It is apparent Gov. Donald Carcieri still believes the federal government's lies regarding cannabis. Here in Oregon there are over 2,500 doctors who have written recommendations for patients to use cannabis as medicine.

In saying he does not support the bill because it "violates federal law and ignores the drug-approval process as established by the Food and Drug Administration," your governor ignores the needs of citizens living with a health-care system that is failing millions.

Described in 1988 by a Drug Enforcement Administration administrative-law judge, Francis Young, as "one of the safest therapeutic substances known to man," cannabis has been demonized for over seven decades. Its prohibition was founded with no scientific basis and relied on the bigoted fantasies of a career prohibition bureaucrat named Harry Anslinger.

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PROVIDENCE - Standing firm on his veto threat despite an almost certain override in both chambers of the General Assembly, Gov. Donald Carcieri Monday rejected legislation to make Rhode Island's medical marijuana law permanent.

In identical veto messages to House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Joseph Montalbano, Carcieri said: "If enacted, this legislation will enable qualified persons to acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, use, deliver, transfer or transport marijuana or paraphernalia relating to the consumption of marijuana" for problems ranging from cancer to unspecified pain.

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PROVIDENCE - As expected, Governor Carcieri yesterday vetoed medical marijuana legislation. And Democratic House leader Gordon Fox said he believes state lawmakers will override that veto.

"I support efforts to provide effective pain management to persons suffering from debilitating conditions, but not in a way that violates federal law and ignores the drug approval process as established by the Food and Drug Administration," Carcieri, a Republican, said in his veto message.

He said the legislation "could potentially subject Rhode Islanders to federal prosecution, while significantly complicating the responsibilities of state and local law enforcement officials."

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PROVIDENCE -- Pamela Bailey sat quietly on the wooden bench inside State House Room 212 as the politicians approved the bill named for her son.

She would say later that she was grateful, but that she didn't need a state law to remember her firstborn.

"We didn't have to have it in the limelight. He'll always be with me," she said of Edward O. Hawkins, whose name will forever appear on the title of the state's medical marijuana law. It was Bailey's sister, Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, who suggested the name.

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PROVIDENCE -- The Senate voted yesterday to reappoint Patricia Martinez to head the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, an agency facing millions in projected cuts next year as Governor Carcieri tries to rein in social spending.

The chamber unanimously endorsed Martinez as the $127,501-a-year director of the agency with 789 authorized employees and a $293-million budget this year. She has held the director's position since her appointment in 2005.

The DCYF is facing substantial cuts in the coming year. Facing hundreds of millions in projected deficits, the governor has proposed reducing the department's budget by 26 percent, to $215 million.

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PROVIDENCE - Following in the footsteps of Wednesday's House vote, the Senate approved legislation Thursday to make the state's medical marijuana law permanent.

The vote was 28-5, far exceeding the three-fifths vote required to survive the veto Gov. Donald Carcieri says is likely to come. The law that protects from arrest or prosecution patients who suffer from a debilitating medical condition as certified by a physician and one or two "caregivers" who help them procure, grow or use the drug, was passed over the governor's veto in January, 2006, it is set to expire on June 30 unless a so-called "sunset clause" is eliminated. The now-identical measures that passed the House and Senate this week do just that. Under General Assembly procedure, the House bill will now go to the Senate for passage and the Senate bill will go to the House.

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PROVIDENCE - Following the lead of the House of Representatives, the Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday that would make permanent the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The Senate vote was 28-5, a plurality that easily surpassed the 60 percent threshold needed to overturn an expected veto by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri. All four Newport County senators voted for the bill.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed legislation legalizing the doctor-prescribed use of marijuana for patients with debilitating diseases such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS. The patient could possess up to 5 ounces of useable marijuana or grow up to 12 marijuana plants. The patient also could have up to two qualified "caregivers" who could help the patient buy marijuana.

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This certainly is a blue state.

Only somewhere so liberal - or progressive, whichever one prefers - as Rhode Island could a legislature buck the political wisdom that traditionally says being soft on drugs is bad in every scenario. There's something very bold about a General Assembly that would put aside decades of scare-mongering propaganda and acknowledge marijuana - - long demonized as a scourge of the youth and unmotivated - might actually have legitimate and supportable uses.

So we'll pass along our kudos to the General Assembly for making permanent its legalization of medical marijuana for certain patients suffering pain that can't truly be mitigated in any other way. That the common recreational use of the drug has attached to it such a pervasive stigma as to make even doctors reluctant to acknowledge its medical benefits is simply sad; that legislators could look past the stigma is wholeheartedly encouraging.

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PROVIDENCE -- With two months to spare, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted yesterday to make permanent a law that legalizes marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill today -- and is expected to approve it easily.

Rhode Island became the 11th state to legalize medical marijuana last year; since then New Mexico has passed similar legislation. However, Rhode Island's pioneering move had an expiration date. The law has a built-in sunset clause for June 30, unless legislators make it permanent.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. --State senators voted Thursday to make permanent a program allowing the chronically ill and their caregivers to possess and use marijuana for pain relief.

