The Republican governor vetoed the bills Wednesday and sent them back to the Democratic-dominated General Assembly.
He vetoed [a] bill that would have created a commission to recommend a way to distribute medical marijuana to patients.
Not a bill to create dispensaries, mind you, but a bill to create a commission to investigate potential methods of distributing medical marijuana. Maybe not even dispensaries; maybe they come back and recommend that there is no legal way to distribute medical marijuana. But the governor won’t even let them investigate something to do with medical marijuana. Pathetic.
The good news is that medical marijuana itself was passed by overriding Carcieri’s veto, and the bill he just vetoed got substantial majorities in the Senate and Assembly.
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.
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.
It’s Wednesday, May 14th and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.
Don’t forget to call your Congress and tell them to support HR5842 & HR5843 to end DEA raids in medical marijuana states and to legalize personal possession of marijuana. The number is 202-224-3121.
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Wednesday is Cannabis Science day on the Stash, and coming up after the news, we’re joined as always by Dr. Mitch Earleywine from the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Mitch is here to talk about the latest quack science report making the rounds courtesy of the Drug Czar – the idea that heavy marijuana use leads to teen depression.
Cannabis Karri brings us our musical break this hempday humpday with some Hawaiian hip-hop from a group called Amphibeus Tungs… voted by the staff of the Daily Audio Stash our favorite new band name. Their song is a relaxing beach number called “Smoke that Feelen” – ah, pakalolo and a white sand beach…
Then we’re speaking with Dr. Melanie Dreher, a researcher at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Dreher led one of the most definitive studies on the effects of cannabis smoking on pregnant women and their children. We’ll ask her about American courts in the news lately that have convicted new mothers of child abuse when their babies test positive for marijuana.
Don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter our latest “Pass the Stash” contest. You could win a free DVD from Suburban Noize Records’ rappers Kingspade. Stay tuned for details later in the podcast
Welcome to the show, load up your George W. Bong and sit back with your favorite strain… This is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.
The Senate voted 33-2 yesterday to send the proposal back to committee. The bill would allow up to three nonprofit stores in the state to sell marijuana to patients enrolled in Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program.
The state allows patients to possess marijuana for pain relief, but the drug is still illegal under federal law.
Senator Rhoda Perry, the bill’s sponsor, asked the Senate to halt the bill after it was amended to ban patients from smoking marijuana in motor vehicles or in front of other people.
Perry says the amendment insults chronically ill patients who use marijuana for pain relief.
Perhaps there is an argument to be made for preventing the use of medical marijuana in a motor vehicle. NORML always cautions against smoking and driving, and even if the patient isn’t the person driving, I can see how it would be important from a law enforcement and public safety perspective to prevent any marijuana smoking in a car.
The offensive part is not being allowed to smoke “in front of other people”. That’s far too broad a wording; here in Oregon, patients aren’t allowed to medicate “in public view”. But “in front of other people” could be the patient’s own friends or family in their own private residence or a hospital or a hospice. It is an insult, because it treats marijuana smoking as if it is a shameful act that must be hidden from other. We don’t require people on Vicodin, Percocet, or OxyContin to swallow their pills without anyone present, why would we require the same of medical cannabis?
It’s Monday, May 12th, and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.
Don’t forget to your Congress at 202-224-3121, and tell your representative to support Barney Frank’s HR5843 bill that would legalize marijuana for personal use. Ending prohibition starts with you!
For our Political Activism day today we’re heading on down to California to speak with Dale Geiringer, the Executive Director of California NORML. Dale’s got some updates on an upcoming vote to restrict marijuana growing in Mendocino county and the status of a bill to protect medical marijuana patients in the workplace.
For our musical break today I’m giving Cannabis Karri a break because today is my youngest brother’s 25th birthday. So today Josh Belville, my non-cannabis smoking little brother, is our featured artist and I’m playing the song he wrote because of a specific request from me, his pothead oldest brother, for a groovy tune about weed smoking. Josh comes through for all of us with a dance song called “Get Stoned Together.”
To conclude our Stash we go across the continent to Rhode Island to speak with Jesse Stout from the Rhode Island Patients Advocacy Coalition. Jesse’s got updates on the twin bills in the House and Senate that would legalize medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.
And remember, if you are a business or non-profit who’d like your message heard on the Daily Audio Stash or the NORML Weekly News, you can advertise with us. We have rates for every budget and a 10% discount for non-profits. You can target your message to the focused audience of enlightened cannabis consumers you’re looking for. With over 28,000 daily downloads and hundreds of thousands of embedded players on websites worldwide, advertising with NORML is the most effective way of reaching your potential customers. Just send us an email at stash ‘at’ norml.org and we’ll have you on the air in no time.
So sit back and relax with a good friend and your favorite strain, it’s time for your NORML Daily Audio Stash.
The bills would allow so-called “compassion centers” to sell up to 2.5 ounces of the drug every 15 days to a patient or his caregiver if they are enrolled in an existing medical marijuana program overseen by the state Health Department. Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the country in 2006 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, although the drug remains illegal under federal law.
