PROVIDENCE – The state Senate voted 29 to 6 last week to allow the creation of nonprofit dispensaries, to be known as “compassion centers,” to legally provide medical marijuana to patients in Rhode Island, under the oversight of the R.I. Department of Health.
The measure is sponsored by Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, who also sponsored the bill that created Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program two years ago. The House sponsor of the program, Rep. Thomas C. Slater, D-Providence, is sponsoring the dispensaries bill in the House.
If approved by the House, the measure would set up state-licensed dispensaries to distribute marijuana and related items to people registered with the state’s medical marijuana program.
“This bill is aimed at protecting the patients in the medical marijuana program,” Perry said in a statement issued shortly after the Senate’s Thursday vote. “They shouldn’t have to turn to the streets to get their medicine, and doing so puts them in danger. They shouldn’t have to sneak around and deal with criminals to get something that we recognize as effective, legitimate medication. It’s time to start treating medical marijuana like the medicine that it is and allowing patients to get it in a way that is safe and regulated.”
Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program, started in 2006 after an override of Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s veto, allows registered patients to use marijuana without fear of state prosecution, but does not provide a legal means to get the drug, so they are left to buy it illegally.
California, which legalized medical marijuana use in 1996, also allows sales of medical marijuana under state law through dispensaries, although that state does not require specific licensing of them. New Mexico recently passed a law creating a state licensing system for medical marijuana distribution, but has not yet licensed any distributors.
The bill was amended on the Senate floor to add language that medical marijuana may not be used in any place where it may adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of others, particularly children. Language was also added to require that medical marijuana users be informed that using medical marijuana may disqualify them as recipients for organ donation.
The full text of the bill is available online from the R.I. General Assembly at www.rilin.state.ri.us. Additional news and information from the state legislature is available at www.rilin.state.ri.us/News.