The bill passed 28-5, a margin wide enough to sustain a possible veto from Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, who vetoed the original bill in 2005. House lawmakers passed an identical measure on Wednesday by a similarly large margin.

Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the nation last year to begin a medical marijuana program. It expires on June 30 unless lawmakers renew it.

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Rhode Island's medical marijuana laws lets suffering people use pot (with a doctor's permission) to relieve their pain, a humane idea in the Ocean State's great tradition of respecting personal freedom. Before the law expires in June, the General Assembly should make it permanent -- and do it in time to override Governor Carcieri's promised veto.

As critics point out, there are plenty of problems with the law. Most center around the fact that buying and possessing marijuana, in most cases, remains illegal.

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To the editor:

I am 32-year-old mother of two and currently a patient in Rhode Island's medical marijuana program. My life was normal and happy until a couple of years ago. Since then I have be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, fibromyagia, and anxiety disorders. As a result, chronic intramuscular pain, weakness, pins and needles, neuropathy pain, cognitive difficulties, tremors and painful spasms have become a daily struggle for me -- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

To be so young, managing a household, raising my children, and having to fight these illness every day is just so incredibly hard. Prescription drugs left me unable to be a productive mother and homemaker. These powerful drugs were turning me into a person I did not like. I did not even feel human.

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PROVIDENCE - By a vote of 49-12, more than enough to override an expected veto, the House of Representatives Wednesday approved making Rhode Island's medical marijuana law permanent, with a few minor amendments. The Senate is scheduled to take up an identical bill today and leaders say it is expected to pass easily in that chamber as well. At a Statehouse news conference Wednesday, Gov. Donald Carcieri, who vetoed the original legislation two years ago, repeated his opposition and suggested another veto is likely. "It's illegal," Carcieri said in response to a question, "the Supreme Court has ruled it is illegal.

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PROVIDENCE - Leaders of both the House and Senate say bills to extend the life of Rhode Island's medical marijuana law will likely pass this week, probably with enough votes to withstand a veto by Gov. Donald Carcieri.

It could come to that, as the Carcieri administration has signaled it would veto the measure if it passes in its current form.

Rhode Island became the 11th state to permit the possession of small amounts of marijuana for medical purposes by people with debilitating, chronic medical conditions such as cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis that have been certified by a physician when the House passed a bill over the governor's veto in the first days of 2006. The Senate had voted to override the veto several months earlier.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. --House lawmakers voted 49-12 on Wednesday to permanently extend a program permitting the chronically ill to possess and use marijuana for pain relief in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island became the eleventh state in the country last year to decriminalize marijuana for medical purposes. The program will end on June 30 unless lawmakers pass bills making it permanent.

The state Senate is planning to vote on a similar bill on Thursday. To become law, one of the bills must be adopted by both chambers.

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Who's afraid of medical marijuana? Opponents' fears go unrealized with the implementation of Rhode Island's law

Two hits of marijuana in the morning, and two in the evening before he goes to sleep. That's what it takes to get Bobby Ebert through the day.

But Ebert's not a junkie or a college student looking for a quick high. He has AIDS -- and is one of more than 240 patients in Rhode Island whose use of marijuana is protected under state law.

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In the year since the medical marijuana program began, about 250 patients have participated.

I don't presume to speak for all, but for myself, the results have been nothing short of astonishing.

I suffer from a variety of conditions that cause chronic, severe pain. After some seven years of treatment, my body simply can't tolerate the doses of pain medication necessary to have an effect, making it impossible to function at any acceptable level.

This program has helped restore my functionality, ending a long-term addiction to prescription painkillers, and has allowed me to participate in life after far too long a hiatus.

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To the Cigar,

Did you know that students with drug convictions - including possession of small amounts of marijuana - are automatically stripped of their financial aid while murderers and rapists are perfectly eligible to get government loans and grants? If you're as outraged as I am over this harmful and unfair penalty that has already affected 200,000 students, you'll be glad to learn that Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) is currently in a key position to do something about it.

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Thank you for your article on the latest hearing on making the medical marijuana law permanent ("Lawmakers here impassioned plea to extend medical marijuana bill," April 3). As your article mentioned, I was one of the many patients who spoke in favor of the bill.

I am deeply disturbed by the state police's claim that their opposition to the bill is somehow based on concern for patients. I was assaulted once while obtaining my medicine on the criminal market. Let there be no mistake: This law dramatically decreases the chance that patients will have to get our medicine from drug dealers.

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As a forensics expert, Mahmoud ElSohly is mistaken on some key points ("Forensics expert explains marijuana testing myths, April 10, 2007").

The assertion that "Marijuana cigarettes are twice as carcinogenic as a regular cigarette," is false since there are no dead bodies to show for it, while cigarettes kill more than 1,000 Americans daily.

One reason adult humans should not be caged or fined for using the God-given plant cannabis (kaneh bosm / marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned is because it's Biblically correct since Christ God Our Father (The Ecologician) indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5).

The "excuse" doesn't stop the government, but lately it has become clear what kind of government we have.

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado

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