Pubdate: Tue, 19 Nov 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Steph Sherer
Page: A13
Note: Steph Sherer is executive director of Americans for Safe
Access, an advocacy group for medical cannabis patients based in
Washington, D.C.

THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTINCTION

WASHINGTON - Gov. Jay Inslee and the state's legislators are poised to
make history as they devise a plan to harmonize their medical cannabis
program with one that allows anyone 21 or older to buy and possess
marijuana. What Washington lawmakers decide will shape how patients
are treated elsewhere in the nation.

Inslee has shown courage implementing Initiative 502, pushing the
federal government through letters and meetings to accept his state's
new adult-use marijuana law. As a congressman, he fought to protect
the medical cannabis program in his state from federal
interference.

Now that same determination is needed to support the spirit of the
1998 medical-marijuana state initiative that created safe access.

Some in Washington have suggested that patients who enjoy the
protections of the current program don't really need it - that they
can get their needs met within a recreational retail model. But that
ignores the challenges facing those with the most serious medical
conditions, denies what works in the state's medical cannabis program
and overlooks the strengths of previous legislation.

We know policymakers are grappling with how to satisfy the new federal
guidelines for states seeking to regulate marijuana distribution. The
Department of Justice wants to see tight control, and the local U.S.
attorney, Jenny Durkan, has said the current medical-marijuana system
in Washington is "untenable" because it lacks sufficient regulation.

That's because Inslee's predecessor, Gov. Chris Gregoire, bowed to
threats from Durkan and line-item vetoed the sensible legislation on
distribution the Legislature passed in 2011. Senate Bill 5073
contained the types of controls the Department of Justice now says it
wants to see. It only remains for the Legislature to dust it off and
send it back to the governor's desk, now that there's a champion of
patients' rights sitting behind it.

The Washington State Liquor Control Board is finalizing its
recommendations for the Legislature. A sensible bill would establish a
tightly regulated system of separate local distribution so patients
can get the types of cannabis that work for their specific conditions
and freely exchange information about therapeutic use. The state
should protect personal cultivation that enables access for the most
needy.

A proposed bill should also establish rules for law enforcement that
better shield qualified patients from arrest and prosecution,
conserving tax dollars and law enforcement resources, while sparing
patients undue hardship.

To get there, Inslee and his fellow lawmakers will have to see past
the misinformation that always circulates around this issue. That
misinformation includes claims that 95 percent of patients don't
really have treatable medical conditions, despite their doctors'
determination otherwise. Some even say that cannabis isn't really
medicine, despite the leading-edge research on how it can treat
chronic pain, which is being done at the University of Washington on a
grant from state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Ask the patients who have done better because they had cannabis to
bolster their battles with cancer, AIDS or chronic pain. They'll tell
you that the system Washington voters created 15 years ago has the
flexibility to meet the needs of even the most seriously ill; the new
recreational model does not.

I met with those patients in Washington state during a series of
stakeholder meetings Americans for Safe Access held late last month.
They all share the hope that the changes that have been proposed are
just a start, that their elected representatives will recognize their
constituents' needs and seize the opportunity to enact a fair and
responsible system that respects the hard-won rights of patients.

But even if the Liquor Board takes the easy way out, state lawmakers
know better. They can't pretend those who depend on cannabis to treat
their medical conditions are the same as those who enjoy passing a
joint at a concert.
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MAP posted-by: Matt