Second hearing held on use of proposed marijuana tax

The Hill County Commission held its second public meeting on a proposed 3 percent tax on marijuana products sold in the county, a tax that would need to be approved by voters in the upcoming election.

The meeting mainly revolved around how funds for the tax would be used, because while some have objected to medical and recreational products both being taxed at the same 3 percent, the commission has yet to receive any responses from the public that are against the tax in its entirety.

Even those who opposed legalization appear to support the tax now that the substance is legal, so the commission has focused on getting public feedback on where the money from the tax would go.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said, based on data from the last year, the county stands to make about $10,000 to $11,000 per month.

At the last meeting a few weeks ago, a letter from Hill County Sheriff Jamie Ross was read, a letter requesting that the money go toward his department, for staff, equipment and training, the county attorney’s office for prosecution of offenders and providing services to victims of drug crimes, and the county health department for education on the dangers of drug use.

Ross’ letter said that many, if not most crimes, they investigate are in some way drug- or alcohol-related, and the vast majority of the people they interact with on a daily basis are under the influence or are dealing with the long-term effects of addiction.

Ross was not at Tuesday’s meeting, but Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg did show up to the meeting and expressed her own ideas about how the money could be used.

Berg said she’d like to see the money go toward increasing access to mental and behavioral health services in the county, given that addiction is often tied to issues that could be addressed by these services which are hard to come by for many at the moment.

Hill County Commission Executive Assistant Sheri Williams, who is also running as a Democrat against McLean, a Republican, and independent Les Odegard, who also attended the meeting, in the upcoming election, said she’s heard many people say the same thing to her.

McLean, however, said the money should be very specifically targeted or it will be ineffective.

“If we just say ‘mental health,’ well what is that?” she said.

Berg said if the county wants to be really future-forward they might consider using the money to create a crisis response team to help people in crisis, people suffering from overdoses and other incidents like that.

She said law enforcement and incarceration isn’t always the best answer for people in the midst of a crisis, and a team of social workers, mental health experts and addiction specialists are often better equipped to help a person in that situation.

She said law enforcement officers often respond to these situations, but they are not always fully equipped to deal with them and taking some of the pressure off them could be a benefit to them as well.

Berg said she realizes her proposal is a little “pie in the sky,” but Glacier County is working on something similar, and she thinks something like that would really help the county.

Regardless of what the county decides to do, she said, she feels prevention should be the focus if they’re looking to address drug use and addiction, and spending money on prosecution and arrests is not prevention.

Berg also expressed concern about taxing medical marijuana products at the same rate as recreational products.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said state taxes on recreational products are higher, but Berg said she’s worried that adding more tax to medical products may drive some away from using it for pain relief, turning instead to opioids, which are extremely addictive and may not help people as much as marijuana could.

She said knows that marijuna use is inherently dangerous, but so is alcohol, and so are opioids, and many people are going to to do much better with marijuana than opioids.

She said she is approaching this issue from a public health and harm-reduction mindset, and many ways exist to make people safer using money from the tax.

Another example Berg gave was a needle exchange program.

She said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the county is on the verge of a hepatitis C and HIV outbreak due to the prevalence of injection drugs in the community, and allowing people to exchange dirty needles for clean ones and offering low-cost immunization is going to save a lot of people from being infected.

She said programs like this get a bad reputation but they don’t just benefit users of illegal drugs as people with diabetes and other conditions like that can make use of the service as well.

A concern brought up by McLean and Peterson was that things could change significantly now that a new legislative session is upon the state.

They also said they might sit down with the city to see what they plan to do with their share of the money made from the tax, as they get 45 percent of the money, almost as much as the 50 percent that the county gets.

The last 5 percent goes back to the state to cover administrative costs.

Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong suggested the county or health department put out a survey to see what people think about where the money should go.

Regardless, Peterson said, the commission wants to hear from as much of the community as possible.