Oakland, often disparaged but almost always forward thinking, is on the verge of becoming the first city in the nation to establish a new tax rate
for medicinal marijuana dispensaries.
In a special election July 21, voters are expected to approve Measure F, which will raise the tax on the city’s four dispensaries from $1.20 per $1,000 of their gross sales to $18 per $1,000.
As the election approaches, you’re likely to hear or read about: how dispensary owners are staunchly on board, even with a 15-fold hike in their taxes; how the tax will help legitimize Oakland’s dispensaries; how cash-strapped California might have a similar statewide initiative on the November 2010 ballot, one that also includes legalization — and how you have to practically dig 20 feet under a rock to find anyone against Measure F.
Few, however, will know the rest of the story: the Jewish connection to Measure F.
Three paragraphs ago, I cited the $18 figure. “It’s not exactly a coincidence,” said rookie Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan, a co-sponsor of the measure and a former Torah study teacher at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav in San Francisco.
Yes, 18 — the numerical representation of the Hebrew chai (life). Who hasn’t written a check for $18 or given a donation in multiples of 18? And now, 18 is what Oakland voters are getting. Of course, most of them will have no idea they are getting chai (sorry, marijuana advocates typically frown upon stoner-type references, especially lame puns).
Here’s the story:
A few months ago, owners of Oakland’s dispensaries, currently taxed at the city’s general retail rate, proposed to increase their taxes 10 times (to $12 per $1,000).
While new tax categories in California require voter approval, this one seemed like a slam dunk. But wait. Suddenly, with green dollar signs dancing in front of their budget-reddened eyes, a couple of council members thought, hey, let’s make the tax $24 per $1,000. Was a battle brewing?
“The last thing we wanted to do was put something on the ballot in a contentious way,” said Kaplan, 38. “With a lot of people fighting about it, it wouldn’t be as likely to pass. I found myself in the position of being a bit of a go-between.”
At that point, Kaplan, who was raised Orthodox in Canada and attended Jewish day schools from age 4 until the end of high school, said she “started trying to find something that everyone would go for. So if I’m praying on how to solve a contentious issue and the number 18 pops into my head — it’s not completely a coincidence.”
It also happens to be exactly in the middle of $12 and $24, but, dude, let’s not let mathematics ruin our chai (sorry again).
A rising star in the Green Party, Kaplan is a big proponent of marijuana law reform, but she’s hardly the only Jew involved. On the national scene, Ethan Nadelmann is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, and Bruce Mirken is one of the leaders of the Marijuana Policy Project.
Locally, Marsha Rosenbaum is the former head of the San Francisco office of the DPA, and Oakland-based attorney Robert Raich is a renowned specialist on medical cannabis laws.
And there are many, many others.
Moreover, in a recent poll commissioned by the marijuana advocacy group NORML, 1,004 registered voters were asked if cannabis laws should be put into the hands of states. A hearty 70 percent of Jews said yes, compared to only 46 percent overall. Jews were in favor more than any other group cited in the survey, including Democrats (59 percent) and even 18- to 29-year-olds (66 percent).
“It’s quite remarkable,” said Kaplan, who, incidentally, blew the shofar at her election-night victory party last November.
Now, thanks in part to her “chai” compromise, Oakland might soon be collecting as much as $1 million annually in pot taxes — and Kaplan could be rarin’ to blow her shofar again. And you’ll be able to proudly offer your own Measure F “l’chaim” — because now you know the rest of the story.
Andy Altman-Ohr lives in Oakland. Reach him at [email protected].