When Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB46, informally titled the “Compassion Act,” into law in May 2021, those suffering with chronic pain and a variety of illnesses applauded the passing of legislation that could, possibly, provide relief when no other medications had.

Ivey called signing the bill an “important first step” and thanked the sponsors of the bill for their work.

“This is certainly a sensitive and emotional issue and something that is continually being studied. On the state level, we have had a study group that has looked closely at this issue, and I am interested in the potential good medical cannabis can have for those with chronic illnesses or what it can do to improve the quality of life of those in their final days,” Ivey said.

Our local legislative delegation agreed with the passage.

Sen. Garlan Gudger (R-Dist. 4) was among the senators who recognize the impact medical marijuana could have on patients. “If you had been in our committee meetings, and seen the transformation these medications can bring about in little boys and girls as well as adults — people who were having seizures and were dramatically helped after receiving it — it’s really eye-opening,” he said.

Rep. Corey Harbison (R-Dist. 12) also saw the potential medical cannabis could have on the lives of those with debilitating illness. Prior to voting on the bill, Harbison said, “This particular legislation will allow for certain ingredients; not for marijuana itself. Those can be extracted from the plants and then combined to make medicine for treatment of a number of different things, benefiting cancer patients with loss of appetite, kids having seizures, people with chronic pain and so on. If the bill continues through the House as it’s written, it won’t even permit this to be a smokable substance.”

So we find it disappointing that our local representatives — Harbison, Randall Shedd and Tim Wadsworth — sponsored HB469, a ballot measure which would amend the state constitution to institute an additional 15% tax (the state already taxes medicinal cannabis) on future local medical cannabis sales. The measure passed both Senate and House on Wednesday, May 24.

If voters approve the local bill, however, medicinal cannabis would become the only prescription drug subject to a 15% tax in Cullman County. Prescription drugs, including palliative drugs such as opioids, are exempt from sales tax statewide.

One wonders what happened to the compassion part of the “Compassion Act.”

The reasoning behind the local tax is the Cullman County District Attorney’s Office needs money and bad check fines are down — apparently, using unreliable revenue sources to fund the DA’s office isn’t the best fiscal policy. Revenues from the tax will be divided between the DA’s office (at 66.7%) and the local legislative delegation (at 33.3%), with the provision that the delegation’s 33.3% be used on local mental health initiatives of their choosing. 

“The DA had been seeking ways to possibly get additional funding for his office to help hire more staff,” Harbison explained to The Times. “At one point, they got a lot from the worthless check unit, but that really isn’t producing much at all, at this point. We agreed as a delegation to let citizens vote for a tax on it, and it is earmarked for the DA’s office and for mental health. It’s pretty cut-and-dried. The citizens can decide if they want it or not, and our delegation is good with whatever voters decide.”

Our delegation wants to be clear: They haven’t taxed anything. They are just allowing the people to vote on a measure that would put an additional 15% tax on a prescription medication used for treating a variety of illnesses.

Know anyone with any of those health issues? Now, it could be up to you whether or not they have to pay an additional 15% tax on one particular prescription medication. Don’t blame the legislators. It’s not their fault if it passes a vote. It’s only their fault the proposal made it to and passed the House and Senate floor to begin with. They only got the ball rolling.

We also question, why cancer patients and those living with epilepsy, among other illnesses, should fund a law enforcement agency tasked with prosecuting criminal activity.

It almost looks like some elected officials still think medicinal cannabis, which a patient must have a prescription for, is doing something illicit. They are, it seems, treating it like a sin tax.

We don’t believe people with epilepsy, chronic pain, cancer and other diagnosed illnesses are doing anything illicit. People suffering from these illnesses have pushed the state for years to recognize that for some, medicinal cannabis is the only relief they have found to manage the pain they endure.

Children and adults living with chronic, sometimes debilitating pain, already have a financial hardship that comes from mounting medical expenses. An additional 15% tax burden would only add to those expenses.

We wish our legislative delegation had thought of that before sponsoring a bill that could lead to an additional financial burden for “kids having seizures” and “people with chronic pain.”

This editorial has been updated to clarify revenues from the tax will fund additional personnel in the DA’s office.