Marijuana Policy Project Alert

April 20, 2010

 

Your input needed: D.C. Council expected to vote on medical marijuana today

Draft amendments to legislation answer some patient concerns, leave others unresolved.

Dear friends:

The D.C. Council may vote today on legislation to amend Initiative 59. The proposal would get a second vote in May. Please share your thoughts on implementation of medical marijuana with your councilmembers now.

Tell your DC councilmembers to put patients and voters first — tell them you want to see a medical marijuana program that resembles the one voters approved in Initiative 59.

Those of you in attendance at February’s hearing before the committees on Public Safety and the Judiciary as well as Health will be happy to know that this latest incarnation addresses many of the concerns you helped bring to the council’s attention. For instance, the bill no longer requires patients to seek recommendations from "primary care physicians," ensuring access for those too poor to see the same doctor regularly or, like many veterans, whose doctors are federal employees. The amended bill also reduces the minimum distance from which dispensaries must be located from schools — down to 300 feet from 1,000 feet — easing zoning and location concerns.

Still, several aspects of the bill now being considered raise concerns over the ability of patients to have safe, reliable access to medicine. For instance, the list of conditions for which medical marijuana could be utilized is needlessly restrictive. This would be only the second law in the country to completely exclude severe or chronic pain as a symptom or condition for which medical marijuana could be used as treatment. The bill would also mandate that patients use only marijuana or paraphernalia obtained from a District dispensary, and that they do so only in their own homes. A simple ban on smoking in public would be a much better and easier way to address legitimate concerns. Additionally, the bill limits the amount of marijuana that cultivation centers could grow to 95 plants, which would drive up costs and raise serious concerns about the ability of program supply to meet patient demand. Other concerns include:

• The right of patients to cultivate their own medicine will not be addressed until at least 2012, and is not guaranteed even then.
• Only physicians licensed in D.C. can make recommendations; a concern for the many District residents who see physicians in Maryland or Virginia.
• Patients would be limited to acquiring only 2 ounces of medical marijuana in any 30-day period. Patients in the federal government’s own “Investigational New Drug” program receive upwards of 9 ounces in that same time span.
• Dispensary transaction records identify patients by name rather than registry ID number, compromising patient privacy.

If you haven’t already, please do take just a minute or two to use our automated system to send your councilmembers a quick e-mail. When you’re done, go ahead and forward this on to a friend.

Thanks for all your help in shaping this legislation. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the process moves forward.

Sincerely,

Dan Riffle
Legislative Analyst
Marijuana Policy Project

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