Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Source: West Hawaii Today (HI)
Copyright: 2012 West Hawaii Today
Contact: http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/contact_us/letters/
Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/644
Author: John Burnett

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL GOES TO THE HOUSE FOR CONSIDERATION

A bill that would make chronic pain a qualifying condition under 
Hawaii's medical marijuana law has been passed by the state Senate, 
while another that would eliminate chronic pain as a qualifying 
condition is dead for this year's legislative session.

Senate Bill 2262, which would make medical marijuana part of the 
"pain patients bill of rights" in state law passed its third and 
final required reading by the full Senate on Tuesday, the "cross 
over" deadline. The measure now goes to the House for consideration.

"If we can get this measure regarding the pain patient's bill of 
rights (passed into law), that would be progress," Sen. Will Espero, 
a Leeward Oahu Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation, said Tuesday.

Espero was optimistic the bill would be passed by the House, as well.

"It's not a controversial bill and I do believe it's a bill that 
members of the House can support," he said. "From what I know of the 
members of the House, I think it has a very good chance of passage."

According to 2011 figures from the state Narcotics Enforcement 
Division, which administers the medical marijuana program, Hawaii 
County accounts for almost half of the Big Island's 7,593 permits.

The measure has the support of medical marijuana activists, as well 
as some physicians.

Andrea Tischler, co-chairwoman of the Big Island chapter of Americans 
for Safe Access, stated in written testimony to the Committee on 
Public Safety, Government Operations and Military Affairs, which 
Espero chairs: "Cannabis has been recommended by the Hawaii Medical 
Association to be placed as a Schedule III controlled substance. This 
would allow doctors to prescribe as they do Oxycontin." She called 
the drug "a powerful pain medicine without the dangerous side effects 
of addictive drugs such as Vicodin and Oxycontin."

Dr. Clifton Otto, a Honolulu opthamologist, called marijuana "one of 
the safest pain relieving botanical substances known to man" and 
wrote that "highly dangerous opioids (like Oxycontin and methadone) 
.. constipate and sedate patients and are responsible for 15,000 
accidental deaths every year."

Meanwhile, House Bill 1963, which would eliminate chronic pain as a 
qualifying condition, unless it is associated with diseases such as 
HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis or Crohn's Disease, died without 
a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill, written by NED, which administers the state's medical 
marijuana program, had the support of Hawaii's law enforcement 
officials, who contend that its passage would have closed loopholes 
that create abuse of the medical marijuana law.

Attorney General David Louie's written testimony to the Public Safety 
and Health committees supporting the measure expressed his concerns 
about "preventing the development of major marijuana growing 
operations under the guise of the medical marijuana program."

Big Island Police Chief Harry Kubojiri wrote in his testimony that he 
was told by NED personnel that "the largest age group of medical 
marijuana permit holders are the '18 through mid-20-year-olds' who 
suffer from 'severe pain,' which takes away from the original intent 
of medical marijuana program, which was designed to assist those who 
are diagnosed with terminal or severely life threatening types of 
diseases, such as cancer, HIV and AIDS."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom