits will take time.
“Once again this shows how out of touch the government is with its own citizens,” said Paul McCarrier with the trade group Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine. He said the Maine law was the result of a citizen ballot initiative, was passed by a wide margin and has strong public support.
McCarrier said the ruling affects groups including the elderly and the permanently disabled that are known to use medical marijuana to alleviate chronic pain. Those groups already are hurt by out-of-pocket costs for medicines, he said.
“These people need to continue to have access to the medicines they choose to use,” he said.
McCarrier said the action by USDA and the state shows how important it is for those who use medical marijuana to testify when the rulemaking hearing is held later this summer for the state medical marijuana law.
What likely will anger many of the individuals who have been using the deduction is the federal requirement for the state to recover “overpayments,” even though the state allowed the deduction.
“It just seems patently unfair of the USDA to tell the state to go after these funds,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine. “If you qualify for SNAP benefits, you are just barely getting by.”
Pingree serves on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and has contacted USDA to express her opposition to the action. She said an amendment disallowing the deduction had been included in the House version of the Farm Bill, but the USDA should have waited for final congressional action on the issue before sending the memo banning the deduction.
“I don’t think this is fair to these people that were benefiting from this, and I don’t think it is fair to the people of Maine that passed this law,” she said. “I supported the law and I support a federal medical marijuana law.”
The conference committee to write the final version of the Farm Bill has yet to complete its work.
But you can still deduct for oxycontin and methadone right? Because a tleast they can be sure that the money spent was funneled to large corporate interests who oh so generously submit campaign donations to both sides of the line. Because if your going to be able to deduct a cost it has to be a highly damaging, highly addicting opiate. Not that evil natural herb.
That’s a good point – they should consider eliminating those next, and any other drugs that have potential for abuse or black market resale.
So A.D.D. drugs have to go, oh and how about we get rid of blood pressure medications for fat people, and insulin for diabetes caused by obesity…
The Feds are wrong on this one. For people on the financial borderline for food assistance may literally have to chose between treating the side effects of cancer or glaucoma and being able to eat. Of course if a cancer patient can’t get their medical marijuana it won’t matter anyway, because without it they won’t have an appetite anyway.
By all means, let’s generalize and include all pharmaceuticals and NOT stay on point regarding the ones that have potential for abuse or addiction that were mentioned above. I’m sure we all see people shooting up insulin for fun all the time.
ALL medications have potential for abuse. A.D.D. meds are amphetamines, yea there is no possibility of abuse or “black market” resale there…
Just say what you mean, poor people shouldn’t be allowed needed meds because they can not be trusted to take them, but will abuse or sell them instead. Poor pain patients shouldn’t be allowed an opiate. Middle class? Oh that’s different, Make sure you keep the receipt so you can deduct any co-pay your insurance doesn’t cover from your income taxes as medical expenses. Oh, you’re poor… yea sorry you have to choose between living in pain and eating, or living with relief from pain and starving.
Generalizing again. Not all ADD meds are amphetamines or stimulants of any kind – there are several different classes of medications used to treat ADD and treatment varies with the type and severity of the condition.
Now say what you mean. People shouldn’t be responsible for taking care of themselves. The government and working class should take care of the needs of the poor, no matter why they landed in those circumstances. It shouldn’t be an adult’s responsibility to plan or save? Get insurance? Foster relationships with friends and family willing to help them out in times of need? No, by all means, a bunch of bureaucrats and hard-working strangers should be responsible for keeping them comfortable, well-fed and pain-free. Sorry, that’s a screwed up society where the people you KNOW won’t help you but people who DON’T know you are forced to.
Wow… talk about a vast over-generalization. Yes, some people in these circumstances are taking advantage, but I know several people hit by debilitating illnesses; strong, working, independent-to- a- fault people. And they, despite having a strong community around them and a long history of back breaking work, have ended up on the system due to illness, which is probably some fault of their own by your logic.
It is this propensity for over-generalizing everything these days, brought to us by windbag pundits and a media bought and sold, willingly consumed by the masses, that leaves us incapable of problem solving our way out of a paper bag.
Until Americans, as individuals, step away from the tv and the blogs and start to engage the freaking brains they were born with, this country is on the fast track to ruin. Or perhaps it’s just easier to disengage, get on the hype wagon, and settle in with another bag of chips and beer.
Hear hear. Well put.
Oh holy moly…why can’t I like this in triplicate?
Excellent post. :)
AMEN!
“Sorry, that’s a screwed up society where the people you KNOW won’t help you but people who DON’T know you are forced to.”
One of the best lines I’ve read in a while. Well stated.
I’m thinking not ALL medications have that potential. I mean, what would one get out of continuting to take anitbiotics, cholesterol meds, stool softeners . . .
Focus and stay on topic please. No one said and no one implicated any of the imaginary scenario you fabricated. Its always the same old tactic with some people. FYI if a middle class kept the receipt as you say for tax purposes you over look a fact he/she WORKED for the money to BUY the medication. The poor have to live in pain or eat????????????????? Thats a foolish comment.
Insulin is as dangerous and addicting as heroin. It should be used like methadone while fixing the underlying problem.
Eliminate from what, exactly. I think people here (and below) are having two different discussions. Are you advocating for these meds to no longer be covered by Mainecare? Or are you saying that if a disabled person (or an elderly person) is currently taking a drug that could have “potential for abuse” they should not get a credit toward their Food Supplement if they pay for that out of pocket? The change here is not that the client was getting a “credit” for being on Medicinal Marijuana, since that is not how it works. Deductions like these for Food Supplement have to be out of pocket and more than $35 a month, for it to help with the bottom line for food supplement benefits. If the client is getting these drugs from Mainecare they won’t get the Food Stamp Deduction anyway, since there is little to no out of pocket expense.
If you are advocating that Mainecare no longer offer those drugs, then you are in the wrong arena, because that is not what this is about, at all.
(As a side note, those who are on opiates or other highly addictive medicines, Mainecare will only pay for it for a short time, and has to be pre-approved to even get.)
Thank you for clarifying that. The article didn’t make it clear at all.
You are welcome. Policy is dense, and it is also ever-changing and complex. It would have been hard for the article author to make it clearer, without making minds go numb.
The deduction discussed here, is more broadly considered “medical expenses” and all that those can encompass. The client has to be disabled, or elderly; and the out of pocket costs really have to be quite large, revolving monthy, for it to make a lick of difference. For instance if someone has verified a monthly out of pocket expense of $50 only $15 of that $50 will count (as it needs to be a min of $35 a month, and that first $35 is exempted. And the “credit” is gives to Food Supplement is not dollar for dollar.
Thank you for saying it for us all. The drug war is such a fraud on farming a vegetable. Free the Herb..stop the madness
But there is no Food Supplement deduction for Oxycontin and metadone if it is paid for by Mainecare, this has to be out of pocket expenses.
This doesn’t even make sense. We pay for methadone and habit forming pill that can kill yet we question a legal medication that has never killed anyone. If they should take too much they would just laugh themselves to sleep in a pile of Ring Dings. Personally have never used it but have seen others greatly helped by it.
You seem to forget the very real fact that the Federal government does not recognize marijuana as having medical uses. The federal government has declared any use of marijuana as illegal.
States are not allowed to override or enforce Federal laws anymore.
Furthermore … “food stamps” are a Federal program so the Feds set the rules.
Even though your post is 100% correct, it’s BS that the Federal government doesn’t recognize it as a medicine.
I’m not a Democrat but I agree with U.S. Rep. Pingree 100%
If you agree with Pingree 100% why aren’t you a Democrat?
Good idea
Marijuana is good medicine and the People overwhelmingly support its use.
How come you can’t buy it at a local Pharmacy then? Could it be it’s against Federal law.
wow stay under your rock would ya
There’s no Country on this planet that’s totally legalize pot. How about that for a guy under a rock. Google it.
Because the pharmaceutical lobbies have bought and paid for a whole lot of politicians from both parties.
You need to read up on this subject. Doctors can’t write a prescription for pot because it’s against the law. They only write a recommendation that said person might benefit from pot. Then said person has to register with State. So how can you deduct a non prescribed illegal drug. Try finding a local Doctor willing to do that.
I think YOU need to read up on the law, LD 1296 eliminated the mandate for patients to register with the state.
If you call a duck a cat it is still a duck. If you call the exact equivalent of a prescription a “certification” (the term used in statute) it does not change it’s form or meaning.
The legislature played games with the words to protect doctors’ federal licensing. A medical marijuana patient needs a fully documented doctor’s certification that has all of the requirements of a prescription.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/22/title22sec2423-B.html
It’s time the federal government get their nose out of state matters. Isn’t there enough government intrusion in our lives.
A company hires a young man who has a wife and a 4 month old baby. When it comes time for the drug test he claims that he will not be able to pass the drug test because his wife has a prescription for MM. So, if he can’t pass the test because of his wife, does that mean that she smokes it inside the home and he also inhales the smoke? Does that also mean that the 4 month old child has it in their system? Is this child abuse?
