| 6/16/2009 |
Assembly overrides veto of compassion centers bill
STATE HOUSE – Rhode Island will allow the creation of compassion centers to dispense medical marijuana after both chambers voted today to override the governor’s veto of legislation legalizing them.
The bill’s sponsors, Rep. Thomas C. Slater and Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, say today’s final vote is the satisfying culmination of a battle they have waged for the better part of a decade to allow patients suffering from chronic, debilitating pain to seek relief. While they won part of the fight in 2006 when Rhode Island legalized the use and possession of medical marijuana, up to now patients have had no safe way to purchase the drug.
“For the more than 600 Rhode Islanders who rely on medical marijuana to help relieve the unimaginable suffering that some diseases cause, or to relieve their nausea enough to take food, this will provide not only relief and safety, but also dignity. Sick people should not be forced to associate with drug dealers and the dark underbelly of society to get the help they need. I’m glad we’re finally recognizing their right to access marijuana safely, legally and without needless shame or fear,” said Representative Slater, a Democrat who represents District 10 in Providence, the House sponsor who is himself in treatment for advanced-stage cancer.
Today’s vote – which was unanimous in the House and 35-3 in the Senate – marks the third time the General Assembly has overridden the governor’s veto of legislation relating to medical marijuana. In January 2006, the Assembly overrode a veto to pass the original bill allowing a year-long trial of legalized medical marijuana in the state, and then overrode the governor again the following year to permanently enact the law. The governor also vetoed a bill last year that would have studied the issue of compassion centers, but the Assembly had already recessed for the summer and never overrode that veto.
Representative Slater and Senator Perry, who were also the sponsors of all the previous medical marijuana bills, pushed for the centers this year because President Barack Obama’s administration has indicated it will be more supportive than the previous administration of states’ efforts to provide relief to suffering patients. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. has stated that the federal government will cease raids on such dispensaries that comply with the laws of their states. Rhode Island now becomes the third state, after California and New Mexico, to allow dispensaries for medical marijuana.
The law will allow up to three licensed dispensaries statewide to distribute marijuana and related equipment to patients and their caregivers registered in the state’s medical marijuana program. The bill (2009-H 5359A, 2009-S 0185aa) takes effect immediately, but the Department of Health will have to issue regulations and set up a licensing process before any compassion centers can be opened.
Some of the patients who testified at committee hearings for the bill told of being robbed, beaten and terrified while attempting to find marijuana on the streets.
“It’s heartbreaking to think about sick people – some of whom are one death’s door – having to poke around in unsafe places and do business with criminals just to get a little relief from their pain. I’m so proud that Rhode Island is at the forefront of rational thinking about this issue, and that we will now show true compassion for the citizens of this state who are suffering,” said Senator Perry, a Democrat who represents District 3 in Providence.
The fight for patient access to marijuana has been a very personal campaign for its sponsors. Representative Slater is one of four of the six siblings in his family with the cancer. He has lost his father, brother and uncle to cancer. While he previously has not needed medical marijuana, his cancer has recently become advanced and he expects to begin using it soon on his doctor’s recommendation.
Senator Perry’s nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, died five years ago after a long, painful battle with AIDS. As Hawkins suffered and wasted away in his final months, his family offered to get him marijuana to ease his pain and relieve his nausea, but he refused for fear of arrest.
In honor of their personal crusades to make marijuana treatment available to the suffering, the General Assembly christened the law the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Waterman, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457 |
LEGISLATIVE INFO
