BILL WOULD LICENSE DISPENSARIES TO SELL MEDICAL MARIJUANA

PROVIDENCE -- For Bobby Ebert, the legalization of medical marijuana
in Rhode Island didn't just bring relief, it brought a slew of
unwanted anxieties.

State law allows the Warwick HIV patient to use the drug to alleviate
his chronic pain -- but it offers him no place to buy it legally.

So Ebert did what many of Rhode Island's medical marijuana patients
do. Frail and in pain, he made his way from his suburban apartment to
the streets of Providence in search of a drug dealer. The first time
he went, he was robbed.

Ebert's problem is not unique. Since Rhode Island permanently
legalized the use of medical marijuana two years ago for those
suffering from chronic and painful illnesses, it has provided no
legal access to the drug, leaving most patients no option but to buy
it on the street, or enlist a caregiver to grow it for them.

Now Rep. Thomas C. Slater and Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, the Providence
legislators who sponsored the original marijuana bill, have proposed
allowing licensed dispensaries or "compassion centers" which would
grow and sell the drug at affordable prices to the 600 patients now
enrolled in the state's program.

"Licensing a nonprofit compassion center would solve the problems by
allowing a safe, state-regulated place for patients to get their
medicine," Slater said.

A similar bill was approved by the Senate last year, only to die in a
House committee. The governor later vetoed a compromise plan to study
the concept.

But a year can make a big difference. Last session, lawmakers cited
concerns about a spate of federal raids on dispensaries in
California, one of the few other states besides Colorado and New
Mexico that legalize sales. Could Rhode Island clinics face similar problems?

Last week, however, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder publicly
indicated that the Obama administration will no longer tolerate such raids.

Joseph McNamara, D-Warwick, chairman of the House Committee on Health
Education and Welfare , said that development, along with language in
this year's bill pledging security measures at the centers, have made
him view the proposal "much more favorably" than he did last year.

"The questions I had have been answered and I'm pleased the federal
government has made a commitment not to come in and arrest these very
vulnerable individuals," McNamara said after a hearing on the bill last night.

Massachusetts voters in November approved a ballot initiative to
decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, a move
some say shows an increased public tolerance.

No one testified in opposition of the House bill last night, and the
Health Department said it is not taking a position. (Last year the
department opposed it.) But several committee members signaled
lingering concerns, questioning the logistics of how the centers
would be run and how they would be received in neighborhoods.

No vote was taken in that hearing, or in a simultaneous one in a
Senate committee. For Bobby Ebert and the dozens of other fragile
patients who filled the committee rooms yesterday, the generally
positive reaction brought a new sense of relief.

"Depending on how my body is feeling, every inch hurts," said Daniel
Rivera, 37, of East Providence, who suffers from fibromyalgia and
chronic pain syndrome. "So trying to get by without this medical
marijuana or not being able to find a place to get it is a very scary
position to be in."