In this case it doesn’t matter, because after missing 1 day per week for most of the entire 90 day trial period, he quit before he was fired. The point is, if someone in the family has a prescription, does that give everyone in the household a free pass on a drug test? Also, should the user’s children be periodically tested as part of the prescription requirement to be sure they are not exposing innocent children?
True story.
No such thing as a contact high.
There is if you are stuck in a van with people smoking it.
That is terrible logic. Maybe she smokes it outside and he is a good husband and standing with his wife.
Oh so then the baby is left inside alone?
Again Terrible Logic, Do people put babies in a crib? Don’t people have baby rooms? Baby Monitors? No, Oh okay
You can, they are called dispensaries, or you can grow it legally. Try and grow some yourself if you need it. If not, why would you care if others need it?
Maybe you ought to read a little background on the lady pictured in the article. She help set up these dispensaries. I don’t care if people use it but why should they get a tax break on it.
This article was not about a tax break. It was about a deduction of the use of an illegal subatance inorder to get a subsididy
Yea… that whole against Federal Law thing worked out real well for alcohol. It is time the Feds woke up to the fact their War on Maryjane it twice the failure Prohibition was.
Most of the Federal “wars on …” have failed.
War on drugs, alcohol, poverty, terrorism, illegal immigration … have all failed.
dont forget illiteracy!
Yes it is, because there is so much money involved at present no one wants to see a change. That does not make it any wiser than the current ongoing drug war which we stopped talking about back when Reagan/Bush were ruining the country.
You should be able to buy it anywhere that sells beer and cigarettes. It should be completely legal for adults with the taxes going to the State. Law Enforcement has been consistently losing this “war” for decades. Time to give it up and concentrate on drugs that really do harm, like maybe bath salts.
Regardless of ones views of marijuana, the bottom line is ~It is either medicine or it’s not… and if it’s not than people should not get it, and if it is than it should be treated like every other rx script. This is a form of discrimination…..
No, actually, Maureen the bottom line is: Marijuana is an illegal drug at the Federal level irregardless of what some States have done to make it legitimate for medical use. And SNAP money comes from the Feds through the State. As long as Federal money is paying for SNAP benefits and MJ is an illegal drug as far as they are concerned they can require that its costs not be included to determine elegibility for Federal SNAP benefits.
Hey, don’t get all crazy throwing fed law around. People don’t want to deal with facts.
You better believe that if a pharmaceutical company could find a way to maximize profits by selling medical marijuana that it would be legalized by the federal government tomorrow. The feds would get hammered by the pharmaceutical lobbyists and all of their legalized bribes –oops, there I go again— campaign contributions (sorry, I prefer to call it what it is and not use political double-talk). The problem is, nobody lobbies for the common worker, not even our own, and I quote, so called “representatives”.
Yes by all means punish sick people further
“sick” or people who can get any doctor to say they would benefit from marijuana. Oh, the pain from that bad knee, or anything else. Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t view 100% of the people who want medical marijuana as glaucoma or cancer patients.
glad your not in charge of anything
The ONLY way you could “know all of the above as facts” is if you were the person getting and reviewing these confidential employmnet records.
… and then you would be violating the law by telling others.
I don’t see any names or other identifying information posted here…why would he/she violating the law?
He/she has claimed this set of “facts” apply to each and every applicant at a given store. That would absolutely make some of them identifiable by others.
Now they need to take water, and soda and a few other things off food stamps.
I agree with most things but water is a must in life–not everyone has clean water and some towns water supply is distasteful.
Maybe adding the individuals name on the food stamp card is necessary. You should have to show your ID along with the card. People will sell their benefits for half the cost so they can buy alohol and/or drugs with the money they make from it. There needs to be stricter laws when it comes to that.
Creating new laws against things that are already illegal has never helped. Enfofcing those laws on the books probably will.
Total BS
The fact that folks would debate about their perceived “right” to have medical marijuana recognized as some type of deductions from their welfare benefits shows just how much danger this country is headed in. A nation of entitlement – the perpetual welfare nanny state where sluggards force the rest of us to work harder.
The road to serfdom has begun.Sad
Corporatism is the culprit.
So another words. Tell a patient that is dying of cancer or any other disease, go ahead and take your medicine, but you are gonna have to starve to do it. Wow, what a wonderful state we have become. It shows how much we care for human life when things like this take place. What is next? Mothers who are on the medicinal marajauna script having the formula taken away from them with WIC? Completely disgusted.
