LAWMAKERS NEED TO FIX THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA MESS

This state's medicinal marijuana law is a wreck. Attempts to clarify
the voter-approved law during the 2011 legislative session imploded
when the governor vetoed large portions of the measure aimed at
legalizing cannabis dispensaries.

Between them, lawmakers and Gov. Chris Gregoire have created quite a
mess, increased uncertainty and left patients and suppliers totally
confused about their legal status. Add in federal raids on marijuana
dispensaries in Spokane and the people of this state are left with a
jumbled mess that merits legislative action.

Now that lawmakers have completed their work for the year and adopted
a balanced 2011-13 state operating budget, it's time for medicinal
cannabis supporters like Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, to draw
the players together to see where compromises can be found and
clarity added to state law. If consensus can be reached, a bill
should be ready to run early in the 2012 session. If the issue cannot
wait until then and the feds continue their raids, a special one-day
legislative session can be held to clarify the law and clean up the
mess from the governor's veto.

This is one of those issues where there's no doubt where voters
stand. After a feisty campaign in 1998, Washington voters made it
clear that they wanted cancer patients to be able to use marijuana to
combat nausea caused by chemotherapy. More than 1.1 million
Washington voters approved Initiative 692 - 58.97 percent favorable
vote - to authorize the use of medicinal marijuana for cancer and
other patients.

Ever since, users and growers have been caught in a legal limbo -
caught between the voter-approved initiative and federal drug laws
that make no exception for the medicinal use of cannabis. This should
be a states' rights issue and the feds should bow out. They certainly
have a terrible record in combating illegal drug trafficking.

Washington state's original initiative didn't say explicitly that
dispensaries are legal or illegal.

The Legislature this year passed Senate Bill 5073 which offered
patient protections, authorized collective gardens, and allowed local
cities and counties to adopt zoning and health regulations governing
the production, processing and distribution of medicinal marijuana.

Definitions in the original law that medical marijuana supporters
used to justify dispensaries were removed by legislators who thought
they would be replacing them with a blueprint for a state-regulated
supply and distribution system.

Old language referring to "designated providers" who provided
cannabis to "only one patient at any one time" disappeared, taking
one of the dispensaries' main claims for legitimacy with them.

The federal government raised the stakes on the issue, raiding
marijuana dispensaries in Spokane the day before the governor was to
take up the bill, which passed the House 54-43 and the Senate 27-21.

Gregoire was under intense pressure to both sign and veto the
proposed legislation. U.S. attorneys in Western and Eastern
Washington, Jenny Durkan and Michael Ormsby, urged a veto saying
state regulators would not be immune from prosecution by the federal
government. That prompted the state's largest employee union to urge
a gubernatorial veto, too.

The governor vetoed large portions of Senate Bill 5073 and as a
result the state law is in tatters and confusion abounds.

Nathan Harris, manager of Tacoma's Best Alternative Medicine, a
dispensary, says he doesn't know what to expect. "If the law says we
have to close, we'll close," he said. "We're not trying to be a
vigilante or anything. ...To tell the truth, I'm a little confused
about what's going on right now."

He's not alone.

Mac McCloud, 56, of Yelm, a qualified medical marijuana patient, is
right when he says, "People are going to smoke, no matter who sells
it. If they close these dispensaries, the people that sell illegal
drugs are going to be happy about it. The Mexican mafia will just
make more money, because that's where most of these drugs are coming from."

Lawmakers have an obligation to clear up this mess. They didn't get a
second bill passed in the 30-day special session in May because their
full attention was focused on passing a balanced budget. But the
interim between annual sessions is a perfect time to draft a proposed
solution, hold public hearings, collect ideas and craft a bill that
recognizes the will of the voters and does not subject public
employees to the possibility of arrest. Surely reasonable minds can
come to a reasonable solution to clear up the mess we have today.