Low-income California residents in need of medical marijuana are still going to be able to get their supply, thanks to a new welfare program.
The Berkeley City Council in California unanimously approved a welfare program requiring medical marijuana dispensaries to donate two percent of their stash to patients with annual incomes less than $32,000, reports Fox News.
This program, which first passed in August, is the first of its kind in the country.
For some, it's hard to understand why the council wants to make it easier for low-income patients to get their hands on the drug.
"It's ludicrous, over-the-top madness," Bishop Ron Allen, former addict and head of the International Faith Based Coalition, tells Fox. "Why would Berkeley City Council want to keep their poverty-stricken under-served high, in poverty and lethargic?"
However, marijuana is recognized as a legal drug in California, and it's used to help treat patients who are in pain.
"Basically, the city council wants to make sure that low-income, homeless, indigient folks have access to their medical marijuana, their medicine," Berkeley City Council member Darryl Moore tells CBS San Francisco.
The Berkeley Patients Group dispensary was already putting profits aside to help low-income patients before dispensaries throughout the state mandated it, Sean Luse, chief operating officer at the dispensary tells Huffington Post.
However, Luse also added that it could become a problem if more cannabis is given out than is medically needed.
