HB2160: JEHLEN COSPONSORS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Winchester, MA - Although she's currently focusing most of her energy
on the ongoing budget negotiations, Sen. Pat Jehlen, D-Winchester, is
also co-sponsoring legislation to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

House Bill 2160 would regulate the medical use of marijuana approved
by physicians and certified by the Department of Public Health. Jehlen
is one of 12 legislators who have signed on as the bill's
co-sponsors.

According to Jehlen, it would essentially set up a standard for
approval of medical marijuana for qualified patients.

I've supported the medical use of marijuana for many years," said
Jehlen. "People who have had or survived cancer would do anything they
could to make their lives tolerable."

Jehlen first became a proponent of medical marijuana when she was
introduced to a constituent with stage-four melanoma, she said.

The man survived for six years while undergoing physically
debilitating chemotherapy treatments. In order to make the treatments
bearable, he smoked marijuana, according to Jehlen.

He eventually asked her to support the use of medical marijuana, and
Jehlen became a proponent of the issue.

On Tuesday, May 19, a joint committee of public health will hold a
hearing on the bill.

Massachusetts first adopted a medicinal marijuana law in 1992, which
was signed into law by former Gov. William Weld, according to
proponents of the bill.

The law, however, requires the Department of Public Health to supply
the marijuana to approved patients, and the department has been unable
to obtain such a supply, according to a press release from the
Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

Fourteen other states, including Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont, have
enacted effective medical marijuana laws.