Opinion from tacoma news triboon:
Lawmakers are scrambling to recover from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s partial veto of a bill that would have licensed for-profit marijuana dispensaries and grow operations.
The measure courted a federal crackdown, and Gregoire was right to gut it.
But partial vetoes are tricky acts. Gregoire’s erased even the sliver of legality claimed by existing dispensaries – all but ensuring a special-session second try.
Sure enough, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, this week introduced a measure that revives some sensible proposals previously trampled by the stampede to move the state closer to legalization.
Most importantly, this bill requires that dispensaries be nonprofits. Taking the profit motive out of medical marijuana operations would go a long way toward cleaning up the industry – and ensuring that legitimate patients can actually afford the drug.
Kohl-Welles’ bill also allows cities to regulate dispensaries – or “non-profit patient cooperatives” – or opt out of marijuana shops altogether.
Marijuana advocates oppose local control because they worry that only a few municipalities will allow dispensaries.
They are probably right. But marijuana outlets shouldn’t be forced on unwilling communities – at least not until medical marijuana begins operating under a real medical model.
Kohl-Welles’ latest proposal moves the state toward treating medical marijuana as medicine, but not nearly far enough.
One big problem with her bill: It keeps dope docs in business.
Authorization mills – clinics that charge hefty fees for minimal medical exams that nearly always produce licenses to use – could keep operating as long as they occasionally do something other than recommend marijuana.
Recommendations should come out of a genuine, established doctor-patient relationship. The Legislature should borrow language from an earlier bill and outlaw medical practices that consist “primarily” – rather than Kohl-Welles’ “solely” – of prescribing marijuana.
Lawmakers also need to work on making their proposed medical marijuana distribution system accountable.
The public has a strong interest in ensuring that medical marijuana providers are operating above board. Such oversight isn’t possible when the names of those providers are kept secret, as the current bill proposes.
Legislators wouldn’t be spending the special session messing with medical marijuana legislation if they had originally focused on addressing the needs of sick people rather than helping the marijuana lobby expand what’s becoming a fast-and-loose industry.
It’s time to sober up and write a law that respects the will of voters who established tight restrictions when they legalized medical marijuana 13 years ago.
Read more: Sobriety makes a comeback in medical pot debate | Editorials - The News Tribune
Lawmakers are scrambling to recover from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s partial veto of a bill that would have licensed for-profit marijuana dispensaries and grow operations.
The measure courted a federal crackdown, and Gregoire was right to gut it.
But partial vetoes are tricky acts. Gregoire’s erased even the sliver of legality claimed by existing dispensaries – all but ensuring a special-session second try.
Sure enough, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, this week introduced a measure that revives some sensible proposals previously trampled by the stampede to move the state closer to legalization.
Most importantly, this bill requires that dispensaries be nonprofits. Taking the profit motive out of medical marijuana operations would go a long way toward cleaning up the industry – and ensuring that legitimate patients can actually afford the drug.
Kohl-Welles’ bill also allows cities to regulate dispensaries – or “non-profit patient cooperatives” – or opt out of marijuana shops altogether.
Marijuana advocates oppose local control because they worry that only a few municipalities will allow dispensaries.
They are probably right. But marijuana outlets shouldn’t be forced on unwilling communities – at least not until medical marijuana begins operating under a real medical model.
Kohl-Welles’ latest proposal moves the state toward treating medical marijuana as medicine, but not nearly far enough.
One big problem with her bill: It keeps dope docs in business.
Authorization mills – clinics that charge hefty fees for minimal medical exams that nearly always produce licenses to use – could keep operating as long as they occasionally do something other than recommend marijuana.
Recommendations should come out of a genuine, established doctor-patient relationship. The Legislature should borrow language from an earlier bill and outlaw medical practices that consist “primarily” – rather than Kohl-Welles’ “solely” – of prescribing marijuana.
Lawmakers also need to work on making their proposed medical marijuana distribution system accountable.
The public has a strong interest in ensuring that medical marijuana providers are operating above board. Such oversight isn’t possible when the names of those providers are kept secret, as the current bill proposes.
Legislators wouldn’t be spending the special session messing with medical marijuana legislation if they had originally focused on addressing the needs of sick people rather than helping the marijuana lobby expand what’s becoming a fast-and-loose industry.
It’s time to sober up and write a law that respects the will of voters who established tight restrictions when they legalized medical marijuana 13 years ago.
Read more: Sobriety makes a comeback in medical pot debate | Editorials - The News Tribune