The People’s Republic of Pot: Berkeley, California
If you love toking up, but don’t have a lot of extra cash for cannabis, then it may be high time for you to relocate to Berkeley, California.
Earlier this month, the Berkeley City Council unanimously voted for an ordinance that requires dispensaries of medical marijuana to freely give 2 percent of their ganja to “very low-income” people.
The council’s definition of “very low-income” is more inclusive than what it may be in the minds of most Americans: Any individual with an income below $32,000, or family of four with an income below $46,000.
The drafters of the ordinance also had the foresight and largeheartedness to protect needy smokers from having schwag unloaded on them. The free bud “shall be the same quality on average as medical cannabis that is dispensed to other [paying] members,” the ordinance reads.
The California Department of Public Health lists only 11 approved conditions that qualify an individual to receive medical weed. Among these are arthritis, anorexia and nausea. But it also includes “any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that either substantially limits a person’s ability to conduct one or more of major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or if not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the person’s safety, physical or mental health.”
That last bit is a large loophole—or doobhole, if you will—that pretty much any friend-of-the-herb can slip through to obtain a medical marijuana card.
In light of this news, the People’s Republic of Berkeley would be wise to beef up its budget for park benches, cardboard boxes, shopping carts and homeless shelters. Word about the city’s redistribution of weed wealth will spread like smoke in a hotbox. Homeless from around the nation will want to take advantage of the government-mandated high tithe. They’ll descend upon the stoners’ paradise in droves, anxious for the soothing caress of a little thc.
It is likely, though, that Berkeley’s “noble,” bold and progressively-minded step forward will inspire other benevolent city councils around the country and the world to follow suit.