You new it had to be a matter of time.

It has been over a decade since California voters said it was OK to use marijuana medicinally and now, for the first time, The California State Board of Equilization is TELLING close to 200 medicinal dispensaries to pay sales tax. Now I see patients having to almost pay 10 percent more for the same bag of weed. It is the patients that always get the short end of the stick. Pass it along to the customer, right?

The State BOE ultimately decided that medical marijuana was not exempt from sales taxes because it was not dispensed by a pharmacist or approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a medication.

So here comes the sticky part, some say this is a great way to legitimize the medical weed biz, BUT some see it as a way for the feds to get information against the medi-dealers. To be legit or stay rebel? That is the question.

Here is another crazy wrinkle in all of this…the taxman can go after back taxes. Up to EIGHT years. Might cost a pretty penny to go legit. Nothing is ever easy.

I think if Cali doesn’t go after back taxes, most will come forward. It is a way to legitimze, but also it is California setting the benchmark for the nation. Legitimate tax paying medicinal dealers.

Once California sees the revenues from this stuff, they might defend it even more. Cash talks like nothing else. Pay the piper and move forward. It will strengthen medicinal weed in the long run. Do some strategic thinking here folks.