R.I. Senate passes marijuana bill - News - Turnto10
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island’s Senate has approved a bill permitting up to three nonprofit stores to sell marijuana to chronically ill patients registered with the state.

A spokesman for Senate President Joseph Montalbano said the proposal passed Thursday 29-6. It now heads to House lawmakers.

Sen. Rhoda Perry, the bill’s sponsor, has said the proposal fixes a loophole in Rhode Island’s Medical Marijuana Program.

State lawmakers voted in 2006 to allow chronically ill patients and their caregivers to possess small amounts of marijuana for pain relief. But they never made clear how patients were supposed to buy the drug. It remains illegal under federal law.

More than 700 patients and caregivers are enrolled in the state’s Medical Marijuana Program.

This is a huge victory.  A 29-6 vote means the measure has a veto-proof majority.  Rhode Island’s governor Carcieri vetoed the medical marijuana bill, which was overturned by the legislature, and I imagine he’ll be quick to veto this measure if it should make it to his desk.

Now the companion bill, H7888, needs to be passed by the 75-member General Assembly.  45 votes would provide the veto-proof majority we need to get past Governor Carcieri and create the first medical marijuana compassion centers on the East Coast.

Another fantastic development is a new letter sent out to all its members by the Rhode Island Medical Society endorsing medical marijuana.  Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition’s Jesse Stout also writes in to tell us,

As I write, Dr. Donald Abrams is presenting RIPAC’s 2nd annual Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminar on medical marijuana accredited by Rhode Island Hospital.  Among the physicians in attendance are leaders of Rhode Island’s medical community.  Earlier today, Senator Rhoda Perry, sponsor of S2693, introduced Dr. Abrams as a “visiting dignitary” to recognize him on the floor of the RI Senate.

Educating physicians about medical marijuana is so important.  Medical schools aren’t going to be telling them much about cannabis and much of what they do hear is medically inaccurate.

Tags: Rhode Island

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 7:47 am and is filed under 4:20 NewsHour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a trackback from your own site.