SENATE OKS REVAMPING MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES

OLYMPIA - Weeks after a grower startled lawmakers by unveiling half a
dozen pot seedlings in the middle of a legislative hearing, the Senate
approved a bill Wednesday revamping the rules on medical marijuana.

"This bill will provide some needed clarifications" to police,
patients, physicians and growers, said Sen. Jean Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

"It was clear from the hearing that there are some abuses that are
taking place as a result of the initiative," said Sen. Cheryl Pflug,
R-Maple Valley. The bill helps "deal with those who are poised to take
advantage of a gray area," she said.

Under 1998's Initiative 692, terminally or seriously ill patients can
use marijuana, if a doctor thinks it will help. At legislative
hearings, patients testified that smoking or eating pot helped quell
chemotherapy nausea, ease pain and spur hunger at a time when patients
were dangerously thin.

One longtime advocate is Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley. He said
it's hypocritical for the federal government to have subsidized
tobacco for years, for the state to be selling liquor "and we're
concerned about a dying patient or one with a debilitating disease
smoking marijuana."

"I believe anyone dying is entitled to anything, whether it's legal or
illegal," McCaslin told his fellow lawmakers Wednesday. "I watched my
wife die over a period of eight years with cancer, and many of you
watched your loved ones die. In my opinion, they're entitled to
anything they want."

Senate Bill 6032 is an attempt to more clearly spell out the role of
physicians, clarify who can grow and process the marijuana and what
law enforcement can do to ensure that a person is a legitimate medical
marijuana patient.

One thing it doesn't and can't do, however, is repeal the fact that
the federal government ignores state laws recognizing medical
marijuana. At hearings, several of the patients who testified had been
raided by federally-funded drug task forces.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2005 that medical marijuana users can
be prosecuted for breaking federal laws even if they live in a state
where the drug is legal with a doctor's approval. On Wednesday, the
9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a California woman whose
doctor said that marijuana is the only drug keeping her alive.

"The Senate is dancing along an extremely fine line here," said Pflug.
The bill does address a longstanding question about the initiative.
I-692 allowed patients a 60-day supply of the drug. The problem is
that nobody's figured out how much marijuana that is.

The Senate bill directs state health officials to set the limit. But
it also sets up a way for patients to challenge the limit if their own
medical needs require more. The bill passed 39 to 10 and now goes to
the House of Representatives.