Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  Medical Marijuana Bill Hits a Snag
Posted by CN Staff on May 25, 2002 at 06:45:22 PT
By Tracy Schmaler , Vermont Press Bureau  
Source: Rutland Herald  

medical Efforts to pass a measure providing some legal protections to seriously ill patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes failed Tuesday, raising doubts among some lawmakers that any bill would make it into law this year.

Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, tried several procedural ways to get his measure through the Senate. All were in vain.

Despite the failures, Sears said he was not giving up hope of getting some proposal out of the Senate by the end of the week.

“At this point, I’ve kind of made a commitment to move forward with my position on the issue of medical marijuana. Admittedly, it’s a baby step. The challenge now is the people who originally advocated for it don’t want this baby step,” he said.

Sears’ proposal creates a so-called affirmative defense for patients who possess up to an ounce of marijuana. The measure does not make it legal to possess the drug as a House-passed bill did, but rather would provide patients with a defense they could mount before a judge or jury.

Even if Sears is able to win the support of the Democratic-controlled Senate on his version later this week, leaders in the Republican House doubt they would have time to take up a new bill.

“This is the last week or so of the session. We’re trying to wrap things up,” said Rep. Margaret Flory, R-Pittsford, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee. “This may be how the Senate is choosing to kill it.”

Flory, who has openly opposed the Senate version, questioned why Sears didn’t simply take the House-passed bill, which legalized the use of medicinal marijuana, and make changes to that. By doing that, Sears would skip the step of having to send a new bill back to the House for full review, and move straight to a committee of conference.

“We sent them a good bill,” she said. “If they want to deal with this issue, wouldn’t it seem logical for them to act on that bill, not a brand new Senate bill?”

Sears said he put his proposal on a new bill because he did not want to open the debate on the House’s measure because he had already decided there was not enough time in the last weeks of the session to discuss all the issues.

“An unexpected event occurred in the House when it passed its bill. We certainly didn’t have time to do a thorough job on it,” he said.

House members and advocates of medicinal marijuana have openly criticized Sears’ version as a weak attempt that provides no tangible benefits for seriously ill people who use the drug for relief of symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and pain.

The bill the House passed last month decriminalizes possession and cultivation of marijuana for patients who obtain a certificate from their physician. That measure also provided the same protections for primary caregivers, and created a database with the state of those approved patients and caregivers so police could verify that they had obtained the marijuana legally.

Despite inaction on medicinal marijuana Tuesday, the Senate moved at a quick pace in anticipation of adjournment in the coming weeks.

The Senate passed a capital construction budget, as well as a controversial measure governing the arrest powers of police officers. The Senate bill allowed police to arrest people on misdemeanor offenses without warrants only in certain circumstances. It marked a change from the House-passed bill, which granted police broader powers in those circumstances, including the ability to arrest for misdemeanors without a warrant under most circumstances.

That bill will likely make it into law in some form. The two sides are expected to negotiate a compromise measure in a joint House and Senate conference committee.

Source: Rutland Herald (VT)
Author: Tracy Schmaler , Vermont Press Bureau
Published: May 7, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Rutland Herald
Contact: info@rutlandherald.com
Website: http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/

Related Articles & Web Sites:

Marijuana Policy Project
http://www.mpp.org/

Medical Marijuana Information Links
http://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htm

Senate Debates Medical Marijuana Bill
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12768.shtml

CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml


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