A Rhode Island group that supports legalizing marijuana is blasting Governor Raimondo's proposal to require patients and their caregivers to buy new state tags for plants that they grow for medical use.

"We tax alcohol, but not prescription medications," Jared Moffat, director of Regulate Rhode Island, said in a statement. "Similarly, it makes little sense to extract revenue from sick people who need marijuana as a medicine while keeping marijuana that is used for fun untaxed and in the illicit market."

As part of the budget she unveiled on Tuesday, Raimondo indicated her intention to charge $150 per tag for patients who would be permitted to grow up to six plants. Caregivers, who can provide medical marijuana for up to five patients and would be limited to 24 plants, would have to pay $350 per tag.

Her administration projects that the program could generate $8.4 million in revenue while providing better oversight of small-scale growers and easier law enforcement.

Regulate Rhode Island, a coalition founded in 2013, supports regulating and taxing marijuana.

"I suspect most recreational marijuana consumers would be happy to pay taxes if only the state would make it legal for them to do so," Moffat said. "In addition to generating more revenue, regulating marijuana like alcohol would erode the illicit marijuana market and create new businesses and jobs all over the state. It’s time to get our head out of the sand and move forward...."

As in the past several years, Regulate Rhode Island in 2016 will once again be advocating for legislation at the State House legalizing marijuana.

"I think what the governor will find [with the tag proposal] is that there's going to be a lot of opposition coming from medical users," Moffat said. "It's going to be a real challenge to get this through the legislature. Our push will be instead of focusing on raising money from the medical community, why don't you pivot to looking at taxing and regulating recreational users?"

Since the proposal was unveiled, medical marijuana patients and legally registered caregivers have lashed out at Raimondo over the plan.

"This is outrageous," said Richard Graham, a 59-year-old disabled veteran who says he grows medical marijuana for himself at his house in Cranston. "Why are we paying taxes on a medicine? Give these patients a break."