Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jun 2005
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2005 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Source: Providence Journal (RI)
Author: Katherine Gregg, Journal State House Bureau
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

R.I. SENATE APPROVES PROPOSAL TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Backers Defeat an Attempt to Restore Police Officers' Power to Arrest
Sick People Who Drive With Traces of Pot in Their Bodies.

PROVIDENCE -- Despite the threat of a veto by the governor - and a
pointed reminder this week from the nation's highest court that
federal authorities can still prosecute sick people who smoke pot -
the state Senate yesterday approved a bill to legalize the medical use
of marijuana.

In sharp contrast to neighboring Connecticut, where deeply divided
lawmakers debated the same issue for hours last week, the bill cleared
the Rhode Island Senate by a 34-to-2 vote after little debate.

If the House goes along, Rhode Island would become the 11th state to
allow people with "debilitating medical conditions" to buy, grow,
possess and use relatively small amounts of marijuana to ease their
pain.

Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, D-Coventry, made a failed effort to remove
language limiting the powers of the police to arrest people authorized
to smoke marijuana who operate a car, an aircraft or a motorboat.

Raptakis' amendment was roundly defeated amid an emotion-charged
atmosphere, in which one senator, Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, sought
passage of the bill in the name of her nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, who
died of AIDS last year at age 41.

Perry read the eulogy she wrote for her nephew. It began: "A darling
and photogenic boy, his mother knew by age 6 that he would grow up
gay."

It ended with images from his final days: "hacking cough, erupting
fluids . . . morphine-induced dementia . . .face desiccated like a
baby bird just out of its shell."

After the final vote, Perry turned and hugged Hawkins' mother and her
sister, Pamela A. Bailey, who was sitting behind her.

At an impromptu news conference a few minutes later, Perry
acknowledged what had gone unsaid during the brief Senate discussion
of the bill, which is cosponsored by Senators Michael Damiani, a
former police officer, Joseph Polisena, a nurse, and Michael
McCaffrey, a lawyer.

Asked where an authorized user would get marijuana, Perry said: "I
think most people know the answer to that right now. The drugs have to
come from an illegal source."

The bill seeks to protect patients, their doctors, pharmacists and
caregivers from arrest under state drug laws if a doctor certifies to
the state Health Department that the patient has pain from a "chronic
or debilitating" medical condition, such as cancer or AIDS, that might
be eased by marijuana.

The state would issue registration cards allowing the patients and
their caregivers to possess up to 12 plants or 2.5 ounces of "useable
marijuana" at any time.

The bill says: "No school, employer or landlord may refuse to enroll,
employ or lease to" an authorized user or caregiver, who could be
anyone at least 21 years old "who has agreed to assist with the
person's medical use of marijuana."

But the bill does not address where the marijuana would come from, one
of many points of concern for the state Health Department, the state
police and the governor, who has threatened a veto.

In testimony last month before a House committee, state police
officers said the bill does not define what constitutes a
"debilitating disease," and could increase the state's already high
number of drug and alcohol fatalities.

If, for example, someone who is authorized to use marijuana is in a
car accident, Lt. LeRoy Rose told the lawmakers, the bill would give
the person a protection from prosecution not afforded someone made
drowsy by a prescribed painkiller.

Responding yesterday, Perry said: "I couldn't imagine my nephew
thinking about driving a car when he was as sick as he was."

Sen. Charles J. Levesque, D-Portsmouth, said the police could still
charge an impaired driver for a driving offense, but not "solely" for
the presence of marijuana, which can linger in the body for days.

Governor Carcieri's spokesman Jeff Neal said that Monday's U.S.
Supreme Court ruling compounds Carcieri's concerns, in that it
"complicates the ability of individual states to authorize the use of
medical marijuana." He said it "would give Rhode Island citizens a
false sense of security" by placing them in danger of federal
prosecution.

The court ruled that the power of Congress to prohibit and prosecute
the possession and use of marijuana trumps state law, even in the
states that permit its use for medicinal purposes. The 10 states that
already have such laws are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Arizona has
enacted legislation, but has no formal program to provide pot by
prescription.

Neal said the governor "supports reasonable efforts to make sure that
patients suffering from debilitating diseases receive the pain relief
they need and deserve."

But, he said, Carcieri believes the legislation would "allow virtually
anyone in Rhode Island to grow and distribute large quantities of
marijuana almost anywhere they wanted. . . . Marijuana farms could
sprout up anywhere in this state."

"The governor believes this legislation does not have sufficient
controls on how marijuana would be produced or distributed," Neal
said. He said Carcieri is also concerned because his health director
is opposed, and because law enforcement and the chief judge of the
Family Court "believe a medical marijuana law would seriously
undermine our efforts to reduce children's use of marijuana and other
narcotics."

But an elated Perry suggested that yesterday's overwhelming vote makes
the bill "veto-proof" in the Senate, and she voiced hope that it would
clear the House by a similar margin. The only nay votes came from
Raptakis and Sen. Marc Cote, D-Woonsocket. Senators Leo Blais,
R-Coventry, and Frank A. Ciccone III, D-Providence, were absent.

After listening from the sidelines, Rhonda O'Donnell, 42, of Warwick,
who has multiple sclerosis, said fear of arrest keeps her from smoking
marijuana. But she believes it might help her pain, and said she would
not allow the fear of federal prosecution to stop her if state law
permits its use.

Why? "Because I think the feds should have a lot more on their plate
than somebody using a medicinal herb in their backyard or in their
house," O'Donnell said.

As for driving, O'Donnell, who drove herself to yesterday's hearing,
said: "What about people who get Vicodin? I think common sense has to
prevail and if you are using it for a legitimate purpose that your
doctor approved, you are going to know enough not to drive." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake