July 22 – Last night’s landslide victory for Oakland’s cannabis business tax, Measure F, by 79.9% mirrors the historic 79.6% victory of San Francisco’s path-breaking medical marijuana initiative, Prop. P, in 1991. Like Prop. P, Measure F seems destined to serve as a model for cannabis reform elsewhere in the state and country.
Measure F would impose a 1.8% tax on the city’s medical cannabis businesses, raising an estimated $300,000 for the city.
Kudos to attorney James Anthony for having proposed and authored this measure; to councilmember Rebecca Kaplan for having shepherded it through City Council; and to medical cannabis collective directors Steve DeAngelo, Richard Lee, and Keith Stephenson for their enlightened support of this landmark measure.
Thanks too to the voters of Oakland, who approved Measure Z to “tax and regulate” marijuana in 2004 and have kept their city on the forefront of cannabis law reform.
– Dale Gieringer, Cal NORML
Oakland voters approve marijuana tax
Christian Science Monitor
July 22, 2009
