Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jul 2005
Source: Brown Daily Herald, The (Brown, RI Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Brown Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.browndailyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/727
Author: Mary-Catherine Lader
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT PASSES STATE LEGISLATURE

The Rhode Island General Assembly is one step away from making the 
Ocean State the eleventh U.S. state to legalize the medical use of 
marijuana by the chronically ill.

After the House voted 52-10 in favor of the bill on June 22, 
Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 vetoed the legislation, prompting 
a Senate override vote of 28-6 only four days later. The bill now 
awaits a House override vote in September before being made law.

Carcieri's veto was expected and presented no serious challenges to 
the success of the legislation, said the bill's lead House sponsor, 
Rep. Tom Slater, D-Providence.

The bill - also referred to as the "pot-for-pain bill" - will protect 
patients, their doctors, pharmacists and caregivers from arrest and 
prosecution under state law if a Department of Health-certified 
doctor determines marijuana a useful form of pain relief for a 
patient. Individuals suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis 
and other illnesses causing symptoms alleviated by use of the drug, 
including nausea and seizures, will be eligible for use, pending 
Department of Health approval.

However, the drug remains illegal at the federal level. The U.S. 
Supreme Court ruled last month that state laws sanctioning medical 
marijuana use provide no defense against enforcement of federal 
anti-drug laws by federal agencies.

Once issued registration cards by the Department of Health, patients 
or their caregivers could possess up to 12 plants or 2.5 ounces of 
"usable marijuana" at any time. A specific amount was not included in 
the original bill, which passed the state Senate - sponsored chiefly 
by Sen. Rhoda Perry P'98, D-Providence - largely unaltered earlier in June.

Debate on the floor of the House led to that change, among others, 
after representatives raised concerns about the drug's possible 
accessibility to children, and the remaining illegal step - acquiring 
marijuana - after testimony against the bill from state police 
officials and a representative from the Family Court.

How illegal marijuana would find its way to a legally approved user 
remains unaddressed in the final version of the bill. But Slater said 
this ignores the purpose of the legislation, which aims simply to 
protect medical marijuana users from arrest.

"I told them on the floor, (debate over acquiring) was irrelevant," 
Slater said. "(The patient) can get it themselves - it's readily 
available all over the state."

In an effort to protect children from stumbling across the drug 
outdoors, representatives added language specifying the plants be 
kept in an indoor facility. House members also included clauses that 
disqualified individuals with a felony record from serving as 
caregivers and limited the number of patients to whom doctors could 
recommend the drug in order to prevent possible abuse of the legislation.

Slater said that more serious than any of these changes was the 
addition of a "sunset" clause. According to this stipulation, the 
Department of Health would report back to the State House on the 
law's success on Jan. 1, 2007, and unless legislators vote for its 
renewal, the law would expire June 30 of that year.

"Hopefully, at that point things will be functioning smoothly just as 
they have in every other (of the 10 states with similar 
legislation)," said Trevor Stutz '07, outgoing president of the Brown 
chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

SSDP kept its members updated on the bill's progress over the past 
few months, at times urging them to sign a petition to the governor 
or to write letters and call legislators to voice their support of 
medical marijuana use. Stutz said SSDP and the Rhode Island Patient 
Advocacy Coalition, whose executive director is Nathaniel Lepp '06, 
will work together this fall to inform the community of the 
legislation's impact.

Slater credited such public involvement, in addition to strong 
lobbying, with the bill's success. He said one representative 
received 50 calls from constituents - all of them in support of the bill.

"Everyone knows someone who has one of these chronic diseases who 
would like relief," Slater, a cancer survivor, said. "The only 
challenge left now is how the Department of Health makes up its 
regulations on it - how they will control it, how they will see the 
cards are given out. Then it's up to the individual to get a hold of the drug."

Though Slater is confident of the bill's prospects in an as-yet 
unscheduled House override vote this fall, he is hesitant to 
celebrate too soon.

"Once it's all finished in September, it will be a great victory," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth