T
The420Guy
Guest
After winning House Judiciary Committee approval, legislation radically
softening penalties for the medical use of marijuana was expected to be
voted on Monday night by Maryland's House of Delegates.
With a House majority vote, the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act would
proceed to a Senate committee for consideration, and then to the full
Senate. An amended version of the bill got a second reading Monday in the
House. As amended by the Judiciary Committee, it permits a defendant
arrested for possession of marijuana, or marijuana paraphernalia, to
introduce - "and the court shall consider as a mitigating factor" -
evidence of "medical necessity."
If convicted, that person could not be fined more than $100, and could not
be sentenced to jail. Under current Maryland law, posession is punishable
by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
"We have basically decriminalized the medical use [of marijuana]," said
Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., D-27th-Upper Marlboro,
speaking from the House floor Monday afternoon, where his committee's
favorable report was received. "So that someone who's in pain won't serve
jail time. This is a type of effort to grant relief to some of these people
in need."
The bill passed Vallario's committee Friday with a 14-4 vote.
Some scientific studies - and much anecdotal evidence - have suggested that
smoking pot can be helpful to those suffering from the side- effects of
cancer treatment, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and
epilepsy. Several Judiciary Committee witnesses who had used it for medical
purposes recently urged the committee to support legislation for its
medical use. Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy endorsed its value as
an anti-nausea treatment, as well as an appetite enhancer.
For the bill's chief sponsor, Del. Donald E. Murphy, D-Baltimore County,
the measure reaching the House floor consituted a major victory, though
major parts of his original measure had been deleted - such as provisions
allowing patients to grow their own with physicians' approval.
"I'm very happy," said Murphy, who has tried in the past two sessions to
get medical marijuana legislation onto the floor. "It lifts the fear of
incarceration for cancer and AIDS patients. Defendants can introduce
evidence of medical necessity and judges must consider it."
Murphy - whose bill had more than 50 co-sponsors, or more than a third of
the 141-member House - named his legislation for the late Darrell Putman, a
Green Beret and Howard County farmer who died in 1999. Putman found smoking
pot helped him cope with lymphoma, and lobbied for its medical legalization.
Although marijuana possession is a federal offense, eight states have laws
that allow for its medical use, and federal officials have indicated no
interest in prosecuting such users.
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Tue, 26 Mar 2002
Source: Prince George's Journal (MD)
Copyright: 2002 The Journal Newspapers
Contact: pgedit@jrnl.com
Website: https://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/pg/
Details: MapInc
Author: Susan Gervasi
softening penalties for the medical use of marijuana was expected to be
voted on Monday night by Maryland's House of Delegates.
With a House majority vote, the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act would
proceed to a Senate committee for consideration, and then to the full
Senate. An amended version of the bill got a second reading Monday in the
House. As amended by the Judiciary Committee, it permits a defendant
arrested for possession of marijuana, or marijuana paraphernalia, to
introduce - "and the court shall consider as a mitigating factor" -
evidence of "medical necessity."
If convicted, that person could not be fined more than $100, and could not
be sentenced to jail. Under current Maryland law, posession is punishable
by a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
"We have basically decriminalized the medical use [of marijuana]," said
Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., D-27th-Upper Marlboro,
speaking from the House floor Monday afternoon, where his committee's
favorable report was received. "So that someone who's in pain won't serve
jail time. This is a type of effort to grant relief to some of these people
in need."
The bill passed Vallario's committee Friday with a 14-4 vote.
Some scientific studies - and much anecdotal evidence - have suggested that
smoking pot can be helpful to those suffering from the side- effects of
cancer treatment, glaucoma, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and
epilepsy. Several Judiciary Committee witnesses who had used it for medical
purposes recently urged the committee to support legislation for its
medical use. Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy endorsed its value as
an anti-nausea treatment, as well as an appetite enhancer.
For the bill's chief sponsor, Del. Donald E. Murphy, D-Baltimore County,
the measure reaching the House floor consituted a major victory, though
major parts of his original measure had been deleted - such as provisions
allowing patients to grow their own with physicians' approval.
"I'm very happy," said Murphy, who has tried in the past two sessions to
get medical marijuana legislation onto the floor. "It lifts the fear of
incarceration for cancer and AIDS patients. Defendants can introduce
evidence of medical necessity and judges must consider it."
Murphy - whose bill had more than 50 co-sponsors, or more than a third of
the 141-member House - named his legislation for the late Darrell Putman, a
Green Beret and Howard County farmer who died in 1999. Putman found smoking
pot helped him cope with lymphoma, and lobbied for its medical legalization.
Although marijuana possession is a federal offense, eight states have laws
that allow for its medical use, and federal officials have indicated no
interest in prosecuting such users.
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Tue, 26 Mar 2002
Source: Prince George's Journal (MD)
Copyright: 2002 The Journal Newspapers
Contact: pgedit@jrnl.com
Website: https://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/pg/
Details: MapInc
Author: Susan Gervasi