Rhode Island Will License Medical Marijuana Shops, Overriding Veto

The Rhode Island legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto of a medical marijuana law Tuesday afternoon by an overwhelming margin, paving the way for state-licensed medical marijuana shops to begin operating. The House voted 68-0 for the pot measure and the senate moved it minutes later by a 35-3 count.

Once the law takes effect, the state will be the first in the nation to have one officially licensed nonprofit center selling marijuana. Over time, the state will license further nonprofit dispensaries.

The bill got a boost in the state after a much publicized incident in which a pot dealer beat up a medical marijuana patient. Proponents of the bill argued that patients shouldn't have to deal with unregulated, unlicensed drug dealers, but deserved a more orderly system.

In March, New Mexico became the first state to grant a state license to a medical marijuana producer.

"We are seeing a historic shift to allowing state-licensed, regulated medical marijuana production and distribution," said Karen O'Keefe of the Marijuana Policy Project after the vote.

Legislators in Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are considering similar legislation. Arizona and Maine voters may soon vote on similar initiatives.

The Rhode Island bill's passage was only made possible by President Obama's announcement that his Justice Department would not raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they were following the law.

California's dispensaries operate legally in the state but don't have the kind of exclusive state license that the new Rhode Island shop will have.

Jesse Stout, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, which led the charge on the bill, said that state Rep. Tom Slater's announcement Saturday that he would himself begin using medical marijuana to treat his rapidly advancing cancer swayed the General Assembly. Slater, a Democrat, is the bill's sponsor.

The Rhode Island Department of Health will license one nonprofit "compassion center" in 2010 and two more in 2011. They will grow and distribute marijuana and provide it to an unlimited number of patients.

My book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, is now out.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[solarian]

ha ha its all over

[Godmad]

I LOVE IT!!! YAH!!

[dspencer3491]

Marijuana helps my depression, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD, fibromyalgia, and RLS.

[NeverADullMoment]

Science will some day offer up evidence that mj has antidepressant effects. Among mj users, this effect is well known, and accounts for much of its appeal. Meanwhile, ssri antidepressants, widely prescribed along with other psychoactive pharmaceuticals, have questionable effectiveness, studies increasingly reveal, and have considerable health side effects, including death (suicide).

[zizyphus]

You are absolutely correct!

[rjmiller]

Definitely the anxiety, depression and insomnia. I'm not sure if it's really helping with my ADD though, unless I'm drinking a lot of coffee at the time (coffee + pot = motivated stoned).

[zizyphus]

Navigating consciously through your various receptor sites requires vigilant observation and self-regulation.

[Jamie Kowalski]

I have *exactly* your list of ailments, right up to the RLS. Agree with your sentiments as well.

[DrDemon]

I-C-U-R-OK !

[kindGSL]

With that kind of demonstrated effectiveness, we have to wonder about the motivations of the APA.

Why do they only see pot use as a mental illness? Not a sign of illness, not a treatment for illness, but an illness in it's self.

That doesn't make sense to me.

Why haven't they ever tried testing pot for treating things like depression? A lot of people say it works for them. Is the APA afraid they will find positive medical results that undermine the anti pot argument?

How is that considered ethical behavior for medical professionals?

I don't get it. The 'science' on this is all based in faith, not fact. That is NOT a good enough reason to put people in jail.

[Cosmic-Zantor]

This is a good decision, however, in reality there does not exist one rational reason for marijuana to be illegal for any adult. It's safer than alcohol, by what right does the US government have the power to tell adults they can't use such a substance? I fail to see how it's their business in any way. Legalize it, tax it, put the same restrictions as alcohol on it. Common sense.

[JWheels]

This is just another big step towards widespread cultural acceptance of Marijuana use. As more states begin to allow use for medical reasons, people will start to know people openly smoking it, and realize that "hey, it really isn't so bad." The timing is perfect on this, with hopefully nearly 8 years for medical marijuana to become established and expected in the US before there's even a chance that a more conservative president could come in. By then it'll be too late to stem (no pun intended) the tide.

[Poorsarah]

Yes, there are health risks with ganja or any other drug. Personally, I choose not to do drugs...legal or illegal...because of the health risks involved. Conversely, people are free moral agents and they should have the legal right to choose to do drugs or choose not to.
Think rationally, people...when booze was illegal, violent gangs made huge profits off of it...and many people were victims of murder. Now, booze is legal and there are no more violent gangs to instigate this. Rational solution: legalize all drugs...the cartels will be out of business; no violent murders from the cartels...regulate the sale of the drugs and put a nice hefty tax on the goods. Since some people will choose to do drugs anyway...why not put a tax on it???

[RevRayGreen]

why not let people out of prison and quit arresting them ? It's a human life issue.

[floridalib]

Drug possession is a non-violent offense.

[BabaLou7]

Because prison is a burgeoning industry.

[Godmad]

WOULD U WANT SOME ONE WHO ENJOY KILLIN BE LET OUT.

[Z-Liberator]

The best news of the week, I would say Iran but I dont know what the outcome will be!
CHANGE I BELIEVE IN!

[iblogleft]

This is change I can believe in.

I would like to thank all of the other organizations and folks on the ground for creating a common sense, least harm approach to Cannabis.

We have people in every state, in various life altering medical battles, that needlessly suffer because of ignorance, propaganda, and lets not forget, various lobbies. I cannot tell granny that there is something to help her after her bladder cancer, for fear of her entire family flipping out, and living in a non-medical Marijuana state. How sad is that?

