PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island Medical Society, an early supporter of the state's medical-marijuana program, is urging Governor Chafee to issue operating licenses to the three marijuana dispensaries that the Health Department selected in the spring.

Dr. Gary Bubly, society president, sent the four-paragraph letter to Chafee and Michael Fine, director of the state Health Department, and said that the establishment of dispensaries, also known as compassion centers, is critical to providing "a source of mechanism for patients to obtain their marijuana in a safe and legal manner."

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Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, gave approval last week for the opening of six marijuana dispensaries. Christie, a former U.S. Attorney, said he made the decision despite never receiving assurances from the Justice Department that those working in the dispensaries would be exempt from prosecution.

Christie said that opening the dispensaries is a risk he is taking as governor. He said the need to provide compassionate pain relief to citizens of the state outweighs the risk.

Imagine that - compassion over caution.

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PROVIDENCE -- Advocates of the state's medical-marijuana program are hoping that Governor Chafee is paying close attention to New Jersey.

On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Christopher J. Christie gave the green light to open six marijuana dispensaries to licensed patients suffering from ailments such as cancer, chronic pain, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis. The surprise announcement came after months of delays over concerns that federal authorities might prosecute state employees affiliated with the medical-marijuana program for drug violations.

Christie, a Republican, who served as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 2002 through 2008, said he sought, but never received assurances from the Justice Department that those working in the marijuana programs would be exempt from federal prosecution.

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PROVIDENCE -- The head of the state's largest medical-marijuana advocacy group remains optimistic that someday, in the not too distant future, a cannabis dispensary will open its doors to licensed patients suffering from myriad illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma and chronic pain.

JoAnne Lepannen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, said on Tuesday that she has carefully reviewed the two-page memo that the Justice Department issued last week, "Seeking to Authorize Marijuana for Medical Use." In it, she sees a silver lining because there is no specific threat by federal authorities to prosecute state employees who have anything to do with the licensing or oversight of marijuana dispensaries.

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Legislation to authorize the Correction Department to reduce sentences for prisoners who complete self-improvement programs is agitating minority Republicans as it gets rubber-stamping from the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. Republicans say that while the bill is dressed up as a public-safety measure, it is meant only to save money by reducing the prison population and will increase crime by parolees. Some prisoners convicted of violence, the Republicans note, might qualify for the rehabilitative programs and then earlier release.

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PROVIDENCE -- Former House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson's urine tested positive for cocaine and THC, a chemical compound in marijuana, after Connecticut police stopped him at a sobriety checkpoint in late April, according to East Haven Deputy Police Chief John Mannion.

"On its face, if it's in your body, you're under the influence," Mannion said.

"It's illegal to possess drugs; it's illegal to consume drugs. Therefore, you're under the influence," Mannion said.

Watson, who admitted to smoking marijuana to treat bouts of pancreatitis, on Friday denied using cocaine.

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I once covered Nancy Reagan at an appearance at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. The petite, fashionable first lady had made drug abuse her number-one issue, and she was waging her own low-key offensive in a war that would never end.

There was a naive charm about it, a sense of a well-meaning woman sincerely believing that something as simple as "Just Say No" could undo something as complicated and pervasive and consuming as drug addiction. Mrs. Reagan was not from the "been there, done that" school of drug counseling.

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PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder suggested on Thursday that the Justice Department will work with governors and other states to reach a satisfactory resolution to the establishment of dispensaries that sell marijuana to patients in state-sponsored medical-marijuana programs.

"We are in the process of working [on] these issues with the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island and other U.S. Attorneys across the country," he said. "My hope is that sometime in the not too distant future ... it will be addressed."

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PROVIDENCE - Two state legislators met with Governor Chafee on Tuesday for an update on the state's plans to license three compassion centers to sell marijuana to patients in the state medical-marijuana program.

Sen. Rhoda E. Perry and Rep. Scott A. Slater, both Providence Democrats, emerged from Chafee's office following a 15-minute meeting in the State House. They felt that Chafee was supportive of the program to provide medical marijuana to those suffering from chronic pain and other illnesses, but the governor wants to make sure that the state doesn't make a wrong move and subject the dispensary owners and investors to federal prosecution.

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Perhaps it is a sign of the weakness of the local economy, but businesspeople young and old are eyeing the Rhode Island marijuana business as potentially very lucrative perhaps more so than, say, liquor stores!

But the rush to open these "compassion centers," at least officially to be marketed to sick people who seek the pain-relieving qualities of marijuana, has been considerably faster than federal officials' acceptance. The latest sign of their skepticism came a couple of weeks ago, when U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha said rather ominously that he considered that the three pot dispensaries so far tentatively approved by the Rhode Island Health Department would be large-scale, for-profit pot production centers in violation of federal law. One of them, Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick, plans to be serving 8,000 patients and taking in $25 million in revenue by 2013.

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PROVIDENCE - A recent Cranston case that tested the state's medical-marijuana law raises a question about whether people with the right to grow or possess marijuana to treat illnesses risk being jailed for owning a gun, even if they own it lawfully.

The issue grew from Dean Derobbio's arrest in January 2010 for allegedly conspiring with his roommate to possess marijuana with the intent to sell it. He was also charged with carrying a dangerous weapon while committing a crime of violence. The crime of violence was growing marijuana, according to prosecutors and the police, and the charge carries a mandatory three years in prison for a defendant convicted of a first offense.

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Some say Rhode Island is looking in the wrong places for new jobs and suspect state officials are pursuing a frat-based economy centered on video games, gambling and marijuana.

But you don't have to be former House Minority Leader Bob Watson to see that the drive to open three medical-marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island has merit.

And the federal government doesn't need Navy SEAL Team 6 to hunt down the fact that Rhode Island has been planning to open those dispensaries for a couple of years now.

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PROVIDENCE - U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said Sunday that he hopes that Rhode Island's three state-approved medical-marijuana dispensaries don't open and that if they do, "I might have to take some action" against them in court to prevent cultivation and distribution of the cannabis.

"I don't think it would be a wise move" for them to start cultivating large amounts of marijuana, or selling it, Neronha said in a telephone interview. Asked if he was going to stage raids on the dispensaries if they opened their doors, Neronha said, "I can't answer that. We'll take each day as it comes. I hope that wiser heads prevail."

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PROVIDENCE - U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha Friday threatened to prosecute civilly and/or criminally those involved in Rhode Island's three planned medical marijuana dispensaries - from the organizations that would run them to the landlords who rent them floor space.

The threat was contained in a letter hand-delivered to Governor Chafee's office in the morning and also sent Friday to the would-be proprietors of the dispensaries.

Jim Martin, Neronha's spokesman, said the letter is "a reminder" of what he said state officials and the proprietors already know, that it is the policy of the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute significant growers and distributors of marijuana.

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PROVIDENCE - In a televised speech on the House floor about his arrest in Connecticut last Friday on driving-under-the-influence and marijuana-possession charges, House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson admitted to using marijuana to treat flare-ups of the pancreatitis that landed him in the hospital last November.

Watson, R-East Greenwich, said he took a small amount of the drug with him when he went to Connecticut that day to help a friend move because he had had a pancreatic attack the day before, and wanted the drug handy if he had another severe one.

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To the Editor:

I celebrate Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa's '11 thoughtful column on the War on Drugs and agree with her on many points. Like her, I think that marijuana should be legalized and know that it is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. I also share the view that Brown students - and Americans in general - should be more mindful of their role as consumers in a trade that is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths a year, concentrated in countries like Mexico and my native Colombia. Why do we make such a fuss about, say, blood diamonds, when illegal drugs are much more common on campus than precious stones from Liberia or the Congo?

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To the Editor:

In an April 14 front-page story ("Hold the foam: passing on Spring Weekend," April 14), an event sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy was used as evidence that campus gets wild and crazy during Spring Weekend. The following is a clarification of our mission, because the representation of our group was far from positive.

I want to clarify on behalf of Students for Sensible Drug Policy that we in no way endorse or romanticize drug use. Our mission as a grassroots student organization is to change the wrongheaded drug policies, as well as the culture of abuse, that permeate our society. The Herald article attempted to use an SSDP-sponsored event - the lending out of an ecstasy testing chemical kit - as evidence of how crazy things get at Brown during Spring Weekend.

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Though medical marijuana is now legal in Rhode Island, administrators maintain that under both state and federal law, the University cannot allow smoking of marijuana on school grounds.

Medical marijuana was legalized in Rhode Island June 16, 2009 after state legislators voted to override a veto by then-Gov. Donald Carcieri '65. Three new dispensaries for medical marijuana will open in Rhode Island this summer.

Despite the state's legalization of medical marijuana and imminent opening of dispensaries, the University released a statement saying it would not permit smoking on campus because Rhode Island and federal law "prohibit smoking marijuana on any school grounds, including college campuses."

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PROVIDENCE -- Two committees of the state House of Representatives took up a host of proposals on Wednesday seeking to regulate marijuana, bringing out medical-marijuana patients, university students and former and current law-enforcement officers.

Supporters of a bill to legalize and tax the drug, including a handful of former and retired police officers, argued that the proposed law would make the state safer by allowing the police to focus on major crimes rather than marijuana offenses, while also helping the state dig out of its financial troubles by providing additional tax revenue.

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PROVIDENCE - The long-awaited decision on medical marijuana dispensaries was announced Tuesday afternoon with the Department of Health selecting three applicants, the maximum permitted under state law. They are: Summit Medical Compassion Center in Warwick, The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence, and Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth.

Rhode Island is one of four states that has authorized state-regulated marijuana dispensaries.

The selections Tuesday were made from among 18 applicants who proposed dispensary operations of various sizes, mostly in the metropolitan area, to serve the state's growing number of state-licensed medical marijuana users who now must either grow the marijuana themselves or connect with a licensed individual grower or caregiver.

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