Only three State’s allowed this to happen and Maine doesn’t even know how many it will effect. Nice rant though. I’ll use my eye drops for my glaucoma that I had since I was thirty one drop a day keeps the Doctor away.
Maybe it will discourage the wrong kind of people from moving to Maine. Can’t get a job? Move to Maine and get unemployment and food stamps with no waiting period. Want drugs for free? Move to Maine and get a bogus presciption and the state will pay for that, too. Honest people that bust their butts here are so tired of having one of the highest tax rates in the nation to support this bull that they’ve moving away in droves, leaving only the slackers to sponge off the government. It’s no wonder the state can’t balance their budget anymore! Maybe eliminating some of this crap is a good first step.
I’ve got no problem with medical marijuana, but taxpayers shouldn’t pay for it. Just like an insurance company won’t cover certain medications or charges a higher co-pay for some meds than others, a patient should have to pay the difference out of pocket. If they can’t afford the medication of choice, then get an alternate or go without. There’s too much potential for abuse with pot, especially for someone who can get the Rx and sell it for extra cash rather than actually using it the way their physician intended. My tax dollars shouldn’t support someone’s drug dealer career.
Medical marijuana obtained through a dispensary is very expensive, much more than it is from a grower. Some of the patients that are prescribed MM do not have the avenues to find it on their own. I don’t have a problem letting people that are sick enough to be prescribed MM deduct that expense when being considered for SNAP.
The Federal Government does because it’s a illegal drug. I don’t care if very sick people use either.
Kind of closed minded. I’m sorry jimbobhol, but your statement infuriates me! When my father was sick and dying from cancer, pot was the only thing that helped him eat and get over the nausa so his quality of life (that remained) was better. I couldn’t imagine how it would have been for him if he hadn’t. I am a very strong believer in making marijuana legal – there are bigger fish to fry within the illegal drug market and the methadone clinics.
http://www.justice.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html Might want to read this article they have a pill for cancer and aids patients and you don’t have to smoke it. FDA approved Morphine as a legal drug but is illegal to smoke heroin or opium. Sorry to hear about your father but Marinol is a synthetic form of pot without the high to treat cancer and aids patients and does a good job. They have eye drops for glaucoma. Studies show takes up to 6 joints a day to achieve the same results. There’s two sides to every story.
What needs to be looked at is the welfare system not prescriptions for pot. Too many people are able to take advantage of the system and that was made apparent when there was the screwup with the benefits going out to thousands of people that didn’t qualify any longer. THAT’S where our problem lies.
A comment to one person that said,” they should take water and soda off food stamps.” I couldn’t agree more.. Food stamps should be used for necessities and not ice cream, soda, bottled water, and candies.. I was in line at Hannaford the other day and i saw someone in front of me buying all kinds of junk food with her food stamps.. I was very disappointed, i always thought food stamps were not to be used for such stuff.. Chips and about 40 candy bars, soda cookies all junk food her bill came up to over 200 dollars and not one veggie or fruit in the carriage.. No meat just canned goods and junk like candy and chips and spaghetti and ravioli and junk food like that..
But how do we go about doing that?
I would have to disagree as far as water goes. I am not on SNAP. I do buy gallons of water (the store brand) every week because I have a dug well and the water is is not good to drink.
Wouldn’t it be less expensive to buy a water filter that will remove the problem chemicals for $30 and be able to filter 40 gallons of water and then replace the $20(?) filter cartridge and get another 40 gallons?
You shouldn’t be allowed to but those things with your food stamps. It should be like WIC and only allow certain foods to be purchased.
Ah, the biggest proof is Paul LePage
It’s always a choice between food or medicine.
I don’t smoke it myself, but I don’t see marijuana being any more harmful that regular cigarettes. I wish they would just tax it, regulate it and be done with it. Seems like prohibition all over again. Too many “good old boys” running the show.
Does anyone realize how much money would be put into government funds if they did tax pot? It would be astronomical! We certainly would be out of the recession if they did. Guess they aren’t thinking about that.
But people want to make smoking tobacco illegal. Many of the people that want pot legalized want tobacco to be illegal to use. odd
Same problem in Rockland…Can’t get anyone to pass a drug test..PLENTY of jobs…
I would need to be stoned in order to work at Walmart.
