Effective June 6th, Washington State passed a bill allowing registered medical cannabis patients to purchase DOH-compliant products tax-free. Read on to learn more…
How Medical Cannabis Works in Washington
Since the legalization of cannabis in Washington, all legal recreational cannabis purchases have been subject to a 37% cannabis excise tax, plus sales tax (just over 10%). Many weed shoppers don’t realize this is the case because most Seattle dispensaries include both taxes in the price.
Washington’s medical cannabis program, allows doctors and naturopaths to issue an official medical cannabis authorization form to qualifying patients. Patients can then take that form to any medically endorsed cannabis dispensary, which can create a medical recognition card, allowing patients to purchase cannabis products free of sales tax. To receive a recognition card, patients are required to join WA’s Medical Cannabis Patient Database at the time of issue.
Dockside Cannabis is the longest-operating retail cannabis dispensary in Seattle and has served King Country’s medical community since opening our doors in 2011. We were one of the first shops to be medically endorsed by the DOH, and are committed to remaining a trusted source for medical and recreational shoppers alike.
Read our medical cannabis FAQ’s to learn more about the process for getting a medical cannabis card in Washington.
Upcoming Changes to Medical Cannabis Tax
A bill recently passed in Washington to alleviate the cannabis excise tax burden of medical cardholders. The change went into effect on June 6th. The tax exemption will apply to Department of Health-compliant products only.
What is a DOH-compliant product?
Lab testing is required for all legal cannabis products, but there is additional voluntary testing available to vendors who want another layer of quality assurance established by the DOH. Qualifying products bear a “DOH compliant” logo on their package.
Dockside currently carries some DOH-compliant products from Fairwinds, Heylo, Walden, Double Delicious, Wyld and Lazy Bee. We anticipate more brands will opt-in to the additional testing to become DOH compliant in the near future and we plan to expand our assortment of these type of products as more become available.
Will medical patients have to pay sales tax on cannabis?
Medical cardholders are still exempt from the sales tax on all products. The total tax savings for cardholders will be just over 47% of the retail price when purchasing any DOH-compliant products.
As a medical cannabis patient, how will I know how much things cost?
Currently, we don’t have the ability to show separate medical (tax-free) pricing on our online menu. Our advertised prices include both cannabis tax and sales tax. You can calculate the approximate cost of DOH-compliant products by taking the price and dividing it by 1.47. We say approximately because sales tax rate differs by less than 1% between the cities where our stores are located.
How will I know which products are DOH-compliant?
You can identify DOH-compliant products in person by stickers on the packaging that look like these. Additionally, our budtenders are happy to guide you and help answer any questions. We’re working on a way to help you easily identify DOH-compliant products while shopping our online in the future.
You can learn more about DOH-compliant products from the DOH webpage for Medical Cannabis Compliant products or their handy Patient’s Guide to Compliant Cannabis Products, and their Medical Cannabis Patient FAQ page.
If you have questions about shopping for medical cannabis at Dockside, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via info@docksidecannabis.com. We’re here to help!