And the state law contains a major flaw: it never explains how patients can buy marijuana, since dealing it remains a crime in Rhode Island. Opening distribution centers would eliminate the need for patients to meet with violent drug dealers or travel through areas plagued by drug-related crime, said Rep. Thomas Slater, who sponsored the latest measure. His bill would allow a maximum of three distribution sites in the state.
“I think it would be a safe place, an area they could get (marijuana) without a problem,” he said. The House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare was expected to hear testimony on Slater’s bill Tuesday, although a vote was not expected, said Larry Berman, a spokesman for House Speaker William Murphy.
A Senate committee was scheduled to vote on a similar bill Wednesday. The bill is likely to face opposition. Gov. Don Carcieri, a Republican, has repeatedly vetoed bills creating the state’s medical marijuana program because it violates federal law. He would also veto any expansion of the program, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal said.
Lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated General Assembly have always overridden Carcieri’s vetoes. Opening marijuana distribution centers in Rhode Island could also attract unwanted attention from federal law enforcement authorities, Slater said. Federal agents have not targeted patients for enrolling in Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program, saying they focus on upper-level drug dealers.
But the Drug Enforcement Administration did raid about two dozen marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area last year. The centers were designed to serve patients seeking marijuana for pain relief. A DEA spokesman in Boston did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Tuesday is Government at Work day on the podcast, and coming up after the news, we’re going to look at medical marijuana in the great Midwest with Dan Linn from Illinois NORML. He’s got updates on the medical cannabis bills that are being debated this week in their legislature. Then we head east to Rhode Island with Jesse Stout of the Rhode Island Patients Advocacy Coalition to discuss the proposal for a non-profit state-regulated medical cannabis distribution system.
After that we go back to the Midwest for our musical break with Sly Joe from Neenah, Wisconsin and his song “High” – just the kind of break Wisconsinites need to soothe the sorrow since Brett Favre announced his retirement from the Green Bay Packers… or maybe that’s just me.
And to end the show, I debut a new segment for the Stash – Patient Perspectives – where we sit down with ordinary Americans who have found incredible relief from the medical sue of cannabis. Today we speak with Susan, who is a registered patient in the state of Oregon who is using cannabis to help save her sight from the ravages of glaucoma – something the people of Michigan and Illinois should be considering as they debate enacting medical marijuana laws in those two Midwestern states.
So sit back and relax with your favorite strain – this is the Daily Audio Stash.
Howdy, Stashers. The podcast will be posted later today (around 4:20pm Eastern) so I can get interviews with Dan Linn of Illinois NORML and Jesse Stout of Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition for our Government at Work segment. (It’s one of the downsides of being on the West Coast - working around the 3hr time difference with the East. On the other hand, our cannabis out here is dyn-o-mite!)
Last Tuesday, 2/26, twin bills were introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly that would regulate distribution of medical marijuana by allowing a non-profit Compassion Center, an independent state-regulated facility, to distribute medical marijuana to Rhode Island’s licensed patients. In the House, Representative Tom Slater introduced H7888, and in the Senate, Senator Rhoda Perry introduced S2693. Click here to read its text.
(2) “Compassion center” means a not-for-profit entity registered under section 21-28.6-10 that acquires, possesses, cultivates, manufactures, delivers, transfers, transports, supplies or dispenses marijuana, or related supplies and educational materials to registered qualifying patients and their registered primary caregivers who have designated it as one of their primary caregivers.
Bill would also allow RI to accept recommendations from CT and MA
Pass the Stash: win 311+Snoop tix; Dr. Mitch Earleywine on teens + marijuana = nature?; Paul Armentano on "whole plant" Italian medmj study; music by Dubmatix.
Massachusetts: Pot Decrim Initiative Qualifies For November Ballot Measure Would Replace Criminal Penalties With A $100 Fine; Congress Moves Forward On Cannabis 'Candy' Crackdown; Rhode Island: Governor Vetoes Bill To Study Feasibility Of State-Licensed 'Compassion Centers'; Hawaii: Governor Vetoes Medical Marijuana Task Force Measure.
US Leads The World In Illicit Drug Use; US Drug Enforcement Administration ‘Celebrates’ 35 Years Of Failure; Marijuana, Cocaine Have Contrasting Effects On Driving Performance, Study Says; Loretta Nall on AL judge's son's special treatment for felony drug charges.
Oral Pot Preparation Effective For Depression, Journal Reports; New Zealand: Most Pot Consumers Not Frequent Users; Cannabis Agonist Reduces Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Tumor Growth, Study Says; California: County Officials Finalize Mendocino Vote Count; Interview with Mason Tvert on proposal of cannabis smoking lounges in Denver airport to combat air rage incidents with alcohol.
John Wesley Hall, president-elect of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, describes the case precendent in roadside traffic stops and search and seizure.
Seattle, Washington attorney Doug Hiatt explains the latest medical use issues in Washington State, including denial of transplant organs for medmj patients.
