Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jul 2005
Source: Providence Phoenix (RI)
Copyright: 2005 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group
Contact:  http://www.providencephoenix.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/648
Author: Rachael Scarborough King and Ian Donnis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Cited: Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org )

Medical Marijuana

WILL CARCIERI WIELD A VETO?

Despite resounding House and Senate votes in favor of legalizing 
medical marijuana, a spokesman for Governor Donald L. Carcieri 
maintains that the governor will veto the legislation. Some 
observers, though, citing the widespread support, question whether 
Carcieri may quietly let the measure become law. For his part, the 
governor has been somewhat ambiguous in comments to the press, 
professing a "wait and see" approach.

The breadth of support for medical marijuana in Rhode Island can be 
seen in the large number of legislative cosponsors, including House 
Minority Leader Robert Watson (R-East Greenwich), a Republican 
stalwart, and backing from such groups as the Rhode Island Medical 
Society and the Rhode Island State Nurses Association. "The support 
is all over the state right now," says state Representative Thomas 
Slater (D-Providence), the bill's chief House backer. "There's great 
concern about the compassion for those people who are elderly and 
those people who are on their last legs, so to say." Similarly, 
Watson says testimony from patients and their family members led many 
more people to support the bill than in the past.

Slater says the measure, which passed the Senate on a 33-1 margin 
Tuesday, and previously cleared the House on a 30-0 vote, is 
"veto-proof" because of these margins, and he expects supporters to 
contact the governor's office, asking him not to veto the bill. In a 
sign of the depth of federal opposition, though, two White House 
representatives, John Horton and Patrick Royal, have been visiting 
legislators, encouraging them to oppose the bill and to not push for 
an override if the governor vetoes the legislation, Watson says.

Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal says the governor's objections stem from 
the recent ruling in which the US Supreme Court found the federal 
government can prosecute the possession and use of marijuana for 
medicinal purposes even in states in which it is legal. "He does not 
believe that this particular bill contains enough safeguards around 
the growth and distribution and use of medical marijuana," Neal says. 
"He is concerned, as is the state police and the chief justice of the 
family courts, that this law would allow the use of marijuana for 
non-medicinal purposes to proliferate."

Proponents take a different view. In a statement, Krissy Oechslin, a 
spokeswoman for the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project, 
says, "The recent US Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Raich did 
not overturn the right of states to pass medical marijuana laws, and 
no authority has ever declared state medical marijuana laws unconstitutional."
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