cannabisnews.com: Washington Marijuana Law Bogged Down 





Washington Marijuana Law Bogged Down 
Posted by FoM on June 12, 2000 at 16:28:02 PT
By Mark Jewell of The Associated Press 
Source: The Oregonian
The U.S. government is blamed for continuing confusion about allowing medicinal use of the drug. The state health secretary has told lawmakers her agency can't oversee marijuana research that may resolve legal confusion about a 1998 initiative allowing limited medical use of the drug. 
Lawmakers who had pressed Mary Selecky for the response vowed last week to take steps next legislative session to clear up questions that have left doctors, marijuana suppliers and patients fearful that they may be running afoul of the law. "I think there is medical marijuana being provided, but it's very difficult for people because they run a lot of risks," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, who sponsored medical marijuana legislation last session that failed in the House. Kohl-Welles and 26 other legislators recently asked Selecky in a letter why clinical tests of medical marijuana that lawmakers asked for in 1996 had not been conducted. Legislators that year set aside $60,000 to have the University of Washington conduct a study overseen by the Health Department. Among other things, lawmakers hope the research may help determine what constitutes a 60-day supply. The 1998 initiative sets that vague limit of how much marijuana a patient can legally possess to use in certain terminal and debilitating illnesses. Selecky recently said in a letter to the lawmakers that her agency has not ignored legislative intent. The department has been unable to launch the research "because we were unable to secure a legal source of marijuana" needed for the studies, Selecky wrote. The federal government has the only supply legally available to researchers. Federal guidelines for marijuana research "appear to be set up to provide legal marijuana only for the development of new, non-smoked, pharmaceutical products," Selecky said. She also noted that federal law prohibits marijuana use even in the half-dozen states with voter-approved medical marijuana laws. A spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union, which has fought for increased medical marijuana use, didn't fault the Health Department. "The feds are the real stumbling block in all of this," said Jerry Sheehan, Seattle-based legislative director for the ACLU's Washington chapter. The initiative's main author, Seattle physician Rob Killian, agreed. "The federal bureaucrats who know that marijuana has medicinal value continue to play politics with people who are suffering," he said. Medical marijuana proponents want the Food and Drug Administration to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I -- illegal drugs -- to Schedule II, drugs that doctors can prescribe. At the state level, lawmakers have failed to pass measures that would authorize the Health Department to write administrative rules clarifying how the initiative's provisions work. State law requires a two-thirds majority of each house to amend an initiative within two years of its approval. The two-year anniversary of Initiative 692's passage will be this fall, and Kohl-Welles and fellow Democratic Sen. Rosa Franklin of Tacoma both expect medical marijuana supporters will have better prospects during next year's session. Spokane, WashingtonPublished: Monday, June 12, 2000Copyright 2000, Oregon Live ®Related Articles & Web Site:ACLU of Washington Statehttp://www.aclu-wa.org/Washington Citizens For Medical Rights http://www.eventure.com/i692/State Health Agency Lacks Legal Source for Marijuana Test http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5994.shtmlExperimental Federal Program Tries To Measure Need http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5765.shtmlMedical Marijuana Users Wait to Exhalehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5764.shtml The Washington State Medical Marijuana Acthttp://www.aclu-wa.org/issues/privacy/MedicalMarijuanaAct799.htm
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 12, 2000 at 16:35:30 PT
Bay Transit Authority Sued Over Marijuana Ads
Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Sued Over Marijuana Ads Reuters --- pnm audio npr http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20000612.me.05.ram
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