SENATE BACKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

PROVIDENCE - Following the lead of the House of Representatives, the
Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday that would make
permanent the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The Senate vote was 28-5, a plurality that easily surpassed the 60
percent threshold needed to overturn an expected veto by Gov. Donald
L. Carcieri. All four Newport County senators voted for the bill.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed legislation legalizing the
doctor-prescribed use of marijuana for patients with debilitating
diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS. The patient
could possess up to 5 ounces of useable marijuana or grow up to 12
marijuana plants. The patient also could have up to two qualified
"caregivers" who could help the patient buy marijuana.

Carcieri vetoed the bill, but, on the first day of the 2006
legislative session, the General Assembly easily voted to override
that veto. But that legislation set a June 30, 2007, expiration date
for the law, allowing state officials to determine if there was any
widespread abuse. The identical bills approved by the House on
Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday would make the law permanent.

The bill also reduces the amount of marijuana a caregiver could have.
The current law allows the caregiver to supply marijuana to up to
five patients. The caregiver could possess up to 5 ounces and grow up
to 12 plants for each of those patients. The bill approved by the two
chambers would limit that to a total of 5 ounces and 12 plants.

"This allows seriously ill people to alleviate their pain ... without
the fear of prosecution," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rhoda E.
Perry, D-Providence. "These people using medical marijuana are not
using it to get high. They are using it to relieve their pain."

Sen. Leo R. Blais, R-Coventry, tried to amend the bill to prohibit
anyone convicted of violating state drug laws from getting a medical
marijuana license.

"We have a responsibility to the rest of the public to make sure if
they do something else and violate the Rhode Island controlled
substance act ... then they should also lose their rights and
privilege to (legally) grow marijuana," he said.

Blais' amendment died on a 13-20 vote. Sen. June N. Gibbs,
R-Middletown, voted for the amendment. Sens. Charles J. Levesque,
D-Portsmouth; Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport; and Walter S. Felag Jr.,
D-Warren, all voted against it.

After the House passed its version, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said
the governor would likely veto it again this year because possessing
marijuana still was against federal law and the law contained no
safeguards on the quality of marijuana being used.

The bills approved by the two chambers individually must also be
approved by the other chamber before they can be forwarded to
Carcieri. The governor has one week to either sign the bills or veto
them. If he vetoes them as expected each chamber has to approve them
again by a 60 percent margin to override the veto.