Pubdate: Thu, 19 Dec 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young

BOARD RECOMMENDS HOME GROWS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Number of Plants Still in Contention

Board Also Would Create Registry of Patients

The state Liquor Control Board recommended that home growing still be 
allowed for medical-marijuana patients, reversing an earlier proposal 
that inflamed activists and patients.

Board members, who are charged with implementing the state's new 
recreational-pot system, want to allow patients or designated 
caregivers to grow up to six plants at a time - three flowering and 
three nonflowering.

But some say that's not enough. Ryan Day, who wants to grow a 
nonpsychoactive strain for his son with severe epilepsy, said he may 
need at least double the six plants for a reliable supply.

In October, staff from the Liquor Control Board (LCB) and two other 
state agencies called for an end to medical home growing. That 
proposal drew more negative comments than any other by the three agencies.

"Enough people in the medical-marijuana community convinced us. We 
listened to them," said Sharon Foster, LCB chair.

Those who called for retaining home grows also included Alison 
Holcomb, chief author of the state's legal-weed law, and Sen. Jeanne 
Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, the Legislature's premier supporter of 
medical marijuana.

The state's law now allows patients to grow 15 plants. But state 
agencies called for eliminating home grows because those were based 
on providing patients with a 60-day supply of marijuana.

The state agencies reasoned that with a new recreational system 
coming next year, patients could likely find a reliable supply and 
didn't need to have a 60-day supply on hand.

The board was asked by lawmakers to come up with recommendations as 
the state tries to reconcile the highly regulated recreational system 
with the largely unregulated medical system.

Foster said the board largely accepted the other staff 
recommendations, including creating a mandatory state registry of patients.

Kari Boiter, a patient and advocate, gave the recommendations a mixed review.

State coordinator for Americans for Safe Access, the largest national 
medical marijuana group, Boiter praised the LCB for retaining home 
grows. She said the six-plant limit is a "start, but it's not where 
we need to be for patients."

She prefers that the state stick with the current 60-day supply, 
saying it was the result of a deliberate public process. Some 
patients barely get by on 15 plants, she said, and some are using 
only non-psychoactive forms of marijuana.

Day said he's heard of a legislative proposal that would allow 15 
plants if they are strains low in psychoactive chemicals and high in 
cannabidiol, or CBD, which is believed to have therapeutic qualities. 
"We'll see if that pans out," he said.

Like Holcomb, Boiter also lauded the board for maintaining an 
affirmative defense for patients. Such a defense doesn't stop a 
patient from being arrested or prosecuted but does allows them to 
make an medical-necessity argument in court.

Boiter called it a keystone of the medical system approved by voters.

As for other recommendations, which would dramatically change aspects 
of the medical system, she said, "Let's integrate the two, not 
eliminate one to make the other work."

She noted that some medical advocates have wanted regulations. They 
supported a bill two years ago, SB 5073, that would have regulated 
the medical system, but former Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed most of it.

"They say we're the untaxed Wild West," Boiter said. "Then let's find 
a way to regulate and license us. It's not our fault the governor vetoed 5073."

Boiter criticized several other proposals.

She said 25 percent taxes at the producer, processor and retail 
levels would make legal pot unaffordable for some patients, 
especially because they might use several pounds a year.

She noted that herbal medicines are exempt from taxes and the tax 
burden for medical pot should fall largely on providers, perhaps with 
standard business taxes and licensing fees. "Instead of looking at 
taxing sick patients, let's tax the ones making money," she said.

She called a patient registry "very complex" because of privacy 
concerns. She believes further study could come up with better ideas.

Lastly, she said recommendations that would tighten medical 
definitions and put restrictions on doctors authorizing medical 
marijuana go too far.

Doctors use experience and education to determine patients' needs, 
said Boiter, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder that 
affects skin, joints and blood-vessel walls but isn't a qualifying 
condition under state law. She's authorized for medical marijuana 
because of intractable pain, which state officials want to further define.

Boiter noted that state officials already have ways to punish bad 
actors; they've suspended medical licenses of doctors found to be 
running authorization "mills." And many doctors refuse to give 
medical-marijuana authorizations because pot remains illegal under federal law.

That creates a need for doctors who specialize in medical 
authorizations, she said. But the state recommendations would not 
allow a doctor's practice to consist primarily of authorizations.

"I'm really uncomfortable with them telling my doctor they know 
better," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom