BILL WOULD GIVE POT PROVIDERS A PLACE TO GROW, WAY TO SELL TO PATIENTS
WHO NEED IT

YAKIMA, Wash. -- More than a decade after the use of marijuana to
treat chronic pain became a legal defense to possessing the illegal
drug, patients still face an obstacle: Where can they get it and not
risk getting arrested?

Although qualifying patients are allowed to grow a certain amount to
use to treat chronic pain, many say they have no way of acquiring
seeds to start the plant.

Now, over the objections of their more conservative colleagues in
Eastern Washington, state lawmakers are walking down a controversial
path to make the drug more readily available to qualifying patients --
those whose medical provider recommends the drug for certain conditions.

Senate Bill 5073 would allow small, commercial growing operations to
produce marijuana for medical purposes and sell it in
dispensaries.

According to an amended version of the bill, gardens could be
established to serve up to three patients and grow a total of 45
plants. Patients and their providers would be protected from arrest
and allowed up to 15 plants each and 24 ounces of marijuana for
personal medical use at any given time.

The original version of the bill was more generous, allowing up to 99
plants to serve up to 25 patients.

Medical marijuana operations could be run by patients or a licensed
provider. Growers, sellers and patients would have to register with
the state Department of Health.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, who
visited Colorado, where dispensaries paid more than $5.1 million in
state and local taxes last year. Her bill passed the Senate 29-20 last
week and is now before the Health, Care and Wellness Committee in the
House.

Supporters say the measure is a way to either control the supply chain
in the interest of patients and public safety. Kohl-Welles said the
only other option is to "do nothing, with producers and dispensaries
continuing to mushroom around the state unregulated."

While Yakima has no known dispensaries, "potpreneurs" have opened up
in other parts of the state with 120 at last counting.

Opponents say the bill will only open the door to abuse.

"The point is that it seems to open up a Pandora's box on who gets to
grow it, who gets to sell it," said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima. "If
this is truly a medical issue, then control the growth and have it on
a prescription basis through a pharmacy and control it that way."

He voted against the bill along with Sens. Janea Holmquist Newbry,
R-Moses Lake, and Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside.

King said he doesn't want Washington to become another Montana, where
a similar law has created something of a boom-town mentality with
formerly out-of-work electricians and plumbers building indoor
commercial growing operations for dispensaries.

"And that's what's going to happen here," King predicted.

He questions what will happen if the number of growers and stores
outpace the medical demand.

"Who is going to monitor that?" he questioned. "Who is going to
oversee that all these sales are going to the proper patients?"

Although registered nurse Dionetta Hudzinski supports marijuana for
the treatment of chronic pain in some cases, she admits that policing
growing operations and sales could be difficult.

"This thing is a can of worms," said Hudzinski, who owns Comfort Care
Unlimited in Yakima.

She said none of the patients she treats has a medical recommendation
for marijuana use -- the current law -- because doctors in the Yakima
Valley are reluctant to write them.

"It's the stigma that it's addicting, and patients only want it to get
high," she said.

Dr. Brett Quave, who runs Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital's pain
clinic called Water's Edge, doesn't believe in using marijuana to
treat pain. All patients at the clinic must pass a urine test.

Quave said medical marijuana hasn't been well studied, and he said
among physicians there is disagreement over whether its physiological
effects actually treat the pain or merely cause the patient to forget
about it.

"From a personal standpoint, I don't see patients getting better from
it," he said. "I don't see it improving their quality of life overall."

Hudzinski disagrees. She said marijuana helps patients whose pain
comes from muscle spasms. "If you can relax them, their pain goes
down," she said.

At present, a doctor or nurse practitioner can prescribe marijuana
only by signing a letter saying a patient would benefit from its use,
Hudzinski said.

With some doctors reluctant to sign such letters, many patients are
going to clinics outside Yakima where they pay anywhere from $300 to
$500 to get a medicinal dose, she said.

Susan -- who asked that her last name not be used -- said she was told
she could get a prescription from a clinic at the University of
Washington for $500. Living only on Social Security and disability,
she said she couldn't afford it.

She used marijuana illegally through much of 1990s to treat spinal
arthritis.

"I was in so much pain, I was ready to go jump off of a bridge and
someone mentioned it to me," the 64-year-old said. "And I thought
'it's illegal,' but I was in so much pain that I tried it and it worked."

Material from the Seattle Times was included in this
report.

The current law

Qualifying: A patient must suffer from a "terminal or debilitating
medical condition" such as cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis or
intractable pain. Depression and anxiety do not qualify.

Recommending: Clinicians can't legally prescribe marijuana but can
recommend it. Doctors, naturopaths and physician assistants, among
others, sign recommendations on tamper-resistant paper.

Possession: A recommendation is an "affirmative defense" in court, but
not protection from arrest. Patients can have a 60-day supply (24 ounces
and 15 plants); patients can exceed that limit with a proven medical need.

Dispensaries: Patients may grow their own or get it from a "designated
provider" who can help only one patient "at any one time." Law does not
allow or prohibit dispensaries or patient collectives.

Federal law: Marijuana remains illegal under federal
law.

Source: State Department of Health; ACLU of Washington