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OLYMPIA — Governors from Washington and Rhode Island asked the federal government Wednesday to reclassify marijuana so it can be used for medical use.
Gov. Chris Gregoire and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration to take off Schedule I, which is reserved for drugs like heroin and peyote that have no medicinal use and thus are illegal under all circumstances.
It should be moved to Schedule 2, which is for drugs like morphine and codeine, which are illegal under many circumstances but can be prescribed by a doctor and filled by a pharmacist for certain conditions.
“It’s time to show compassion and it’s time to show common sense,” Gregoire said. “There’s no evidence to suggest any medical marijuana patient has died from an overdose.”
She’s a Democrat and Chafee a former Republican who became and independent in 2007. They called it a “bipartisan, bicoastal” effort, adding they expect governors from other states that also have medical marijuana laws on their books, to join.
The petition was filed Wednesday, and will be turned over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They’ve requested public hearings.
The request is prompted in part by recent federal crackdowns in Washington and other states against a growing number of medical marijuana “dispensaries”, where patients with physician approval for marijuana for diagnosed medical problems have purchased their supplies.
“Our intent is to ask for an expedited petition,” Gregoire said after acknowledging the last request to reclassify marijuana took about nine years, and was ultimately rejected by the Obama administration. Since that time there have been new studies on the value of marijuana to treat some medical conditions, and its legalization for medical use has been supported by the American Medical Association.
The result of the clash between federal drug laws and individual state initiatives – some like Washington’s passed by voters – has been “chaos,” the governors said.
Under the governors’ proposal, certified medical marijuana patients would get their supply from a pharmacy. Asked if that would put the current dispensaries out of business, Gregoire replied: “If dispensaries want to become pharmacies, great. If not, patients would go to pharmacies.”
The request seems unlikely to stop federal raids of businesses that sell medical marijuana. “I can't ask them to stand down from law enforcement,” Gregoire said of the U.S. Department of Justice crack down.
Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
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arliacne on November 30 at 12:52 p.m.
Good for them. Now we need to work at getting pot legalized for everyone.
Jethro_toll on November 30 at 12:53 p.m.
This will just legitimize her use of it.
RedCedar on November 30 at 2:18 p.m.
Good. It’s time for the people to get serious to pressure their politicians to get serious about beginning the decriminalization of pot. Most people are in favor of decriminalization, but few politicians have the cojones to touch the issue less they be accused of being “soft on crime”. Make it legal on a federal level (or at least move it from schedule I to schedule II, and the states where most people want it to stay illegal can outlaw it on their own.
EAZEDZT on November 30 at 3:21 p.m.
As soon as the federal government figures out a way to make more money off of legalizing it than criminalizing it they will. It has and always will be a way for our government to further their own agendas.
zelda on November 30 at 3:31 p.m.
Was part of this story left out? “And backing this reclassification petition are major munchie manufacturers Yum! Brands, Frito Lay, Inc. and ConAgra.” Just kidding.
There is so much money to be made in de-criminalizing marijuana. Billions. It’s just a matter of knowing if there is more money in the privitized prison and law-and-order lobbying offices on K Street. It all depends on who’ can spend more to buy the legislation they want.
Calling it “medical” helps to destigmatize it, but I don’t think that’s going to change the mind of legislators like Rep. King (R-NY). In talking about the Occupy Wall Street protests to CNN, I swear he used the words “urine and feces” at least four times. It’s going to take some work to get some people to stop associating MJ with “dirty hippies.” Difficult, but not impossible.
Al_Loysius on November 30 at 4:28 p.m.
Washington voters will support medical use for persons who are in intractable pain and dying from cancer or some terrible disease.
The general public (outside of the Broadway District in Seattle) associate it with glassy-eyed stoners who smell bad. The Marijuana Industry needs to overcome that image and it will take a multi-million dollar PR effort to do that.
Al_Loysius on November 30 at 4:31 p.m.
For the sake of argument, if marijuana gets legalized, there will always be some other substance that people want to legalize for the same reasons: Meth, cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc.
RedCedar on November 30 at 5:51 p.m.
Yes, and I say legalize them all. Very few people enjoy being stoned out their gourds regularly. Addiction has more to do with brain chemistry than with willpower or laws. The stronger the drug, the few people enjoy its effects. Even if heroin were legalized, i doubt that the rate of addiction would increase. Those who enjoy opiates that much can already get them in many different ways and forms. Is the rate of drunkenness higher now than it was during Prohibition?
massenberg420 on December 01 at 7:56 a.m.
Looks like the pill makers have paid off Gregoire!
Cannabis ( AKA ) Marijuana, does not fit into the listing of a level 1 drug as it has been proven to have Medical Value and as it states in the level 1 guidelines, ” for a drug to be a level 1 drug, it can not be safe even under the eyes of a doctor. ”
As most of you know, Marijuana in 5,000 years has never killed anyone, can the same thing be said about WATER?
Don’t take my word for it, look it up and see if anyone has ever died from drinking too much water, then see if anyone has ever died from Cannabis.
This needs to stay in the hands of Patients or growers that want to sell it to the State, but pill makers should not have their day or we could see Cannabis soar from 300 per ounce, to a Thousand or more per ounce.
As it is now, we the taxpayers are already paying Big Pharma $1,724.00 PER MONTH, per bottle of man made marijuana pills for over FOUR MILLION PER YEAR, out of our Tax Dollars that could be going to other things like Schools or the Homeless, or to fix streets.
At a time when the Federal Government & the State of Washington being so broke, why do we keep spending Tax Dollars on busting people that are sick & Dying who are working hard to help others that are sick & Dying, is this not going to cost a lot more Tax Dollars taking care of all these sick people in Jail?
With Actions like these, your tax rates will keep going crazy as the State of Washington & the Federal Government will keep raising rates till we stand up and say NO MORE!
Proper testing needs to be allowed to see of this should be taken off the listing or at what level to place this, and since the FDA & DEA have their hands dirty with pill maker money, the testing needs to be done by someone that has nothing to gain from this.
arliacne on December 01 at 11:32 a.m.
I’m not so sure about that. More and more of the older voters were smoking pot in the 60s and 70s. That is a huge voting block. Simply put it on the ballot and see what happens.