VIRGINIA LAWMAKER PROPOSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL DrugSense FOCUS Alert #426 - Thursday, 21 January 2010 Virginia's 79-year-old Republican State Senator, delegate Harvey B. Morgan proposed legislation earlier this week to make cannabis available medically, and also to reduce penalties for marijuana possession for adults in the conservative southern state. Virginia's penalties for marijuana are currently some of the harshest in the nation. The AP report, below, is just one of many about this story. By using MAP's newsbot http://drugnewsbot.org?q=Virginia+OR+Va.+Lawmaker&concept=cannabis you can compare different versions of the AP Wire service story as the news breaks. Writing letters to the editor to your local newspapers in Virginia about delegate Harvey B. Morgan's proposed legislation may help advance the issue. Contacts for many newspapers may be found at http://mapinc.org/media.htm Virginia state representatives may be found at http://capwiz.com/norml2/home/ and urged to co-sponsor Morgan's courageous medical marijuana and decriminalization legislation. Morgan's proposed legislation does not, at this time, have a co-sponsor. Updated facts on medical marijuana you may wish to use are at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54 Articles and opinion items are about medical marijuana are being posted daily at http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 and breaking news posted hourly about medical marijuana may be found at http://drugnewsbot.org/topic/medical_cannabis.htm Virginia Lawmaker Proposes Medical Marijuana Bill Pubdate: Weds, 20 Jan 2010 Source: AP (Wire) shorter edit at the Washington Times - http://mapinc.org/url/PDlNGbeC a longer edit on the wires - http://mapinc.org/url/DwvRSeC1 VA. LAWMAKER PROPOSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL Steve Szkotak, Associated Press Writer RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Del. Harvey B. Morgan acknowledges he might not seem a likely proponent of decriminalizing marijuana and making the drug available medically. He's 79, a Republican and he's never touched the stuff. Surprising even his friends, Morgan has proposed bills that would ease penalties for marijuana possession and allow doctors to prescribe marijuana and pharmacists to dispense it for a wide range of medical uses. Morgan, whose 31 years in the General Assembly ranks him No. 2 in seniority, outlined his legislation Wednesday at a news conference. He came prepared with a raft of charts, studies, legalization proponents and medical professionals, and a good dose of realism on its prospects of passage. "I'm hopeful but not optimistic," Morgan, of Gloucester, said after the news conference. Fourteen states have what advocates call effective medical marijuana laws. Virginia has one of the oldest on the books -- it dates back three decades -- but it was enacted primarily for limited research purposes. "Virginia is one of 17 states with laws that recognize marijuana as a medicine, but whose impact is strictly symbolic," said Bruce Mirken, formerly of the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project and now an independent consultant. Because of laws restricting marijuana possession and distribution, "there is no supply of medical marijuana for physicians to prescribe or pharmacies to dispense," Mirken said. Under Morgan's two bills, the possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana would be reduced from a criminal offense to a civil one, carrying a $500 fine. People now face jail sentences and fines for possessing less than 1 ounce of the drug. In 2007, 18,000 people were prosecuted in Virginia for possessing 1 once of marijua na. Twenty-one states have decriminalized marijuana. The attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press to comment on Morgan's proposals. Morgan said he felt compelled to promote the decriminalization bill because of the many lives damaged by possession of small amounts of marijuana. He called his legislation a common sense approach and one that would ease overburdened courts and jails. "The commonwealth continues to punish people for mistakes made decades ago," Morgan said at the news conference. "We need to move to a more honest, reasoned, compassionate, and sensible drug policy, and this bill does that." The bill also eases penalties for marijuana distribution. On medical marijuana, Morgan drew upon his experience as a pharmacist, stating that all medications have benefits and risks. His bill would broaden the current statute, which allows for marijuana's use in the treatment of cancer or glaucoma, to include chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. "We trust physicians with our health care," he said. "Why not trust them to determine appropriate therapy?" Morgan is realistic, however, and acknowledged the legislation has not been run by the medical establishment or law enforcement groups. The bills do not have a co-sponsor. Still, Morgan persuaded an old college classmate and skeptic, who attended Wednesday's news conference. "I was surprised when I learned of this bill," Dr. Gaylord W. Ray said. "It seemed out of character." Like Morgan, however, Ray was persuaded by the suffering of patients and the human costs of strict drug laws. "It is a sad thing to see someone at the end of their life who is struggling with cancer and taking chemotherapy and they can't get relief from nausea," he said. After more than three decades in the legislature, Morgan said he's more concerned about what's right than with winning another term in office. "If people choose not to elect me because of this, that's up to them," he said. "But I'm doing the right thing, based on all the information I have." 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