Starting January 28, 2016, we have to apply a 5% sales tax to your medicine.
We have been fighting for 15 years to see that medical cannabis for all Canadians is deemed a medical necessity and is exempt from tax. This case, has incurred costs of hundreds of thousands and the BCCCS has been saving for 18 years to fight this fight, or pay the GST liability.
This has been a long and incredibly expensive case, the legal avenues have now been exhausted and disappointingly, we did not win.
On Monday January the 27th, the Federal Court of Appeals dismissed our appeal. The original case was in June of 2014 and we argued, essentially, that medical cannabis is a medical necessity and should there for be exempt from sales tax. We did not win the initial case and the Federal Court of Appeals also ruled against us.
The Federal Court of Appeals ignored many of the key issues and simply ruled that the Parliament could not have possibly intended for an illegal drug to be tax exempt.
Please check Lift Cannabis for the breaking report of our story or The Globe and Mail for more coverage.
What an uphill battle it has been, but we are still full of comPASSION!! There is no waver in our intentions to continue standing for patient rights and safe, affordable medicine across Canada!
Next steps, we need to lobby for legislative change.
Stay posted for updates on a campaign.