Now for another first: Washington state Gov Christine Gregoire and Rhode Island Gov Lincoln Chafee have filed a petition with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration asking the agency to reclassify marijuana so doctors can prescribe it and pharmacists can fill the prescription. So then, if this is done, no more dispensaries. On Wednesday the governors said they want the federal government to list marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, allowing it to be used for medical treatment. Marijuana is currently classified a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it’s not accepted for medical treatment and can’t be prescribed, administered or dispensed.
Washington and Rhode Island are 2 of 16 states, and the District of Columbia, that have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana.
“Each of these jurisdictions is struggling with managing safe access to medical cannabis for patients with serious medical conditions,” the 99-page petition and report reads. “Our work with the federal agencies has not resolved the matter.” Netscape
Gregoire said that the conflict between state and federal laws means legitimate patients lack a regulated and safe system to obtain marijuana. In 1998, Washington voters approved the medical marijuana law, that gives doctors the right to recommend — but not prescribe — marijuana for people suffering from cancer and other conditions that cause “intractable pain.”
Earlier in the year Gregoire vetoed most of a bill that made major reforms to the state’s medical marijuana law, saying state workers could be prosecuted under federal law the way the measure was written. The legislation was passed to set clearer regulations on medical marijuana use and to establish a licensing system and patient registry to protect qualifying patients, doctors and providers from criminal liability. Gregoire vetoed provisions of the bill that would have licensed and regulated medical marijuana dispensaries and producers. She also nixed a provision for a patient registry under the Department of Health.
“There’s chaos and conflict between what the states are doing and what the Justice Department is threatening to do,” said Chafee, who was on Wednesday’s conference call with Gregoire. Netscape
Now the DEA earlier this month raided 10 dispensaries Washington state, including several in Seattle, where law enforcement officials have taken a lenient view of medical marijuana grows and dispensaries. Search warrant affidavits suggested the shops were fronts for illicit drug dealing and revealed that agents were looking for evidence of drug conspiracies, money laundering and guns. Similar raids occurred in Montana and California as well.
The DEA has rejected prior petitions seeking to reclassify marijuana, but Gregoire noted that this is the first petition signed by governors. Gregoire also said the science on the issue has changed. The American Medical Association reversed its position two years ago and now supports investigation and clinical research of cannabis for medicinal use.
So in other words, instead of wanting to enforce the law, they have chickened out, wanting the federal law changed. Gregoire also expects other governors to join them. Hmm, Democrats perhaps. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin plans to sign the petition and write a letter in support of the proposed change.
There is currently an effort in Washington state to decriminalize and tax recreational marijuana sales for adults. Initiative 502, which has been endorsed by two former Seattle U.S. attorneys and the former head of the FBI in Washington state, would create a system of state-licensed growers, processors and stores, and would impose a 25 percent excise tax at each stage. Adults 21 and over could buy up to an ounce of dried marijuana; one pound of marijuana-infused product in solid form, such as brownies; or 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquids. It would be illegal to drive with more than 5 nanograms of THC, the active ingredient of cannabis, per milliliter of blood.
Sponsors need to collect more than 240,000 valid signatures by Dec. 30 to place the measure before the Legislature early next year. If the Legislature doesn’t take up the issue, it automatically goes to the November ballot. Gregoire said her focus was on medical marijuana, and how to “get relief that is safe and readily available to these patients.” Nah, it’s to get her off the hook.
Janet
/ 01/30/201242 Wash. lawmakers ask DEA to reclassify marijuana
More than three dozen Washington state lawmakers are asking the federal government to reclassify marijuana.
My Northwest