One of the Nation’s Oldest Collective’s Future is in Jeopardy
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he future of one of the nation’s oldest and longest-running medical cannabis collectives is on the line after its owner hit a legal snag. Proposition 64 and its new regulations leave little wiggle room for the compassionate care programs of the past.
Valerie Corral was among the first people in the nation to open a medical cannabis collective. In 1993 she and others opened Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), the first cannabis collective to receive nonprofit status from the federal government. Corral, along with Dennis Peron and others, co-authored Proposition 215 which launched America’s first state medical cannabis law in 1996.
As a collective, WAMM’s cannabis is given to members free or for a donation. Many of theose members are disabled or suffer from severe conditions. Last December, the city of Santa Cruz approved WAMM as one of five licensed dispensaries. But on Jan. 1, WAMM was forced to close its doors. That’s because its landlord of 18 years refused to sign a document required as part of the licensing process. And the collective still hasn’t found a new home.
Medical patients in California avoid sales tax, but collectives still have to pay a 15 percent excise tax, a cost that WAMM and other small collectives struggle to pay. “It’s really a shame because it discourages the very thing that is needed most, not only in this movement but in the nation and on the planet today. It discourages the opportunity for philanthropy,” Corral told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It leaves medically-minded activists like Corral in the dark. “This is a huge challenge right now. There is no movement around compassionate access. There is no movement around the poor. There just isn’t.”
It’s not the first time WAMM has run into serious problems. In 2002, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided WAMM’s garden, so the organization responded by successfully suing the federal government.
A bill has been introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener which could allow compassionate care programs avoid excise taxes. But even that bill, Corral said, may not be enough to save collectives like WAMM. Organizers worry that Prop. 64 generally favors profit-driven businesses.
