MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL DIES AT THE LEGISLATURE

A proposal establishing a medical marijuana pilot project appears dead
this year.

Lawmakers decided to defer the proposal in Senate Bill 1458, calling
on advocates to further study the issues and come up with
recommendations for next year.

Originally, lawmakers had proposed a five-year pilot project
establishing a "compassionate care" distribution center on an island
to be determined.

The latest version of the proposal, floated today, would have delayed
the opening of the distribution center for two years while a working
group studied ways to cut down on alleged abuses of the existing
medical marijuana statute.

Sen. Josh Green, the Senate health committee chairman, had sought
tougher restrictions on medical marijuana, saying more than half of
Big Island patients with legal prescriptions were young adults under
the age of 30.