Berkeley City Council Votes Unanimously To Require Marijuana Dispensaries To Give Away Some Pot
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- The city of Berkeley has given final approval to a proposal requiring medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each year free to low-income patients.
The City Council voted unanimously at Tuesday's meeting to amend the city's medical pot rules. Two council members were absent for the vote, but the proposal passed 5-0.
The plan calls for at least two percent of all medical weed dispensed at a club would have to be provided at no cost to very low-income members — and it must be the same quality that's dispensed to regular paying customers.
"Basically, the city council wants to make sure that low-income, homeless, indigent folks have access to their medical marijuana, their medicine," erkeley City Councilmember Darryl Moore said when news of the plan broke last week. "We think this is the responsible thing to do for those less fortunate in our community."
One Berkeley marijuana dispensary, the Berkeley Patients Group, already gives out free cannabis to the poor, and has for 15 years.