Spokane7
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April 17, 2011 in City
Medical marijuana bill in limbo after letter from U.S. attorneys
OLYMPIA – The Legislature’s efforts to provide structure and regulations to Washington’s burgeoning medical marijuana operations could be snuffed out by a warning last week from the state’s federal prosecutors.
A bill to require the state Agriculture Department to license medical marijuana growers and processors, and the state Health Department to license dispensaries, would run headlong into federal law, U.S. Attorneys Mike Ormsby in Spokane and Jenny Durkan in Seattle told Gov. Chris Gregoire in a letter Thursday.
The proposal has passed both houses in some version, but still must be reconciled to eliminate the differences. It won’t stop federal prosecution of medical marijuana growers and sellers in its present form, federal prosecutors said. There may not be any way the state can do that.
“Growing, distributing and possessing marijuana in any capacity, other than as part of a federally authorized research program, is a violation of federal law regardless of state laws permitting such activities,” Ormsby and Durkan wrote. “State employees who conducted activities mandated by the Washington legislative proposals would not be immune from liability under the Controlled Substance Act.”
Gregoire, who had asked the U.S. Justice Department for written guidance on some system to regulate medical marijuana, said last week she’d veto the bill in its present form: “I will not sign anything subjecting state employees to prosecution.”
She called for meetings with key legislators trying to find a way through conflicting federal and state laws. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells, D-Seattle, the bill’s prime sponsor, said she remains optimistic some compromise can be worked out.
But today starts the last week of the Legislature’s regular session, and much of the time likely will be devoted to budgets. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, stopped short of saying the medical marijuana bill is dead, because a compromise that’s reached could have a chance in an expected special session.
“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Brown said Friday afternoon. “It would have been good to hear about these objections earlier.”
But no one knows how to satisfy two diametrically opposing views on medical marijuana. The state’s voters in 1998 said overwhelmingly they wanted it to be legal to use marijuana to treat certain medical conditions. Despite that, and medical marijuana laws in 14 other states, the federal government doesn’t recognize any medicinal uses for the plant and classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug, illegal for all uses.
A 2009 Justice Department memo says the federal government will not spend time prosecuting patients who smoke marijuana to relieve symptoms or who grow small amounts for personal use. But prosecutors recently have stepped up efforts to close dispensaries where marijuana is sold.
Dispensary operators risk having their property seized, and landlords who rent to dispensaries could suffer the same fate, Ormsby warned early this month in a letter to owners of property being used for dispensaries. That letter may have closed as many as 10 dispensaries in Spokane as nervous landlords canceled leases in less than two weeks, said Ken Martin, Spokane director of CannaCare, which operates clinics and dispensaries in Washington.
The letter also sent a shock wave through the Legislature as it was debating SB 5073, Kohl-Wells’ bill that already had its share of detractors. Law enforcement was opposed to anything suggesting marijuana has a legitimate use. Some established clinics and dispensaries argued the bill was unworkable, with its voluntary registry for marijuana patients and zoning rules for where dispensaries could be located, coupled with different agencies in charge of licensing different aspects of production and sales.
“Nothing would make me happier than to see this bill dead,” said Steve Sarich, CannaCare’s executive director in Seattle, who with Martin testified against it in committee hearings. He fears that any version of Kohl-Wells’ bill that would pass now will be stripped of protections for growers or dispensaries and simply set up a registry of medical marijuana patients sought by law enforcement.
Like Brown, Kohl-Wells said Friday she was concerned the warning letter from Ormsby and Durkan came so late in the legislative process. She thinks Gregoire’s concern for state employees is misplaced because the bill doesn’t require them to come in contact with marijuana, so federal drug agents wouldn’t be going into state offices to arrest state workers.
Ormsby said the letter was a response to Gregoire’s request; he wasn’t aware of the bill until recently. He understands that his April 6 warning to landlords may have caused some state officials to re-examine the bill, but that wasn’t the purpose of that notice.
