MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACT PASSES STATE LEGISLATURE

The Rhode Island General Assembly is one step away from making the
Ocean State the eleventh U.S. state to legalize the medical use of
marijuana by the chronically ill.

After the House voted 52-10 in favor of the bill on June 22,
Republican Gov. Donald Carcieri '65 vetoed the legislation, prompting
a Senate override vote of 28-6 only four days later. The bill now
awaits a House override vote in September before being made law.

Carcieri's veto was expected and presented no serious challenges to
the success of the legislation, said the bill's lead House sponsor,
Rep. Tom Slater, D-Providence.

The bill - also referred to as the "pot-for-pain bill" - will protect
patients, their doctors, pharmacists and caregivers from arrest and
prosecution under state law if a Department of Health-certified
doctor determines marijuana a useful form of pain relief for a
patient. Individuals suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis
and other illnesses causing symptoms alleviated by use of the drug,
including nausea and seizures, will be eligible for use, pending
Department of Health approval.

However, the drug remains illegal at the federal level. The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled last month that state laws sanctioning medical
marijuana use provide no defense against enforcement of federal
anti-drug laws by federal agencies.

Once issued registration cards by the Department of Health, patients
or their caregivers could possess up to 12 plants or 2.5 ounces of
"usable marijuana" at any time. A specific amount was not included in
the original bill, which passed the state Senate - sponsored chiefly
by Sen. Rhoda Perry P'98, D-Providence - largely unaltered earlier in June.

Debate on the floor of the House led to that change, among others,
after representatives raised concerns about the drug's possible
accessibility to children, and the remaining illegal step - acquiring
marijuana - after testimony against the bill from state police
officials and a representative from the Family Court.

How illegal marijuana would find its way to a legally approved user
remains unaddressed in the final version of the bill. But Slater said
this ignores the purpose of the legislation, which aims simply to
protect medical marijuana users from arrest.

"I told them on the floor, (debate over acquiring) was irrelevant,"
Slater said. "(The patient) can get it themselves - it's readily
available all over the state."

In an effort to protect children from stumbling across the drug
outdoors, representatives added language specifying the plants be
kept in an indoor facility. House members also included clauses that
disqualified individuals with a felony record from serving as
caregivers and limited the number of patients to whom doctors could
recommend the drug in order to prevent possible abuse of the legislation.

Slater said that more serious than any of these changes was the
addition of a "sunset" clause. According to this stipulation, the
Department of Health would report back to the State House on the
law's success on Jan. 1, 2007, and unless legislators vote for its
renewal, the law would expire June 30 of that year.

"Hopefully, at that point things will be functioning smoothly just as
they have in every other (of the 10 states with similar
legislation)," said Trevor Stutz '07, outgoing president of the Brown
chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

SSDP kept its members updated on the bill's progress over the past
few months, at times urging them to sign a petition to the governor
or to write letters and call legislators to voice their support of
medical marijuana use. Stutz said SSDP and the Rhode Island Patient
Advocacy Coalition, whose executive director is Nathaniel Lepp '06,
will work together this fall to inform the community of the
legislation's impact.

Slater credited such public involvement, in addition to strong
lobbying, with the bill's success. He said one representative
received 50 calls from constituents - all of them in support of the bill.

"Everyone knows someone who has one of these chronic diseases who
would like relief," Slater, a cancer survivor, said. "The only
challenge left now is how the Department of Health makes up its
regulations on it - how they will control it, how they will see the
cards are given out. Then it's up to the individual to get a hold of the drug."

Though Slater is confident of the bill's prospects in an as-yet
unscheduled House override vote this fall, he is hesitant to
celebrate too soon.

"Once it's all finished in September, it will be a great victory," he said.