Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2011
Source: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)
Copyright: 2011 The Spokesman-Review
Contact:  http://www.spokesman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author: Jim Camden
Bookmark: http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-wa (Washington)

GREGOIRE SET TO VETO PART OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

OLYMPIA -- The Senate gave final passage this morning to a bill that 
attempts to regulate medical marijuana production and sales, setting 
up a possible showdown with the governor, who opposes provisions for 
state employees regulating different aspects of the system.

On a 27-21 vote, with members of both parties coming down hard on 
both sides, the Senate approved amendments to the system adopted by 
the House earlier this month. That agreement, known as concurrence, 
sends Senate Bill 5073 to Gregoire.

This is an important step forward compared to the status quo," Sen. 
Lisa Brown, D- Spokane said. The current system, set up by a 1998 
initiative that allows medical marijuana but sets up no system for 
patients to obtain it, is unfair to patients, neighborhoods where 
dispensaries are springing up and legitimate businesses that could 
provide the product, she said.

The rules in the bill, such as one that allows a patient to grow 15 
plants, and three patients to form a co-op and grow 45, are too lax, 
argued Sen. Jeff Baxter, R-Spokane Valley. "It is a gateway drug," he said.

SB 5073 requires the state Department of Agriculture to license 
control the production and processing of medical marijuana, and the 
Department of Health to license dispensaries. A letter from U.S. 
attorneys in Seattle and Spokane warned Gregoire that federal law 
still lists marijuana as an illegal drug, and state employees could 
be arrested for any activities that involved marijuana.

Because of that, Gregoire has said she would not sign a bill that 
puts state employees at risk, even though she believes the state's 
medical marijuana law needs clarity. (For more on the controversy 
over the U.S. attorneys letter to Gregoire, click here.)

An hour after the bill passed, Gregoire indicated she would veto at 
least part of it: "I asked the Legislature to work with me on a bill 
that does not subject state workers to risk of criminal liability. I 
am disappointed that the bill as passed does not address those 
concerns while also meeting the needs of medical marijuana patients," 
she said in a prepared statement. "I will review the bill to 
determine any parts that can assist patients in need without putting 
state employees at risk."

Today's action by the Senate was no compromise. It approved the same 
language that passed the House before U.S. Attorneys Mike Ormsby and 
Jenny Durkan responded to a request for guidance from Gregoire.

The warnings from Ormsby and Durkan were dimissed by some supporters 
of the bill. "You could look at this as a state's right," Sen. Jerome 
Delvin, R-Richland said. "Tell D.C. to butt out."

Opponents said the group that lobbies for local police and sheriffs 
oppose the bill, too.

But far more time was spent debating a basic conflict over medical 
marijuana that predates the voters' approval of an initiative in 
1998. Supporters said it's a humane product for cancer patients and 
some other medical conditions, and people who want to use it should 
have a system of legal access to a reliable product. "Are they 
supposed to just find a dealer on the streets?" Rep. Karen Keiser, 
D-Kent, said. With the bill "patients weill be certain that the 
product they're using is safe."

Opponents said it's a precursor to other drugs and a stepping stone 
to complete legalization of marijuana. Some agreed marijuana may be 
appropriate for a small, and possibly shrinking, number of patients 
as other treatments become available. But doctors' recomendations are 
too easy to come by, they said, and overall use becomes more 
prevalent and acceptable because of the growth of medical marijuana.

"You are voting for something that is on the cusp of legalizing 
marijuana for everyone," Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, said.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, said the current system of 
unregulated medical marijuana is the bigger problem, because it's too 
hard to tell what's legal and what's illegal. "This is a vote between 
maintaining the status quo and trying to establish a bright-line, 
enforceable framework Law enforcement is not cracking down on the 
dispensaries. Now is the time when illegal users are hiding behind the law."  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake