New Taxes Unlikely for Medical Marijuana

A worker harvests cannabis at the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana garden. Photo by Curtis Cartier.

Santa Cruz is hoping to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but that does not mean that it will be imposing new taxes on them, at least for now. In addition to state and federal taxes, the dispensaries currently pay a 9.5 cent sales tax to the city. It has been suggested that an additional tax be paid by the dispensaries, in part to limit the number of nonlocals who come to Santa Cruz to buy marijuana. According to some estimates, only 25 percent of the customers at the city’s two dispensaries live in the City of Santa Cruz. Another 50 percent live in the county, while 25 percent come from out-of-county.

Continue Reading →

Trivial Matters

“Which comic strip figured a character called Pig Pen?”

It’s quite a thing to watch a brilliant mind, a useful cache of important thoughts such as professional matters, personal hygiene and important to-dos, drunkenly stumble over trivial matters.

Continue Reading →