[fumes]

very

[RevRayGreen]

June 12, 2009 01:11 PM Eastern Daylight Time
CSI Appoints Former Upjohn Senior Research Scientist Mary J. Ruwart, Ph.D. to Vice President of Research & Deveopment (VP R&D) Further Expanding Its Team of Drug Development Specialists

"SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cannabis Science Inc. (NASD OTCBB: CBIS), an emerging pharmaceutical cannabis company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mary J. Ruwart as Vice President of Research & Development. Dr. Ruwarts previously held the position of Senior Research Scientist at Upjohn Inc., which ultimately merged with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) to become a part of one of the largest Pharmaceutical Companies in the world.

“Dr. Ruwart is a pivotal addition to CSI,” COO Ray Carr announced today. “Her years of experience in R& D, coupled with her first-hand knowledge of the drug development process, give her the ability to guide CSI’s first product through the FDA approval process. Dr. Ruwart will be one of the most valuable members of the CSI Drug Development team; we are delighted to have her on board.”

CSI intends to follow the FDA’s regulatory pathway for drug development through early clinical testing. The company will then seek a Big Pharma partner for late stage human studies and subsequent filing of its New Drug Application (NDA) with the FDA."


it's happening.....

[marxmarv]

What's happening? Another patented plant extractive? Whoop-de-doo.

[cavegal]

Screw that, we got some for our friend's mother when she was going through Chemo and it is still illegal in Texas. Thank God her doctor was so compassionate and pulled us aside to broach the subject of scoring so her appetite would be stimulated enough to eat. Chemo ravages the body in such a way that loss of appetite becomes a huge issue, not to mention the damn barfing. Happy to say it worked!

[zizyphus]

That is as sad as the good people sitting in jail- prison- for having cannabis, a helpful plant. All the harm that causes to them, their families.

[Nicon]

This is a Huge step in the right direction. BUT its still miles from where medical Marijuana should be. Lets not forget that Marijuana has been used as medicine for 5000 years, including widly used in the united states before 1933, and after 1970. Bush 1 closed the fedral medical Marijuana program to new members, but left it running. This month 4 Americans were shipped 11oz of Marijuana (in join form).

Marijuana is both Harmless and Medicine.

Why is it illegal? Why must medical Marijuana users have to visit the one store in their STATE that can fill their prescription?

What if you had only one store in your state that sold your cancer meds?

[JWheels]

Well, at least Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union. If RI's "compassion center" is centrally located, it's no more than a 30 minute drive from most of the state.

[Nicon]

Until its Raided by the DEA.

[kindGSL]

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

Exodus 22:18

[Nicon]

Thou shalt read more than one book.

[themodernleader]

Obama might accomplish something useful if he asked for the legalization of addictive drugs under governmental regulation. If not, we will become a police state for sure.

[KinkyGirl]

I guess you're all happy know.

[RevRayGreen]

sphincter said what?

[BraineyRubble]

what?

[BabaLou7]

ROTFLMAO

[blues101]

Isn't it great!?! I've seen it all from the 60's on up and i'm thrilled to hear about this - my husband was "unofficially, i didn't say this" told by his doctor that if he so happened to smoke pot, his symptoms (cancer pain) and the chemo treatments would be so much easier to go through, and he hoped for the day that he could legally prescribe it. But that he didn't say that.
This from our highly qualified cream of the crop specialists - and it looks like i'll see that day, even though hubby is now gone. He'd be grinnin' from ear to ear and cookin' up his famous chinese cuisine for a snack.

[fumes]

my wife had multiple sclerosis for 16 long years and remarked on many occasions how pot made all the difference in her ability to cope with it all. her father was a doctor and totally agreed with her about the benefits of marijuana. she'd be cheering wildly right now at the thought of pot finally being recognized for the valuable pharmaceutical that it is!

[blues101]

Amen! And i'll be thrilled not to see others suffer. He did self-administer and it did help. It would have helped me cope better as well. Panic/anxiety attacks, insomnia. The only thing stopping me from dumping the legal chemical pushers is that it's still illegal here to possess. My condolences, to you, too......

[msdusti]

Rhode Island I'm so jealous!!!! I live in Indiana and trust me, with all the hard core, right wing, conservative jerks in this state, (excluding myself, obviously) we'll never get a law like this passed. I'm sooooo sick of Indiana.

[scapegoat4rent]

One small toke for man, One giant hit for mankind.

[fumes]

love that!

[queenofcore]

Hear! Hear!

[Morgenstern]

Nice

[Nicon]

B-E-A-utiful

[stefiz]

amen!!!!

[TheFobster]

FREE THE WEED

[katocat]

Nice bud shot.

[DrJon]

Hopefully, i can catch a disease that requires pot. I got twinkies and oreos, so i'm good to go!

[RevRayGreen]

please grow the F up

[4peace]

Careful what you wish for...

[kindGSL]

I find a lot of the people helped by medical marijuana are rape and incest victims, or they are victims of serious illnesses or accidents that have left them in severe, chronic pain. Severe pain either way, psychic or physical.

People talk about pot's anti nausea properties, but most people I know use it for pain management. To try to manage serious pain with opiates makes people very dysfunctional, so they find pot an appealing alternative and for some, an absolute life saver.

Is that what you want? To be raped, in a car accident or fall off a roof?

I think that is a stupid thing to wish for. If what you really want is freedom of thought, you need to actually demand freedom of religion.

If you want documentation to back that up, join my church. You don't have to believe in a thing to join except for the healing properties of the plant itself. It unites us all.