DON'T TAX MEDICINE
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Minister Bill Blair, Minister Petitpas Taylor, and Provincial/Territorial Finance Ministers:
Taxing medical cannabis hurts patients. And it hurts all Canadians. More than 480,000 Canadians rely on medical cannabis to manage symptoms from conditions including chronic pain, epilepsy, PTSD, and women’s health. Medical cannabis has been prescribed by more than 14,000 physicians and nurse practitioners for their patients, including seniors, veterans, and sick children. Our government is hurting the very people it should be helping, and it needs to stop now. Unlike all other drugs, medical cannabis is taxed, and those taxes can be as high as 25% in some provinces. Taxes on medical cannabis make it difficult for patients to afford treatment, which can lead to under dosing or forcing patients back into the unregulated black market. The problems created by taxes on medical cannabis raise costs for the entire Canadian healthcare system and impact all taxpayers. Sales tax comes directly out of the pockets of patients who rely on medical cannabis for their day-to-day healthcare needs. Although excise duty is a cost imposed on producers on the base price of the product, it impacts patients. Sales tax is then charged on the sum of the base price of the medicine and excise duty, compounding the tax burden and pushing cost onto patients. The majority of Canadians agree that applying a ‘sin tax’ to medical cannabis is wrong. Medical cannabis patients were never subjected to excise duty before legalization of recreational cannabis, and the government is in a position to reverse this unfair tax burden.
Simply put, medical cannabis is medicine, and in Canada, we do not tax medicine. CFAMM is making sure the voices of medical cannabis patients are being heard. More than 25,000 Canadians have sent letters to their elected officials about this issue, and we are calling on all Canadians to join our #DontTaxMedicine campaign. Sincerely,
Gerald Major President, CFAMM