Physicians' Perspective - Medical Marijuana

2011 LEGISLATURE MAY DESTROY THE OREGON MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT

After voters passed the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) in 1998,
our Department of Human Services (DHS) established the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Program to register patients to use medical marijuana.
Stormy Ray and I were chief petitioners for the OMMA. I helped write
it, filed it, and was spokesperson for Oregonians for Medical Rights,
the PAC that sponsored the OMMA.

Last fall, voters defeated Measure 74, a dispensary initiative
sponsored by Voter Power, a patient advocacy group. In 2011, patients
must still be healthy enough to grow or fortunate enough to find a
grower, because sales remain illegal.

Recently, Law Enforcement worked with the Stormy Ray Cardholder's
Foundation (SRCF) to craft a new dispensary bill. Unfortunately, SRCF
chose not to invite the other 99% of the medical marijuana community.

This SRCF bill started as LC-798 and is at
http://stormyraydoesnotspeakforme.com. It is now titled HB 3046 and
is at
http://www.leg.state.or.us/11reg/measpdf/hb3000.dir/hb3046.intro.pdf.
Oregon Representative Mike Schaufler introduced this bill into the
2011 legislative session.

The SRCF Co-op bill, HB 3046, will irreparably damage the delicate
balance of our OMMA resulting in dire consequences for patients. This
bill should be buried in committee and no changes to the OMMA should
be planned for 2011.

Why is the SRCF Co-op model a bad idea? If you can find LC-798, you
will see the SRCF cover letter accuses patients of abuse. There are
about 60,000 registered OMMA cardholders-bigger than most Oregon
cities. Most investigated complaints are about bad neighbors rather
than issues unique to marijuana growing. Noise ordinances and leash
laws apply to everyone.

Another premise behind HB 3046 is wrong where SRCF says, "... the
overwhelming reason most patients don't have the medicine they need
is they cannot afford to grow." The accurate reason is that many
patients are too sick to grow so they require help from others.

The bad parts of HB 3046 begin in Section 2, Part (3)(c). It says the
SRCF dispensary certification must have at least 10 patients who
assign grow site cards to the cooperative. This will not work. This
means at least 240 plants with 60 mature in one site-likely a
neighborhood home-instead of our current limits of 96 plants with 24
mature. SRCF dispensaries will be a magnet to the feds and worsen bad
neighbor problems. Marijuana criminal defense lawyers tell us that no
lawyer will advise any client to participate in the SRCF model for
fear of arrest.

Section 2, Part (3)(g) invites warrantless law enforcement searches
of homes where the dispensary is located. The 4th amendment of the US
Constitution prohibits unwarranted police searches. Even if SRCF
places no value in our Constitution, lawyers warn that simple
mistakes-like the 12 inch rule for a cutting before it legally
becomes a mature plant-will cause arrests. Any patient who fears
arrest will avoid the SRCF Co-op model.

Section 2, Part (6) can entrap an unsuspecting patient into violating
federal law by participating in a SRCF Co-op. A simple majority vote
by the Co-op can turn a patient into an ignorant federal conspirator
even if s/he doesn't attend meetings or vote.

Section 3, Part (4) contains the most egregious attack on patients.
This cuts in half-from four to two-the number of patients a grower
may serve. This will leave nearly all homebound patients without
medicine as growers must dump two patients to comply with HB 3046. We
already have a shortage of growers and must rely on growing our own
medicine or getting others to grow for us. The standard in Oregon now
is often a healthier couple growing for themselves reluctantly taking
on one or two more patients who are unable to grow because of
illness. Our current model flies under federal radar with a maximum
of 96 plants with 24 mature per site. And it still allows homebound
patients to be added to established growers since the patient limit
is four instead of the two required by HB 3046. The SRCF bullies the
sickest patients into a corner where the patient either risks arrest
or risks having no medicine at all. That's why this part is the worst
part of HB 3046.

The final part of the bill, Section 20 declaring it an emergency, is
a cynical ploy by SRCF to spike any democratic voter referendum by
patient advocates.

Voters express concerns about economic motives behind dispensaries
but the SRCF model is the worst because it coerces patients into
dispensaries by poisoning the underlying OMMA. This bill inflicts
harm on the most vulnerable-those who are homebound. As a physician,
I say this is nothing but an attack on the sickest.

Please help patients stop the SRCF Co-op bill HB 3046 by contacting:

Oregon Representative Mike Schaufler

900 Court St. NE, H-382

Salem, OR, 97301

Capitol Phone: 503-986-1448

District Phone: 503-760-4446

Email: rep.mikeschaufler@state.or.us

Interim Email: mikeschaufler@comcast.net