About time…
Walmart is ridiculous. My ex applied for a job there as a forklift operator; they immediately sent him for a physical/drug test (which he passed) and did a background check. This job was paying less than $9 an hour and forklift certification was needed. Times are tough and he would have worked for them. He can drive anything on wheels or tracks and has held a Class A CDL for the last 35+ years.
The background check turned up a charge for carrying a loaded weapon in FL, right after Hurricane Andrew, in 1992. He was armed because people were looting and it was a bad scene at the time. The case was dismissed in 2002, 10 years later.
He did not get the job at Walmart because he had to protect and arm himself in a crisis 20+ years ago. that resulted in dismissed charges. Give me a break.
I was born and brought up here in Maine, and been a hard worker all my life.. I think you will find its the Mainer wannabees that are our problem here in Maine :-)
If I were to apply for SNAP, can I deduct my wine that the doctor said would be good for my heart or something?
I am disgusted, ashamed and can not stand our Government. It needs to be dismantled!
Be careful with that kind of anti government talk, you could get called a terrorist, or worse a right wing lunatic.
They already screw me every chance they get. If this country ever gets invaded I’ll gladly join the other side.
Could you imagine what might happen if Wal-Mart actually hired a pot smoking foot dragging dead beat hippy. Prices would go through the roof and the couch he would lay on would be useless. And Home Depot they could start eating harmful chemicals and jumping out of windows. I say n o welfare, no medical assistance, no jobs, lets drug em with real drugs and put em in jail before they get out of control.
I think that is a very closed minded statement DigginBay. Not all people who smoke pot are “foot dragging dead beat hippies”! I know many successful people that smoke pot and function quite well! It is a natural substance unlike methadone, oxy’s, heroin and cocaine (just to name a few). These are the dangerous drugs and the users on them as well. Maybe you should be critizing those people on these drugs not the pot smoking losers you are talking about.
“These people need to continue to have access to the medicines they choose to use,” he said.
Hmmmmmm, I don’t recall choosing to use a particular medicine when I go to the doctor. They are prescribed as in mm. Perhaps a poor choice of words? In either case, I can see why the Feds would disallow the deduction, marijuana is illegal federally and federal benefits are not to be used to supplement the use of illegal drugs. Just because a state allows it, doesn’t mean the feds have.
Stand by for news!!- Medical marijuna is being sold on the street just like the their ebt cards. Whats next……………….
It would be darned cheap all the way around if they allowed you to grow two or three plants in your own backyard for personal use. I feel marijuana is far less of an offensive drug than Oxy or other addictive drugs.
you mean that’s not allowed ? oh my ! I sure know a lot of people breaking the rules.
this is bull like jmil said they allow for oxys and other pain killers that are ral prob here and to hard to get from dr,s for those who need it ,tho pot is legal for medical people still think its a bad drug,its not
POT IS NOT LEGAL according to the Federal government. Therefore illegal everywhere in the US
stay in camden
“It just seems patently unfair of the USDA to tell the state to go after these funds,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine. “If you qualify for SNAP benefits, you are just barely getting by.”—————————————————————————————————————-
Let me tell you something Rep Pingree, there are a lot of middle class, hard working taxpayers who are “barely getting by” these days. And why does it seem unfair for the fed govt to NOT allow a deduction for something that is AGAINST FEDERAL LAW. This is not rocket science, people (well, maybe it is to Rep Pingree). Go talk to YOUR president about why so many people are still “just barely getting by.”
Best to keep in mind that political grandstanding always increases when election season nears.
Of course it does, but a representative can still look stupid for acting amazed that a federal deduction cannot be taken for something that is illegal under federal law.
Marijuana is an herbal choice and since we are not allowed to deduct the cost of vitamins, why should the marijuana be deductible. On one hand, people are using the marijuana (medically??) while in the other hand, it is an illegal substance causing our system to be overrun with court appointed attorneys to represent its users….not to mention its abuses. The whole system needs an overhaul. Money leaching everywhere. And for SNAP, it should have the reigns pulled in – too much fast, unhealthy food purchases. Everyone needs good nutrition – fresh fruits and vegetables, not soda, empty carbs, salt and fat! Our “poor” people are the heaviest people in the world and don’t give me that line that the “poor will have to beg for their benefits”….no benefits to sick bodies – parents and children – who incur additional medical issues – and continue to glean off our government’s fundings to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle. Something’s gotta give. Make the SNAP regulated like WIC for specific nutrition. If they can afford cigarettes, drugs, tatoos, etc., they can pay for their own junk food. In the meantime, let’s make things better – eat healthy and live.
