By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
Here's how it's done. The city of Berkeley, California will require medical marijuana dispensaries to give two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each month to low income patients at no charge.
The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously at Tuesday's meeting to change the city's medical marijuana rules, which would also allow for a fourth dispensary in the city, reports Ryan Takeo of CBS San Francisco.
"Basically, the city council wants to make sure that low-income, homeless, indigent folks have access to their medical marijuana, their medicine," said Berkeley City Councilmember Darryl Moore.
At least two percent of all medical marijuana dispensed at each shop would be required to be given away to very low-income members under the proposal. What's more, the free cannabis would have to be the same quality that's dispensed to regular paying customers.
"We think this is the responsible thing to do for those less fortunate in our community," Moore said.
The measure also adjusts the definitions for medical marijuana collectives and dispensaries, patients and caregivers, as well as setting new rules for operating hours and testing both cannabis and edibles.
One Berkeley dispensary, the Berkeley Patients Group, has already been giving out free cannabis to the poor for 15 years.
