Pubdate: Wed, 06 Nov 2013
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Ben Livingston

SENATOR PLANS BILL TO SAVE MEDICAL POT

Will Fight Attempts to Gut Patients' Rights

Last month, medical marijuana supporters were aghast when a 
legislative work group released its draft recommendation that the 
state repeal pot-growing rights for the sick and dying, slash 
possession limits, and force doctors to register cannabis patients in 
a state database. If enacted by the legislature, such a bill would 
all but eliminate Washington State's voter-enacted medical cannabis law.

But Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Queen Anne), the state's 
longest-serving pro-pot elected official, says patients need to speak 
up before the legislature meets in January, and a hearing the state 
is holding next week is critical to pushing back. "The liquor control 
board isn't doing anything by rule," she insists. "They're not coming 
out with a bill."

Kohl-Welles says she will likely introduce a bill that could 
explicitly protect the medical marijuana law, allow home growing by 
patients, and encourage recreational pot stores (the stores allowed 
by Initiative 502, which passed last year) to sell marijuana grown 
specifically for medical purposes, such as low-THC, high-CBD 
varieties. She says that her bill, which she expects can pass, will 
likely include language to "tighten up" regulations on health-care 
professionals who authorize medical cannabis-an issue many elected 
officials consider a loosey-goosey problem within the current medical 
marijuana industry.

It may also include a voluntary registry for patients who want to 
avoid the steep taxes on recreational cannabis. This could allay 
concerns that medical pot producers will unfairly compete with the 
new recreational system by selling untaxed, unregulated pot.

Kohl-Welles hopes to appease many factions in the often-divided 
medical cannabis community. Preparing people for the state hearing 
next week, she says, "It doesn't help to just hurl insults. It's 
helpful for people to provide constructive feedback."

More than 400 people are expected to pack a public hearing on the 
proposal to gut the medical marijuana law. It is scheduled for 
Wednesday, November 13, at 6 p.m. at Worthington Center, 5300 Pacific 
Avenue in Olympia.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom