GOVERNOR VETOES MOST OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

The Governor Struck Sections Legalizing Dispensaries and Imposing
Standards on the Quality of Medical Cannabis.

OLYMPIA - Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed most of a ground-breaking
expansion of the state's medical marijuana law Friday, saying the
bill would have put state workers at risk of arrest by federal authorities.

Gregoire crossed out sections that would have legalized marijuana
dispensaries and had state health and agricultural employees
regulating the quality and potency of cannabis produced for patients.

What she left in the bill and signed will expand protections for
patients and, for the first time, spell out the amount of marijuana
that patients can grow on their own or collectively with others.

"It is a much pared-down bill," she said. "I don't want to mislead
anybody, but I have left what I could."

Gregoire's action surprised no one. She has become increasingly
concerned that workers would be put in a position of breaking federal
drug laws when carrying out the state law as passed by the Legislature.

She's become focused on the matter since U.S. Attorneys Jenny Durkan
of Seattle and Mike Ormsby of Spokane laid out the prospects in a
letter to her earlier this month.

"I will not subject my state employees to federal prosecution,
period," the governor said. "I think that's irresponsible on my part.
That is the clear reason for what I've done today."

She said she's willing to work in the remaining days of the special
session on a bill addressing a few of the vetoed items. And she wants
to try to get federal authorities to reclassify marijuana from a
controlled substance, or Schedule I, to a narcotic on the Schedule II
list so it can be made available by prescription.

"I believe these patients are entitled to protection, and I want them
to have medicinal marijuana that they need," she said. "I want it
done right and not at the expense of putting state employees at risk
of federal prosecution."

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, the bill's sponsor, expressed
disappointment in the governor's action and disagreed with her
assessment of the threat to state workers.

"I believe the risk of this happening is low," she said, "while the
loss of many of the bill's key provisions means tens of thousands of
qualifying patients will continue to have difficulty accessing a
legal, safe, secure and reliable source of the medicine" they need.

The American Civil Liberties Union sent Gregoire a letter Thursday
seeking to convince her that federal authorities had made an empty
threat -- that they had never arrested state workers carrying out a
medical marijuana law elsewhere and wouldn't do so in Washington.

The arguments didn't sway Gregoire.

"It is very disappointing," said Shankar Narayan, ACLU's legislative
director. "The Legislature stepped up. It's unfortunate the governor
didn't step up and sign the bill."

Voters in 1998 approved Initiative 692, allowing use of marijuana for
medical purposes by patients with a terminal or debilitating medical
condition as diagnosed by a health care professional.

But the initiative didn't answer a lot of questions, like how
patients might obtain marijuana for medication if they didn't grow it
themselves. It doesn't account for the arrival of dispensaries that
are growing and distributing marijuana.

This year, lawmakers hammered out Senate Bill 5073 as a sweeping
solution to many problems encountered since the initiative's passage.
It passed the Senate on a 29-20 vote and the House by a 54-43 margin.

One of the bigger changes in the newly signed revised law: A
qualifying patient may grow cannabis for their own use, or designate
a provider to grow it on their behalf, or participate in a
collectively run garden with up to nine other patients.

Patients can possess up to 15 marijuana plants and 24 ounces of
usable cannabis on their own, and there can be up to 45 plants at a
shared garden under the new law.

Gregoire's partial veto Friday leaves cities and counties without the
clarity they had sought as to how to deal with dispensaries.

Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace and Granite Falls adopted moratoriums on
dispensaries earlier this year. They did so with an eye on the
Legislature, where it seemed uniform guidelines for approving and
regulating dispensaries might be developed.

Gregoire said local government leaders she spoke with were split on
the bill, with some wanting it vetoed and others wanting it signed.

She wound up deleting a section that would have barred local
governments from keeping dispensaries out. That preserves their power
to deal with them on their own, she said.

[Sidebar]

WHAT THE GOVERNOR LEFT IN

Here's what Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a speech explaining her veto
of portions of the revised marijuana law:

"I have kept sections of the bill that preserve Initiative 692's
affirmative defense from state prosecution for patients and those who
assist them with the medical use of marijuana.

"I have kept sections of the bill that provide additional state law
protection from civil and criminal penalties.

"Parental rights may not be restricted solely due to the medical use
of cannabis without showing impairment in the performance of
parenting functions.

"Qualifying patients may not be denied an organ transplant solely
because of medical marijuana use.

"Medical marijuana patients and their providers may grow cannabis for
their own use, designate a provider to grow on their behalf, or
participate in a collective garden with other qualifying patients
without fear of state criminal prosecutions."