California was the first state to establish a medical marijuana program, which went into effect January 1, 2011. The law allows people with cancer, AIDS and other serious illnesses to grow or purchase marijuana when recommended by a doctor. The city of Berkeley recently took another step forward and voted unanimously to give medical marijuana free to low-income patients.
Why they did it
The reason for the decision was simple. Since California has legalized marijuana for medical purposes since 2011, the Berkeley city council wanted to make sure that the very low-income, homeless and other needy people were able to obtain medical marijuana too. In fact, they felt that it was the responsible thing to do.
How the free program works
Medical marijuana is sold through marijuana dispensaries. These dispensaries are now required to provide two percent of their total marijuana to low-income patients for free. New testing regulations will also prevent dispensaries from giving inferior product to the poor; it must be the same quality of marijuana that they sell to other patients.
One dispensary who has been giving away medical marijuana to the poor for over 15 years stated that their motivation is the fact that they are helping those who need help the most.
