{"id":138260,"date":"2017-12-11T22:09:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T03:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=138260"},"modified":"2017-12-11T22:09:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T03:09:52","slug":"doctors-call-on-ottawa-to-exempt-medicinal-marijuana-from-sales-excise-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/12\/11\/doctors-call-on-ottawa-to-exempt-medicinal-marijuana-from-sales-excise-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors call on Ottawa to exempt medicinal marijuana from sales, excise tax"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ottawa<\/a>
Ottawa must withdraw its plan to charge tax on medicinal marijuana or risk having an adverse effect on patients, a group of more than 50 doctors warned Monday as the federal government hashed out a pot-tax revenue-sharing agreement with the provinces and territories. (Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ottawa must withdraw its plan to charge tax on medicinal marijuana or risk having an adverse effect on patients, a group of more than 50 doctors warned Monday as the federal government hashed out a pot-tax revenue-sharing agreement with the provinces and territories.<\/p>\n

The doctors, who describe themselves as a group of physicians who routinely prescribe marijuana to their patients, say applying a sales or excise tax to medicinal pot would impose a financial barrier for those who use the drug to manage their symptoms, compared to patients who take other medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new taxes being proposed on medical cannabis (are) discriminatory towards patients,\u201d Dr. Michael Verbona said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll medications prescribed have zero tax. At a time when we are suffering from an opiate crisis the last thing we should do is introduce financial barriers to patients accessing a safer alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a day-long meeting between Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his regional counterparts, the two sides agreed that the provinces and territories would get a 75 per cent share of marijuana tax revenues over the course of a two-year agreement. That money is to be shared with municipalities, which are also expected to bear a larger proportion of the cost of legalization.<\/p>\n

Ottawa will retain the remaining 25 per cent share to a maximum of $100 million a year, presuming an annual total take of about $400 million, at least initially. Any balance over and above that limit would flow to the regions, under the terms of the deal.<\/p>\n

Taxing medicinal pot could end up affecting its affordability and availability to those who need it, said the NDP’s finance critic Alexandre Boulerice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe imposition of sales tax and excise tax on medical marijuana is unfair, it is stupid and potentially dangerous,\u201d Boulerice warned, and could end up exacerbating Canada’s ongoing opioid crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the price of medical marijuana goes too high … it will potentially incite people to buy some cheaper drugs like opioids as painkillers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tax is simply not sound public policy, Boulerice said, pointing to the issues flagged by doctors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are really concerned about their patients and they are on the ground with people who are sick and use medical marijuana for months or years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last month, Bill Blair, parliamentary secretary to the ministers of justice and health, said the federal government’s task force report recommended the tax regime on medical and recreational marijuana be the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government remains committed to maintaining a functional medical marijuana system,\u201d Blair said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we do not want the taxation levels to be an incentive for people to utilize that system inappropriately and so we propose that the taxation levels for both non-medical and medical will be aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ottawa must withdraw its plan to charge tax on medicinal marijuana or risk having an adverse effect on patients, a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":57107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,37,16],"tags":[2243,1517,240,1470],"class_list":["post-138260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-health","category-news","tag-doctors","tag-medical-marijuana","tag-ottawa","tag-tax","mauthors-kristy-kirkup","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}