The irony of Chellie Pingree: Last week she was demanding that the federal government use whatever power necessary to override state law and now she is decrying the power of the federal government to do just that! Pretzel logic at best. Get it together Rochelle.
I am for medical marijuana, and actually legalization of pot. But as long as it is still an illegal drug, and the federal govt does not recognize it, then the deduction should never have been allowed in the first place.
Just in case the President hasn’t alienated his base enough… here is another shot at it.
I don’t believe marijuana is legal in the US, in spite of what some states have done. It makes sense to me that a federal program would not recognize what it considers illegal substances.
You better believe that if a pharmaceutical company could find a way to maximize profits by selling medical marijuana that it would be legalized by the federal government tomorrow. The feds would get hammered by the pharmaceutical lobbyists and all of their legalized bribes –oops, there I go again— campaign contributions (sorry, I prefer to call it what it is and not use political double-talk). The problem is, nobody lobbies for the common worker, not even our own, and I quote, so called “representatives”.
Yes by now everyone on this board knows that you blame pharmacutical companies for marijuana being illegal.
The old and the disabled. Yes, I can go with this. If it can kill the pain and works for relief, YES. Just another pain relieving drug as long as its not for party timing.
As of 10:06 on 18 Jul 2012 no one has blamed Lepage for this. Freaking amazing.
Yes I know LePage had nothing to do with it but he has been plamed for crap that has been happening since Curtis was Govenenor
Legalize it. Tax the crap out of it. Sell it in agency liquor stores.
Even with a tax as high as say, the tax on cigarettes (not comparing the health benefits/detriments of the two, just amount of tax), weed could be sold at a rate very close or less than current street value. We just get more money for the state.
“Tax the crap out of it.”. That’s exactly what happened when prohibition was repealed under the 21st amendment. And that’s why the bootleggers and moonshiners stayed in business after the 21st was enacted. You’re asking for a repeat of history.
The bootleggers are still in business and there will always be a black market for any drug, legal or not. Whether it be weed, pills, or “the drug that you chug”.
There is no repeat of history if black markets have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The least we could do is make some revenue for the state from the taxes. Money we sorely need.
If
Being able to deduct your dope costs in order to qualify for welfare always struck me as just plain funny and ludicrous at the same time.
Just legalize it.
Good….drug testing for all who received ANY federal/state aid. Employers can test their employees at random, so why not drug test those receiving aid? Test them for ALL drugs….right down to alcohol & nicotine. You can buy booze & cigarettes, you can support yourself.
If we are testing anyone who is receiving state or federal aid, I say we drug test the politicians first!
If the marijuana was issued by a prescription and distributed at a pharmacy would it be covered?
But its not — and when it is then I’ll be the first to support any payment made to buy it be deducted. Is asprin, bandaids, creams and lotions used to elevate pain able to be deducted? I really don’t know so this is really a question — if you are able to then you probably should be able to marijuana also.
OMG!! How disgusting. Illegal drugs and deductions? Thank goodness it has stopped. What insanity!
looking at the posts by both sides of this argument I come to the realization that if people were half as passionate about our failing economic system and ticking time bomb currency as they were about weed we might have a chance of turning things around before a massive failure.
anti-pot people: who cares… its weed people have been smoking it for thousands of years and we can’t and aren’t going to stop it so use your energy elsewhere
pot-heads: weed is a drug. it messes you up just like other drugs. it alters your behavior and state of mind. It has positive and negative effects/side effects just like all other drugs prescription or otherwise. stop defending it as a miracle cure-all! Also stop calling it “natural” the strains of dope people a growing these days are products of very aggressive botany combined with modern fertilizing techniques making very potent plants.
“Hmm. That might help a few people. We’d better put a stop to it.”
Let me clarify the “No” side of the argument. Marijuana is a pain reliever, NOT a treatment. Pain relievers should come out of your own pocket whether you can afford it or not it shouldn’t matter.
I love it when people are just openly, nakedly heartless around here. If you can’t afford the medication to relieve your pain – suffer! It’s probably your own fault you’re hurting in the first place. Unbefriggin’lievable.
Yes, let’s pay for people’s recreational use next. The fact is, marijuana is a drug that is known for more recreational use than medical. It comes to a point pot heads have to lay aside their personal feelings and be realistic. WE WILL NOT and CAN NOT pay for everyone else’s drugs especially off of food stamps. Find another to finance it.
We’re not talking about recreational use, we’re talking about medical use. I doubt you’re dense enough not to know that, so the obvious conclusion is that you’re ignoring it as inconvenient.
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