[420 Girl]

Arizona - You soon may be able to get marijuana if a doctor concludes you've got one of a number of specified medical conditions.

But don't get bummed out if it costs you more than you thought.

The Senate voted 17-12 Thursday to require the dispensaries that would be set up under a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana to charge an additional $20 an ounce "luxury tax.' That's the same kind of special tax that exists on beer, wine, hard liquor and tobacco.

And then buyers would have to cough up another 5.6 percent of the price in state sales taxes.

The Department of Public Safety figures an "average' ounce of marijuana sells in Phoenix for anywhere from $65 to $100.

Andrew Myers, campaign manager for the initiative, says the price at dispensaries that the law would allow is bound to be cheaper, if for no other reason than they can't operate at a profit.

But even figuring $75 an ounce for the good stuff, the two levies in SB 122 could bring the out-the-door price up to close to $100.

Add another buck to that if voters approve a temporary one-cent hike in the sales tax at a special election on May 18.

Under the terms of the initiative, someone with a "written certification' from a doctor could get up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks from non-profit dispensaries.

Unlike California, not just any complaint would let a doctor issue a certification. This initiative has a specific list of medical conditions that could be treated with marijuana, ranging from glaucoma and AIDS to chronic or debilitating conditions that lead to severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms.

Sen. Jorge Garcia, D-Tucson, who crafted the tax proposal, said he's not advocating the use of marijuana or even passage of the ballot measure.

Garcia said he just recognizes that if the measure gets on the ballot -- and backers claim they already have sufficient signatures -- it is likely to pass. So he figured the state should get its share.

But Sen. Chuck Gray, R-Mesa, worried that approval of SB 1222 would suddenly become a selling point for proponents of the initiative: Voting for medical marijuana would help the state with its financial problems.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, also voted against the levy. But he said it had nothing to do with his opposition to allowing marijuana to be legally sold, even just to those who have the legal equivalent of a prescription. Instead, Pearce said, it's about tax equity.

"We don't tax any other medicine,' he said. "We ought to be consistent in our tax policy.'

Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, had his own criticism of the initiative.

"This isn't 'medical' marijuana,' he said. "This is retail marijuana,' saying financial backers of the measure believe its OK for teens to be "potheads.'

But Huppenthal, like Garcia, said he can read the tea leaves and believes the initiative will pass "decisively.'

"The one thing I know is when you tax something, less of it happens,' he said in voting for the tax. "And I want less of this to happen.'

There would be a way around the tax -- at least for rural residents: The initiative says those who live at least 25 miles from a dispensary are free to grow their own.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...purchases.html