Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jul 2007
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.starbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/196
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

GIVE PROTECTION TO PATIENTS WHO NEED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Issue

A bill that would have given added protection to patients treated by 
medical marijuana died in the House in this year's session.

STATE laws allowing medical use of marijuana have been on the books 
for nearly a decade but have been hampered by federal attempts to 
undermine them. The number of patients has dwindled as they have 
become subject to arrest and physicians have grown reluctant to 
prescribe pot. Legislation that should have been enacted this year is 
needed to protect patients using marijuana and physicians prescribing it.

The Hawaii Senate unanimously approved a bill in this year's 
legislative session that would have expanded the use of medical 
marijuana and restricted physicians' role in prescribing it to 
conform with court rulings, but the bill died in a House committee. 
As many as 1,000 Hawaii residents have been registered with the state 
to use marijuana to treat their illnesses.

The number has fallen because of doctors' fear of prosecution, even 
though the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction 
includes Hawaii, has made it clear that they may not be prosecuted 
for recommending marijuana treatment and that its benefits would 
outweigh the risks. The bill would have limited the physician's role 
to those two functions.

The Hawaii law enacted in 2000 allows marijuana to be used for 
treatment of a "debilitating medical condition," and the bill would 
have created a committee of two physicians and a state Department of 
Health representative to meet twice a year to consider physicians' 
requests to widen its use. Research has shown that marijuana is 
"moderately well suited" for treating nausea, vomiting and AIDS.

Amounts of marijuana to be used for medical purposes also would have 
been expanded by the bill. Patients now can possess an "adequate 
supply" of as much as three mature marijuana plants, four immature 
plants and one ounce of usable marijuana. The bill would have 
expanded such a supply to seven mature plants and three ounces of 
usable marijuana.

Oregon patients are allowed as many as two dozen plants and 24 ounces 
of pot. New Mexico, the most recent state to legalize medical 
marijuana, plans to allow plants coinciding with Hawaii's current law 
plus six ounces of marijuana. Washington is the only one of the dozen 
medical-marijuana states with no specific limit set and is embroiled 
in a debate about what it should be.

Washington's absence of a limit has allowed patients and their 
doctors to argue in court over how much they need. A marijuana dosing 
study at the University of Washington found that patients should be 
allowed from a half-pound to 234 pounds during a two-month period. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake