HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Wallace State Community College on Tuesday, Oct 29, hosted a town hall meeting for public discussion on Local Amendment 1 that would add 15% to the tax currently charged on medical cannabis products sold in the county. The current tax rate is 9% on retail sales and 9% on medical cannabis businesses. The panel included Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker, WellStone COO Chris Van Dyke, Cullman County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services Capt. Ed Potter and Joey Roberston of Wagon Trail Hemp Farms.
“Medical cannabis product” is defined in the original 2023 bill as “any product lawfully sold in the county in a dispensary licensed by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.” Those voting yes on the amendment are choosing to vote for the tax, while those voting no would be voting against the tax.
As proposed, the Cullman County District Attorney’s Office would get two-thirds of the proceeds to use for personnel. The remaining one-third would be used at the discretion of the legislative delegation for mental health issues.
A bill (2023 House Bill 469) allowing the vote was sponsored by Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Good Hope; Rep. Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley; and Rep. Randall Shedd, R-Fairview.
Text of the proposed amendment
(a) Effective on the first day of the second month after the ratification of this amendment, there is levied, in addition to all other taxes of every kind now imposed by law, an additional tax on the sales of all medical cannabis products sold at retail in Cullman County at the rate of 15 percent of the gross proceeds of the sales.
(b) All provisions of the state sales and use tax statutes with respect to the payment, assessment, and collection of the state sales and use tax, making of reports, keeping and preserving records, penalties for failure to pay the tax, adopting rules with respect to the state sales and use tax, and the administration and enforcement of the state sales and use tax statutes which are not inconsistent with this amendment shall apply to the tax levied herein. All provisions of the state sales and use tax statutes that are made applicable by this amendment to the tax levied under this amendment, and to the administration and enforcement of this amendment, are incorporated by reference and made a part of this section as if fully set forth herein.
(c) The tax shall be collected, as the Cullman County Commission from time to time may determine, either by the commission or by any person, whether public or private, with which the commission may contract to collect the tax levied herein.
(d) All amounts collected by the commission from the tax shall be remitted by the county treasurer as follows:
- Sixty-seven percent to the District Attorney of the Thirty-second Judicial Circuit for personnel purposes.
- Thirty-three percent to the Cullman County Legislative Delegation to be used at their discretion on mental health issues.
(e) For purposes of this section, “medical cannabis product” means any product lawfully sold in the county in a dispensary licensed by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.
Panelists speak
At Tuesday’s town hall, Crocker spoke about the backlog of cases he “inherited” when he became district attorney, saying that the revenue generated by the proposed tax will allow the hiring of more prosecutors. He pointed to a 2017 murder case that his office recently completed, saying that justice “shouldn’t have to wait four, five or six years,” and adding, “Our citizens deserve better than that.” He also noted hundreds of mental health-related calls processed just by the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office in the last year, arguing that the tax will benefit more than just his office.
Later in the discussion, Crocker said that, once the needs of his office are met, he would be open to sharing surplus funds with mental health services to meet more of their needs. Asked how residents could be sure that money designated to be used at the legislative delegation’s discretion would actually be used in Cullman County, he said that, based on statements made by Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry following a mental health related crime in 2017, “Our legislative delegation should be well aware of the problems and needs of Cullman County.”
Van Dyke talked about a crucial need for both crisis care and residential care facilities for victims of mental illness, pointing to the current high cost of housing and lack of affordable housing in the area. He noted that WellStone has crisis response teams in Cullman but no local crisis care facility, requiring local responders to transport victims to Huntsville, and said that his priorities if funded would be to provide the Cullman area with both residential and crisis care facilities.
Van Dyke also addressed the question about the destination of mental health funds, saying that expenditures are public record and that he had no concerns about what the delegation would do with the funds.
From the standpoint of both victims’ services and the sheriff’s office, Potter also talked about local mental health needs, saying, “We don’t have services here that we need.” Asked to speculate about the potential costs and benefits of medical cannabis in Cullman County, he expressed concern that more marijuana might mean more accidents, as well as an “increase in mental health needs, increase in law enforcement needs, increase in DHR needs.”
Robertson spoke out clearly against the proposed tax increase, noting that it was “trying to tax medicine for patients.” He said he would support any kind of tax authorities might want to put on recreational marijuana before reading a long list of medical conditions (available at www.albme.gov/licensing/md-do/registrations/medical-cannabis) and how affected patients could benefit from medical cannabis. He called the proposed fee an “unreasonably high tax,” and expressed “hope that there might be a different way.” Asked about the potential impact of the tax, he said that the addition to regular sales taxes and the current 9% state cannabis tax would place a 33% tax on medical marijuana in Cullman County, making it “unobtainable for many patients who are struggling to make ends meet.”
During the public question and answer session, Robertson suggested that, if the process could start over, instead of taxing a resource with unknown revenue potential, the amendment should propose a 3% increase to the existing tax on “hard liquor.” He estimated, based on last year’s revenue, that the county could generate $275,000 per year by doing so.
Multiple local residents with medical conditions being treated by cannabis raised the question of the discrepancy in taxation between recreational alcohol and medical marijuana during the public question and answer session. Asked why alcohol, with a dangerous track record in recreational use, would be taxed at a substantially lower rate than medical cannabis, none of the panelists initially responded. Crocker then took the microphone and pointed out that alcohol taxes, like the proposed cannabis tax, were placed on ballots “for the people to decide.”
Asked “How much money does the DA need to do his job,” Crocker responded that his office got $463,000 last year from the State, and that he will get “a little over $500,000” this year. He said that he wanted to hire four more prosecutors, and that doing so would cost an additional $100,000 per prosecutor.
Asked if the proposed tax could impact his choice of location for his medical cannabis dispensary, Robertson said that, while he wanted to support his home community, it would make him consider locating in Decatur or Jasper.
Cullman County voters will have the opportunity to vote on Local Amendment 1 in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, General Election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m-7 p.m.
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