Despite the oft-repeated Liberal Party promise that the government plans to leave medical patients alone in the development of a legal adult use cannabis system, on November 10, 2017 the Ministry of Finance proposed an excise tax that applies to medical patients as well as adult consumers. In short, a tax of $1 will be applied for every $10 gram of cannabis, while a 10% tax applies to oils and all cannabis priced higher than $10/g. The federal government will keep 25% of the revenue, remitting the rest to the provinces for investment in law enforcement, public education and other relevant projects.
With a groundswell of support from across the country, Canada’s leading cannabis patient advocacy organization, Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana (CFAMM), sprung into action. Launching the donttaxmedicine.ca website a few short days after Minister Morneau’s announcement, they reached out to patients across the country, taking to Twitter with the hashtag #DontTaxMedicine. Working together with non-profits in the health care sector including the Arthritis Society of Canada, they have been able to amass north of 16,000 signatures and emails of support, sent directly to local Members of Parliament and to the Minister of Finance. Working with a number of cross-Canada partners, CFAMM was also able to prepare hundreds of people for in-person visits with their MP, wherein each person asked the government to reconsider taxing their medicine. Continuing efforts into 2018, CFAMM hosted a protest at Minister Morneau’s downtown Toronto office on January 26, where industry professionals, including some of Canada’s leading licenced producers, came together with patient advocates to impress upon the Minister just how important this issue is, imploring him to reconsider the excise tax on medical cannabis. Speaking to the Georgia Straight after the rally, Aurora’s now-COO, Cam Battley called the sin tax plan “profoundly wrongheaded” and appealed to the government to do a reset. “We’ll cheer for you if you do. This is real medicine. Nobody is buying medical cannabis to get kids high,” he said.
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