Palm Springs voters pass Measure B

The Palm Springs City Council will be able to tax marijuana dispensaries.

Voters approved Measure B, the so-called marijuana tax in Tuesday’s election with nearly 68 percent of the vote. The city can now choose to tax dispensaries up to 15 percent of their revenue.

The measure could help generate up to a million dollars a year for the city. Opponents argued the tax will hurt dispensaries and the people who use them, with the dispensaries being forced to pass along the cost to patients with higher prices.

If higher prices are charged, some people said they’ll look outside the city to purchase their medical marijuana.

“If the price goes up here and its lower somewhere else, we’re going to have to go somewhere else, whether that be a dispensary, an illegal option or what not,” said Mark Gillespie, a patient at Organic Solutions of the Desert.

The tax will be levied on Palm Springs’ three permitted dispensaries as well as any illegal dispensaries that are operating.

The City Council still needs to determine how much the tax should be.

The city attorney told News Channel 3 the city hopes to implement the tax by the first of the year.