With one more vote next week, the Berkeley City Council could help poor and low-income medical marijuana users in Berkeley, California, get their weed for free from medical pot dispensaries.

On Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to require medical marijuana dispensaries to give 2 percent of their yearly weed sales to low-income medical users. The 2 percent must be the same quality sold to paying customers, Al Jazeera America reported.

"Basically, the City Council wants to make sure that low-income, homeless, indigent folks have access to their medical marijuana, their medicine," Berkeley City Councilman Darryl Moore told CBS San Francisco. "We think this is the responsible thing to do for those less fortunate in our community."

The council vote would also give the city its fourth dispensary and help address the city's growing demand for medicinal weed, Berkeley Medical Cannabis Commission member Charles Pappas, told the East Bay Express.

"There's definitely a need for more dispensaries in Berkeley," Pappas said. "This was really important."

The need for a fourth shop comes as the federal government plans to shut down the Berkeley Patients Group, a prominent shop in the city that has been giving marijuana away to low-income patients for 15 years, according to Al Jazeera. Sean Luse of Berkeley Patients Group told CBS the dispensary wanted to help those in need by giving them the medical bud because their ailments often keep them from keeping their jobs.

The dispensary will fight to stay open, but Pappas said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag has already shut down 11 medical marijuana shops in San Francisco, according to Al Jazeera.

Despite the state's approval of medical marijuana use, marijuana is still a Schedule I drug, and the federal government still considers it illegal for both recreational and medicinal use.

Unofficial estimates say California has more than 1,000 dispensaries.

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