Medical marijuana dispensaries in Berkeley will likely start giving out free pot

The city council in Berkeley, California last week approved an ordinance that requires that low-income residents and the homeless receive free cannabis from medical marijuana dispensaries.

As the East Bay Express reports, the ordinance calls for dispensaries to give away 2 percent of the gross weight sold in a year to people who qualify for exemption from paying local fees and taxes as set by the city council. That translates to an income level of $32,000 a year for one person or $46,000 a year for a family of four. The marijuana also has to be the good stuff, "the same quality on average" as what is dispensed to others.

"It's sort of a cruel thing that when you are really ill and you do have a serious illness...it can be hard to work, it can be hard to maintain a job and when that happens, your finances suffer and then you can't buy the medicine you need," Sean Luce with the Berkeley Patients Group told NBC Bay Area.

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