“We have a significant problem here in Spokane with the proliferation of dispensaries,” he said. The Legislature didn’t ask for advice on how to craft a bill to regulate medical marijuana, but even if it did, he has no idea what would work.
“It’s still an illegal drug on the federal level,” he said. Until Congress removes it from Schedule 1 and reclassifies it for legal or medicinal use, the conflict will remain.
On that point, at least, Martin agrees. Taking marijuana off Schedule 1 is “really what we need to do,” he said. Until then, conflicts between Washington voters’ decision to allow marijuana for medical use and the federal government’s total prohibition likely will be fought in the courts.
Supermajority for taxes unconstitutional, judge rules 
Cannabis Defense Coaltion on April 17 at 8:32 a.m.
The medical cannabis bill that passed the Washington State House of Representatives Monday, April 11, is now a ghost of its former self, and is set to dramatically weaken our state’s voter-approved medical cannabis law. For some folks, anything one can paint as a victory to donors helps their bottom line, and for some, adding myriad restrictions to our law is a necessary evil in a long-term political and public opinion strategy. But please be informed that the bill as amended in the state house is, on balance, shockingly horrible for medical cannabis patients in our state.
On the arguably positive side, SB 5073 implements a very limited and licensed dispensary and grower network in Washington State. It promises to provide limited protections to patients who register with the government in a future state-run database run by our Department of Health, whose current director has a history of refusing to implement medical cannabis legislation and of surreptitiously supplanting rules created in the public rule-making process with the will of our governor. It provides an affirmative defense to patients visiting from out of state. It also defines “useable cannabis” and “plant” much more favorably.
Cannabis Defense Coaltion on April 17 at 8:32 a.m.
THE CURRENT BILL IS BAD FOR DOCTORS:
* Requires an authorizing health care professional to be the primary care provider or a “specialist” — which likely requires specialty certification, which does not exist currently for medical cannabis — in order to authorize the medical use of cannabis. Section 301.
* Places ten new requirements on health care professionals who recommend medical cannabis. Disallows health care professionals from running “medical cannabis only” clinics, or from making any statement on the medical use of cannabis in any advertisement for their practice. Violations would be findings of unprofessional conduct, and the punishments may include per-violation fines of up to $5,000 and license revocation under RCW 18.130.160. Most doctors in our state that currently authorize medical cannabis risk having their livelihood destroyed in doing so. Section 301.
THE CURRENT BILL IS BAD FOR PATIENTS:
* Protections from search and arrest were gutted on the house floor Monday. Patients will not be safe from police terror unless they register in a future government database, which we believe may never be implemented by our Department of Health. Section 402.
* Invalidates all current “lifetime” authorizations. Section 201(32)(b)(i).
* Places additional requirements and limits on “designated provider” documentation. Section 201(32)(b)(iii).
* Codifies in law that state-funded housing programs may disallow the medical use of cannabis. Section 410.
* Disavows the medical necessity common law defense. Washington appellate courts have a “division split” on the medical necessity common law defense, and the bill specifically removes its underlying support for the defense as we wait to see if our supreme court will take up the appeal. Section 102(3).
* Denies the medical cannabis affirmative defense to members of our military. Section 501(5).
* Expressly allows DOC or any other correctional authority to disallow the medical use of cannabis. Sections 102(4), 201(26)(b), 803(3), 1105.
* Expressly allows Washington State hotels and motels to refuse to accommodate medical cannabis patients. Section 501(4).
* Makes “tougher” the existing restrictions against driving “under the influence” of medical cannabis. Section 501(8).
* Provides immunity to law enforcement and all other state actors who violate the privacy of the future state-run registry. Section 1101.
THE CURRENT BILL IS BAD FOR DISPENSARIES:
* Removes the affirmative defense and legal underpinning for all currently operating dispensaries. Section 201(6)(d).
* Requires currently operating dispensaries to notify local authorities of their intent to apply for a future license if they are to be afforded an affirmative defense in court. This notification — or admission of criminal behavior — will likely lead to threats of closure and raids from local authorities. Section 1201.
