Rhode Island Senate, Assembly, approve dispensaries by veto-proof margin

(Providence Journal) PROVIDENCE — Nearly a decade after patient advocates first pressed for full-scale legalization of marijuana for medical use, Rhode Island on Tuesday became only the second state to establish state-licensed dispensaries to sell the drug to the critically ill.

Senate lawmakers gave final approval to the House and Senate versions of the legislation, sending it to the governor’s desk with enough votes to override a veto, if necessary.

Governor Carcieri, a longtime critic of medical marijuana, confirmed in a brief interview Tuesday that he will “do the same thing I’ve done with it in the past.” A year ago he vetoed a compromise plan to study the concept, saying it would “move Rhode Island further down the path of weakening the laws governing — and public perception of — illicit drugs.”

But Senate lawmakers approved the legislation in an easy 31-2 vote Tuesday, days after the House approved the same plans in a 63-5 vote. Both tallies are well beyond the three-fifths majority needed to override a veto.

Every state that approves medical marijuana without approving a way to acquire medicine is essentially passing a huge stimulus package for their state’s black market marijuana dealers.  It is good that those states will no longer arrest sick people with marijuana, but then forcing those sick people out into the streets to buy a quarter-ounce from a corner dealer exposes the frail patients to robberies and assaults.  Allowing patients to grow their own medicine helps and higher limits than one or two ounces or three or six plants help, but the patients who can’t grow because of their frailty are exactly the ones most likely to be ripped off by a street hustler.

It’s the same with marijuana decriminalization; it’s nice to only fine and not jail people with pot and not saddle them with a criminal record, but that’s essentially legalizing the demand side without legalizing the supply side.  More demand with the same supply means more profit for the black market and easy tax revenues that are being squandered by the states.