Oregon NORML and medical marijuana activists kill restrictive Oregon Senate Bill 388

After eight attempts at amendment, Senate Bill 388, submitted on behalf of the Stormy Ray Cardholders Foundation and lobbied for heavily by law enforcement, has not been moved out of its committee by today’s deadline, effectively killing it for the 2009 Oregon legislative session. Oregon NORML’s Executive Director and chief lobbyist Madeline Martinez received the following email from the legislative assistant for the chairman of the committee:

After consultation with other members of the Senate Human Services Committee this morning, Senator Morrisette decided not to move SB 388 out of committee, effectively killing the bill for this session.  He said the bill — or some variation — could be brought back for further consideration if the Legislature meets, as expected, next February.

Despite everyone’s best efforts and multiple amendment attempts, the bill was still meeting strong opposition, from both patients and law enforcement.  Sometimes that’s an indication of a successful bill, but it was clear that there was still too much work to be done on this one.

The reason the bill met so much opposition is that it was based on the faulty premise that the OMMP is subject to “widespread abuse”, which we disproved in our Gold Standard report, and motivated by moral, not practical issues (the medical marijuana law “says something about the permissiveness in this state,” said business lobbyist Dan Harmon).

Oregon NORML (logo by Dave Bram)

Thanks to your donations of time and effort to Oregon NORML, as well as an unprecedented alliance of other Oregon medical marijuana groups like Voter Power, Oregon Green Free, and Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse all standing together in opposition to this horrible bill, registered patients, caregivers, and growers rights have been protected as follows:

• Cardholders will still be able to possess up to 24 ounces hashish, as it is still a “preparation” of the 24 ounces of cannabis a patient may possess. SB 388 sought to create a hash limit to 2 ounces, which would’ve desperately harmed the patients who cannot use other forms of cannabis. Also, language to limit edible marijuana preparations to a “four month supply” were killed, a vague wording that caused so much trouble with Washington’s law.
• Growers may still possess 24 ounces of cannabis for each patient they are growing for. SB 388 sought to set a firm 24 ounce limit, regardless of patients cared for, which would have immediately reduced the supply of medicine to patients in at least 20% of the medical marijuana grow sites.
• The OMMP will not be forced to print up a medical marijuana manual and cardholders will not be subject to some future punishment based on signing for that manual. SB 388 sought to create such a manual (at considerable cost, since they’d also have to print it in Braille) and require cardholders to sign an agreement binding them to understanding of the manual. Cardholders already sign paperwork with DHS to obey the OMMA; this would’ve been unnecessary and simply a tool for law enforcement to further punish patients slightly out of compliance with the law.
• Growers will not be subject to government inspections by DHS and subject to binding arbitration by the department when there are disagreements between grower and patient. This change would’ve severely curtailed the number of people willing to grow marijuana for patients, knowing that government inspectors could drop by anytime and would forward any out-of-compliance grows straight to law enforcement.

Your voice and your dollars made a difference! Thank you for supporting Oregon NORML!