* Places an “advertising ban” on dispensaries that forbids speech which “promotes or tends to promote the use or abuse of cannabis.” Specifically states that any visual or artistic representation of cannabis is illegal. Each violation is punishable by fines of up to $1,000. Section 802.
* Allows local jurisdictions to adopt zoning, “health and safety,” licensing, and tax requirements on dispensaries. Section 1102.
READ THE BILL:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Amendments/House/5073-S2.E%20AMH%20ENGR%20H2509.E.pdf
kkrimmer on April 17 at 10:38 a.m.
the neo-cons are the one’s against medical pot… they’d rather cancer patients wither away from starvation… reminds me of the photos of the concentration camps… but then neo-cons and nazi’s have nothing in common, right?
Conservatives would have stopped the Internet from happening. It’s common knowledge that the conservative Republican party hates the National Science Foundation. It was the NSF that made the Internet happen, they had the vision to open the door to the world. http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_nsfnet.htm
July 1, 1956. The Steve Allen Show, New York City. “As Elvis rehearsed for an appearance on The Steve Allen Show, national media buzzed with backlash against Elvis’s hip-swinging performance on Milton Berle’s show just a few weeks earlier. Conservative critics called Elvis a “disciple of the devil.”
Conservatives fear a free society, trying to control what people do… whether it’s in Iran or the USA! Conservatives are bad for America.
mrd on April 17 at 11:12 a.m.
The few people I know that got “prescribed” medical mj got along fine without it but it sure is a great excuse to get baked. I have no problem with mj use for serious medical conditions but there needs to be some tightening up of the prescriptions. It appears every Tom, Dick, and harry can get it.
Byrdie714 on April 17 at 6:02 p.m.
Gregoire is going to let this bill die…..
calicorock on April 18 at 10:45 a.m.
MRD;Why don’y you try sending three years of your medical records in for review by a doctor and see how easy it is? What you are saying is an outright lie and I’m calling you out on it you Eastside idiot
calicorock on April 18 at 11:13 a.m.
MRD: On second thought, Perhaps I was to harsh with you maybe it’s just that your pot smoking friends actually have found a way in Hicksville to circumvent MMJ law and at the very least instead of legitimizing their lies you should tell them they’re wrong to their faces and threaten to turn their Doctor in if you really feel “they did fine without it. Are you a medical professional? If their Doctor is “Giving it out to “Every Tom Dick and Harry” they and you are contributing to the problem. Perhaps you should try reading about what you’re commenting on before making such idiotic sounding shoot from the hip statements. You remind me of what Mark Twain once said: A Lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to tie it’s shoe laces.
Byrdie714 on April 18 at 12:52 p.m.
From what I haven seen in the MMJ field—MRD is quite accurate.
It is easy to obtain a MMJ card.
calicorock on April 18 at 5:41 p.m.
I hope I never light up around any of your “friends”
calicorock on April 18 at 5:53 p.m.
Thats not truthful and if I could ask you to prove your statement i would but I wouldn’t so I won’t….. However, heres a suggestion to both MRD and Birdie: Why not try it without proper medical documentation and get back to me on how easy it was?
flutieflakes on April 18 at 8:01 p.m.
Oh well.
My weed guy (who doesn’t pay federal income or self-employment taxes, or state B&O and sales taxes) thanks you for enhancing his market.
calicorock on April 18 at 8:41 p.m.
With Federal Income Tax audits up 49% over last two years even with impending budget cuts expected to keep going up, I ‘m afraid he won’t be thanking me very much longer
Byrdie714 on April 19 at 12:57 p.m.
Calicorock—I’m not a MMJ card holder. I used to work in the MMJ field but went onto pursue other things.
If an individual wants a MMJ card, it’s easy to get. All the individual has to do is cough up the money and their medical records and go to these MMJ doctor’s office to get their card.
Anything from psorisis, freeze bite fingers, to low back pain, the doctor’s will give the authorization.
calicorock on April 20 at 12:08 a.m.
Byrdie174 I have an authorization but wish it were legal for all who feel they could be helped using it. Even just to feel better.