Pubdate: Fri, 6 Jan 2006
Source: Boston Phoenix (MA)
Copyright: 2005 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group.
Contact:  http://www.bostonphoenix.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/54
Author: Ian Donnis
Referenced: Rhode Trip http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1081/a10.html
Referenced: The Edward O. Hawkins Medical Marijuana Act 
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Billtext/BillText05/SenateText05/S0710Aaa.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/states/ri/ (Rhode Island)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

POLITICS OF PAIN

Rhode Island Follows Through on Medical Marijuana

When it comes to the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode
Island, the question has generally been when -- not if -- it would happen.

Sure, Republican governor Donald L. Carcieri, whose vetoes have
withstood the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in the past,
could cite a litany of concerns, from distribution to the fear that
legalizing medical marijuana will make it far more available to
children. But by resoundingly overriding Carcieri's veto in a 59-13
vote, the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Tuesday embraced
the compassionate theme long sounded by proponents.

The vote, capped by enthusiastic applause from supporters, makes Rhode
Island the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana -- and the first to
do so since the US Supreme Court ruled last June in Gonzales v. Raich
that the federal government can prosecute sick people who use the drug
to ease their discomfort.

Showing a distinct lack of anxiety about crossing the feds, the Rhode
Island Senate voted in support of medical marijuana less than 24 hours
after the high court's decision last summer. And while such
legislative support might seem unusual in a place with a strong strain
of social conservatism, it reflects the intimacy of a state where
everyone, it seems, knows someone who would like to use medical
marijuana to better cope with such debilitating illnesses as cancer,
AIDS, and multiple sclerosis.

"Two years ago, it probably wouldn't have been an issue with me," said
Representative Thomas C. Slater (D-Providence), the lead sponsor of
the legislation in the House. But after watching a brother, an uncle,
and his father die from cancer, the representative -- who has himself
has been treated for the disease -- sees things very differently.
Speaking with reporters before Tuesday's vote, he noted, "There are a
lot of other people out there who have friends and family who have
been sick."

A three-fifths majority was needed in the 75-member House to override
Carcieri's veto, and the outcome never seemed in doubt as the chamber
took up the matter before officially starting the new legislative
session. Opposition came mostly from Democratic rivals of House
Speaker William J. Murphy and from Republicans, like House Minority
Leader Robert Watson, a medical-marijuana proponent, who voted with
the governor in partisan solidarity.

In a statement, Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal warned, "This bill
appears to violate federal law. Consequently, it will subject Rhode
Islanders to prosecution by the federal government. The United States
Supreme Court has ruled that state laws permitting the medicinal use
of marijuana do not trump federal laws criminalizing marijuana. The
consequence is that Rhode Islanders who rely on state law can still be
prosecuted criminally by the federal government."

But as Anthony Pettigrew, the US Drug Enforcement Administration's New
England spokesman, told me last year, "The DEA has never targeted the
sick and dying, but rather criminals [involved] in drug cultivation
and trafficking. We'll target major trafficking organizations and take
them apart." (See "Rhode Trip," News and Features, July 8, 2005.)

Rob Kampia, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Marijuana
Policy Project, which aggressively lobbied for the Rhode Island law,
hailed the vote, saying, "[It] proves yet again that the movement to
protect medical-marijuana patients from arrest is unstoppable. Last
June, White House drug czar John Walters proclaimed 'the end of
medical marijuana as a political issue' . . . but he couldn't have
been more wrong. . . . We will continue to roll back the government's
war on the sick and the dying, and the White House drug czar can't
stop us any more than he can make water flow uphill."

As for Massachusetts, the public seems to be in favor of medical
marijuana -- all five non-binding medical-marijuana initiatives on
ballots across the state in 2004 passed by at least a two-to-one
margin. There are two medical-marijuana bills now sitting in committee
in both the House and the Senate. And if one of them does wind up on
Mitt Romney's desk, it's likely the legislature will be pushing to
override him as well. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake